Pro-Social Gaming
For many years the debate over computer games and their impact on children has continued with little impact on the games industry itself, suggesting that theories about the negative effects of gaming are not taken too seriously, or if they are, there is little done about them.
Numerous studies have been done showing a correlation between violent games and aggressive behaviour in youngsters, whether that is a propensity to hurt or simply show a lack of concern for others.
The trend can be considered a worrying one, if it is accurate, not least of all because children play computer games more now than ever before.
There is a reason to be hopeful however. There are more children playing games, but there are also more games on the market and not all of them involve bombs, guns and blast zones.
Some of them require the player to do good in non-violent ways and, in the real world, the effects are quite surprising.
The current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a top-tier academic journal, presents a report from the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan, with the findings of three studies that show video games containing pro-social content make players more helpful individuals after the game is over.
The report, co-authored by researchers from the USA, Malaysia, Singapore and Japan, is the first of its kind and documents the effects of games where characters help and support each other in non-violent ways.
“These studies show the same kind of impact on three different age groups from three very different cultures,” said Brad Bushman, University of Michigan, co-author of the report, “…the studies use different analytic approaches – correlational, longitudinal and experimental. The resulting triangulation of evidence provides the strongest possible proof that the findings are both valid and generalizable.”
The first study examined the link between gaming and pro-social behaviour among 727 students in Singapore, with a mean age 13 years. Questions were put to them about the behaviour of characters within their favourite games. How often did one character hurt, help or kill another? Other questions were posed regarding how the student themselves spent their time and their money. Did they use any of in charitable ways? Did they share their belongings? Were they ever aggressive in posed situations?
As has happened in past studies, there was a strong correlation between violent games and negative behaviour but the interesting discovery was the correlation between playing pro-social games and helping others.
The second study was an analysis of the long-term affects of gaming habits. Nearly 2000 Japanese children aged 10 to 16 were surveyed about their exposure to pro-social games and their own positive behaviour towards others within a month of playing them. Then they were asked the same questions 3 to 4 months later and there was still an effect from the gaming they had been exposed to months earlier.
Interestingly enough, the downward spiral of aggression that results from exposure to violent games was mirrored in the pro-social gaming, but with the opposite effect. Months later there was still helpful and positive behaviour being shown by the game players.
The third and final study was an experiment with 161 American college students with a mean age of 19. After playing pro-social, violent or neutral games, students were asked to assign puzzles of varying difficulty to a randomly chosen partner. The partner could win $10 if they solved all of them. Those who had played pro-social games were significantly more helpful, choosing easier puzzles for their partners. Those who had played violent games were more likely to assign the hardest puzzles.
“…these findings make it clear that playing video games is not in itself good or bad for children,” said Bushman, professor of communications and psychology and research professor at ISR. “The type of content in the game has a bigger impact than the overall amount of time spent playing.”
Pro-social games are on the increase and the introduction of technologies like the Nintendo Wii has opened up game playing to a new audience. At the end of 2008, beating their rivals Xbox 360 and Sony Play Station 3, the Wii sold over 50 million units. The physical, multi-player element integrated with pro-social subjects appeals to families and more significantly people who wouldn’t normally play video games.
For kids who play games and love games, parents may never be successful in weaning them off but in this age of pro-social endeavour, they have a wider choice of game to choose from, and in the end, if they can’t beat them, they can always join in.
