Effect Of Violent Video Games On Students Behavior - Research Paper Example

VIOLENT VIDEO GAME: ITS EFFECT ON BEHAVIOR A Research Proposal Introduction Video games have acquired a phenomenal position in the lives of present-day-youth including children and adults. According to statistics, "the video-game industry's leader, Nintendo, sold an average of three games every second of the 12 years from 1983 to 1995 for a total of one billion games sold" (Dill and Dill, 1998). It would mean, according to Dill, "one game for every teenager on earth, or one game for every person in North America, Europe, and Japan, or enough games that, if laid end to end, would reach around the equator two and a half times." More and more people are really spending their money, time and energy on the video game business either as consumers or capitalists. However, the diversity of these video games is threatening. Many of these games are violent in nature. Examples of violent video games are: Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat and Sega's Primal Rage. All these games deal with fighting and killing the opponent in the most terrible and cruel way possible. Many of the more recent violent video games are modifications and are influenced by the above mentioned games. According to Dill, "Provenzo (1991) studied the most popular video games and noted that 40 out of 47 were violent in nature." Several other studies are mentioned by Dill, all of which support the idea that most of the video games are violent in nature. Statement of the Problem This research seeks to discover the degree of influence of the violent video games to selected college students. Inevitably and naturally, the players are affected by the games they play. This study will try to find out the causal relationship between violent video game and aggression. This will try to prove the hypothesis that the exposure of the students to video game violence increase aggressive behavior and other aggression related phenomena. Specifically, the study will answer the question: Does playing violent video game increase aggressiveness Scope and Methodology This research will use 40 respondents, 20 males and 20 females. They will be divided equally into two groups. One group will be exposed to violent video game while the other group will be exposed to a non violent video game. The researcher will determine the video game to be played. Immediately after playing the video games, their cardiovascular measures (blood pressure and heart rate) will be taken then immediately they will be asked to answer the questionnaire. The IV (independent variable) will be the video games and the DV (dependent variable) will be the cardiovascular measures and the questionnaire. They must not take alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes and any drugs that may affect their behavior prior to the experiment. The following is a list of the video games that will be played by the respondents. The violent games are: Dark Forces (The player assumes the role of a special ops guy in the Rebellion aiming to steal the Death star plans and to get out alive. Weapons like a blaster rifle and laser pistol are used to kill enemy guards and storm troopers.); Marathon 2 (The shooter is a space marine trapped in a base that is taken over by aliens. His goal is to retake the base and not die, shooting at anything that moves.); Speed Demon (The player drives a heavily armed vehicle in a race with other armed vehicles. One gets points by destroying other vehicles.); Street Fighter (This is similar in many ways to Mortal Kombat. The player chooses a character and then engages in a series of fights with other characters.); and Wolfenstein 3D (The player assumes the role of B.J. Blascowitz, an American soldier caught and taken prisoner trying to infiltrate a top-secret Nazi lab. There are several deadly weapons and he shots at all things that move). The nonviolent games are: 3D Ultra Pinball (This is simply an electronic version of a pinball game, complete with flippers, buzzers, bells, and various visual and auditory effects); Glider Pro (Players of this game control the forward and backward movement of paper airplanes through a house. Points can be earned by flying over certain objects.); Indy Car 2 (The player assumes the role of a driver in an Indy car race with the goal of winning the race. Bumping into cars or driving too fast will crash the player's car.); Jewel Box (This is a colorful version of Tetris. The player manipulates the objects as they fall and when a row is filled, it disappears and the player receives points.); and Myst (This is a nonviolent/mystery/adventure game. Players travel to several worlds or ages as they unravel the mystery). The questionnaire will include the following data: gender, age, video game played. The answers to the following items will measure the respondents' aggressiveness: 1.I enjoy playing the game (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 2. I feel angry (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 3.I feel frustrated (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 4.I feel satisfied (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 5.I feel tired (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot);6.I want to hurt my opponent (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 7.I want to make my opponent mad; (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot); 8.I want to play again (not at all, a little bit, somewhat, quite a lot, a lot). The cardiovascular measures will be taken before, during and after playing the video game. An increase in the cardiovascular measures will prove an increase in the respondent's aggression. The results of the cardiovascular measures and the answers to the questionnaire will then be recorded, compared and analyzed. All the information gathered from the answers to the questionnaire will be analyzed using the SPSS statistics program. Finally, to aid in assessing the aggressiveness of the respondents, the Aggression Questionnaire by Buss, Arnold H. and Perry, Mark (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1992 Sep Vol 63(3) 452-459) will also be used. List of Sources for the Study: 1. Asakura, R. (2000). Revolutionaries at Sony: the making of the Sony PlayStation and the visionaries who conquered the world of video games. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2. Crawford, C. (1984). The art of computer game design. New York: Osborne/McGraw-Hill. 3. Darley, A. (2000). Visual digital culture: surface play and spectacle in new media genres. London: Routledge. 4. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. (2004). Playing with fire: how do computer games influence the players Goteborg, Sweden: International Clearinghouse on Children Youth and Media Nordicom Goteborg University. 5. Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 6. Greenfield, P. M. (1984). Mind and media: the effects of television, video games, and computers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 7. Harlick, B. (1997). Conquest earth: official strategies & secrets. San Francisco: Sybex Publications. 8. Hook, B. (1995). Building a 3D game engine in C++. Wiley Publications. 9. Norton, M. J. (1996). Spells of fury: building Windows 95 games using DirectX 2. Corte Madera, Calif.: Waite Group Press. 10. Pratchett, T. (2005). Only you can save mankind. New York: HarperCollins. 11. Wolfgram, D. E. (1993). Adventures in 3-D. Que Publications. 12. (1995). Game graphics: the best new video and board game design. Rockport, Mass.: Rockport Publications. 13. (2000). Bibliography: research on video and computer games: a selection. Goteborg, Sweden: The UNESCO International Clearinghouse on Children and Violence on the Screen. 14. (2001). Handbook of children and the media. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. 15. (2004). Japanese game graphics: behind the scenes of your favorite games. New York: Harper Design International. Literature Cited: Dill, K.E. and Dill, J.C. (1998). Video game violence: a review of the empirical literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior. (Vol.3. No.4. pp. 407-428). USA: Elsevier Science Ltd. Read More