Violent Videogames OK?Show Video Details ↓ [music]Narrator: Sciencentral. [noise] Reporter: Violence in video games has long been a concern but new psychology research finds that for gamers the violence is beside the point. Richard Ryan: Well people like video games because they introduce them to worlds where they can feel freedom and where they can feel a sense of accomplishment and competence. It just happens that a lot of games that have those elements are also combat or war type games and include violence. Reporter: Previous studies only compared completely different games. So the University of Rochester's Richard Ryan and Andrew Shabelsky altered the same game to change only the level of violence then compared volunteers' enjoyment. Richard Ryan: We change it from a killing game to a game of tag. Instead of falling on the ground in a bloody death, they adversary, once tagged appears to evaporate and the pretense is that they're being tele-ported back to their home base. Reporter: They wrote in the personality and social psychology bulletin that it's those feelings of freedom and accomplishment that draw players and get them hooked, not violence. Richard Ryan: It's the thrill of victory that's thrilling, not the production of blood and gore. Reporter: Psychologist Craig Anderson has found that media violence can be a risk factor for aggression. He hopes these new studies change the focus of game developers. Craig Anderson: What these findings as a set suggest is that the video game industry is really missing a rather large segment of their potential market by focusing so heavily on violent games. Reporter: The study looked at volunteers aged eighteen and up, but the researchers think their findings could reassure parents. Kids who play violent video games may merely be in it for the thrills, not the kills. [noise] Brad Closer, Science Central News. [silence] [music] [noise] … … |