Sports video games ‘more likely to fuel aggression’

USING violent computer games can calm people down while sporting ones are more likely to make the players angry, according to new research by a Yorkshire university.

Lecturers at Huddersfield University have carried out a study which contradicts the common perception that aggressive behaviour can be stimulated by playing on a violent computer game.

Dr Simon Goodson and Dr Sarah Pearson, who both lecture in psychology, have revealed how playing a sporting video game is more “emotionally evocative” than a violent one.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They looked at how different genres of video game affected players by recording their brain activity.

Dr Goodson said: “There was an assumption among reports that because a game didn’t include any violence that it wouldn’t make people aggressive.

“But just look at people who play Tetris and how angry they get.

“We looked at a violent game and a driving game. We found that driving made people far more emotionally aroused than the violent one, so we thought we should check it out. We did this on a bigger scale and indeed found that driving makes you more emotionally aroused than shooting something.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

By getting volunteers to wear a facial mask – called an EEG net – covered in electrodes, the academics were able to record and follow brain patterns as they were stimulated by events on screen.

Dr Goodson said: “We received equipment from America which is used in hospitals, studying patients with epilepsy and memory problems.

“We decided to try a football game, because nothing evokes the nation more than football.

“Once again, a sporting game made people far more emotionally aroused and aggressive than other genres. In fact we’ve had people swearing at us, swearing at the game, swearing at the referee. If you watch a clip of England fans when they lost to Germany in the World Cup, their reactions are similar to the behaviour of the game player.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Because some video games mimic things in real life, so you experience more real life emotions. That’s why driving and football are so much more emotive.

“Video game style violence is something not many people are familiar with in real life. You usually get to kill soldiers or aliens, which makes it a bit too superficial. Some people even report that playing violent games calms them down, almost relaxes them.”

Concerns over violent video games have led some to be given age restrictions or even banned from sale in this country.

The game Manhunt 2 was banned several years ago after a political campaign. Keith Vaz, who chairs the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, has been among the most prominent campaigners against violent video games after a stabbing in Leicester in 2004.

Related topics: