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At Long Last, Video Game Aggression Linked To Losing, Not Violence

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Video games cause aggression. Lots of it.

Many times I've played a game and felt like I wanted to kill someone afterward, a statement that should delight many in the media.

But it wasn't after gunning down 300 virtual souls in a Call of Duty campaign. Or chainsawing a humanoid alien in half in Gears of War.

Rather, it was losing a League of Legends game because a teammate disconnected at the last moment. Or it was getting knocked out of first place in a Forza race by .001 seconds. Or it was dying for the 43rd time in a row to Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat.

Obviously, saying these moments make me feel like "killing someone" is a bit of an exaggeration, but they did make my blood boil, changing my mood, behavior and ruining a good chunk of my day at times. In these circumstances, video games absolutely cause aggression in a way that has literally nothing to do with the content of the game, but rather the context. And now there's science to prove it.

A report over at the BBC discusses a study at Oxford where researchers measured aggression vs. competence in a game, rather than making the sole focus violent content. In one experiment, players were told to play a modded version of Half-Life 2. There was a violent and non-violent version of the game, but also one that had a tutorial and one that didn't. The common theory is that those playing the violent version would feel more aggression, but instead it was those forced to play without the tutorial who displayed the most anger. Being bad at even a non-violent version of the game was more rage-inducing than playing a violent version with instruction.

"We focused on the motives of people who play electronic games and found players have a psychological need to come out on top when playing," said Dr Przybylski, who helped run the study. "This need to master the game was far more significant than whether the game contained violent material.... If the structure of a game or the design of the controls thwarts enjoyment, it is this not the violent content that seems to drive feelings of aggression."

So more or less, players who are either bad at a good game, or frustrated trying to play a bad game are more likely to display aggression than someone playing a violent game properly. Though my hero in Diablo 3 may be drowning in demon blood after 100,000 enemy kills, the game is pretty easy to play, and I'm an experienced player. Therefore, I never feel any aggression during my time with the game. But throw me into a cheerfully animated game of Mario Party, have me switch stars with my last-place friend, and I'll be dangerously close to punching him in the face and putting a Wiimote through the television.

I'm glad to see someone finally getting to the root of the problem when it comes to video game violence, or lack thereof. Video games are a unique medium because unlike TV or movies, the player has a stake in what happens. They can win or lose, while you can't win or lose a TV show or film. Losing obviously can induce feelings of anger, sadness and so on, but no one is looking to regulate sporting events because  players or fans are furious after a loss.

Yes, there are rare cases where someone losing a game can snap and actually hurt someone. It's happened before, and will likely happen again. As with all things, gaming needs moderation. It is not good from a psychological standpoint to "go on tilt," as it were. That would be defined as playing a game over and over, constantly losing because you're increasingly upset from each new loss. It can be a bad cycle, and it's when gaming goes from fun to day-ruining. Do this all the time, and it could have damaging effects. In no way do I believe losing ten games of Call of Duty in a row would cause someone to go shoot up a school, but that doesn't mean it's a great thing from a mental health perspective either.

Still, the distinction is important here. If people are aggressive after gaming, it's about the vehicle of gaming itself, not the content. Losing or being bad at anything, gaming, sports, Scrabble, etc, can be rage-inducing depending on your personality. It's up to each individual person (or parent) to keep things in check.

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