PLAYING WITH THE FUTURE: DEVELOPMENT AND DIRECTIONS IN COMPUTER GAMING

ABSTRACT

Effects of Competitive Videogame Playing on Players' Affects and Self-Ascribed Toughness

Hong-Sik Yu

The shooting incidents in American schools in recent years led to speculations that children's heavy playing of violent video games may have stronger negative effects (aggressive behavior) than exposure to television violence does, due to the interactive nature of videogames, which induce a flow state (high enjoyment, immersion in the "virtual reality," and decreased processing of reality). But a meta-analysis of over 30 videogame studies found that violent video games facilitate violent behavior to a smaller extent than violent television does (Sherry, 2001).

The present study attempts to account for this unexpected finding. The study draws on two theoretical models. Under Zillmann's excitation transfer theory (launched in the 1970s), the greater arousal associated with exposure to violent (vs. non-violent) video material is expected to have a stronger and more enduring residual that energizes subsequent behaviors (aggravates subsequent violence). On the other hand, prior studies showed that pain tolerance increases with positive mood and decreases with negative mood (e.g., De Wied & Verbaten, 2001; Zelman, Howland, Nichols, & Cleeland, 1991; Zillmann, De Wied, King-Jablonski, & Jenzowsky, 1996). In keeping with those findings, I hypothesize that the positive (vs. negative) mood generated by winning (vs. losing) in a videogame enhances (vs. reduces) mental and physical toughness in post-game situations that involve mental and physical stressors (interpersonal aggression and cold temperature, respectively). The present study examines the two models (excitation transfer and mood mediation of toughness) in conjunction. I expect and interaction between arousal and mood caused by the game outcome, with higher arousal causing more differentiation in terms of mental and physical toughness responses after playing. I hypothesize that victory in a violent video game facilitates mental and physical toughness most, and defeat in a violent video game depresses mental and physical toughness most.

The study involves an experiment with 120 male students from the University of Alabama. The manipulated variables are content violence (violent/Tekken3 vs. non-violent/Tennis) and competition outcome (victory vs. tied vs. defeat-controlled by a research confederate acting as adversary game player). The resulting design is 2 x 3 between-subjects. The participants will be randomly assigned to the treatment conditions, will be left to play individually against the research confederate for 30 minutes, and then will be administered measures of mood (20 adjectives from the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist devised by Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988), mental toughness (10 items from the aggression measure devised by McLeod, Atkin, and Chaffee, 1972), and physical toughness (cold-pressor test utilized by De Wied & Verbaten, 2001; Sternberg et al., 2001; Weaver & Zillmann, 1994; Zelman et al., 1991).

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