Introduction
Aggression- Hostile behavior with a purpose to intimidate, verbally abuse or threaten.
Hypothesis- Those who frequently portray themselves as violent characters in video games may lose their sensitivity towards violence and may automatically find themselves acting more aggressive in game settings than they do in reality. In violent games such as Grand Theft Auto and Blood Rayne a gamer puts him or herself in the place of an aggressive character. This makes the player sympathize with aggressors and through the visuals of gaming; they become numbed to the violence and aggression in their interactions throughout the game. As Karen Dill said, “Even a brief exposure to violent video games can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of participants.” Therefore, in-game messaging in violent games may be more verbally aggressive than in non-aggressive games.
Literature Review
1. Willenz, Pam. "Violent Video Games Can Increase Aggression." APA Online. 04/23/2000. Web. 2 Dec 2009.
2. Anderson, Craig, and Karen Dill. "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in." 78.4 (2000): 772-791. Web. 2 Dec 2009. http://www.apa.org/journals/features/psp784772.pdf.
Method
To test this hypothesis I will take in-game messaging from a violent game and a non-violent game over a period of several hours. I will see if the interactions between players are aggressive based on what they write to one another. I will remain neutral without contributing to the in-game chat. The number of aggressive comments per game will be counted based on the above definition of aggression. I think it is pretty likely that the violent video games will contain much more outward verbal aggression because of the atmosphere that violent games create.
I think that's a great way to measure aggression in the video games. I think it would also be interesting to see how many people playing those games are under age based on the ESRB rating given for each game. Of course then you would have to ask each person their age and they may just lie to you. It would also be neat to see how aggressive the individuals are outside of the video game.
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