The Dangers of Immersion The Dangers of Immersion Effects of violence in VR games

The Dangers of Immersion Effects of Violence in Lifelike Virtual Reality Games Hugo Miguel Gonalves Crespo Machado da Silva UT Austin-Portugal Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto

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Abstract The ways of interaction with computer games are changing. Both input and output have remained unaltered for the last four decades, with fairly standard controls composed of joysticks and buttons and a flat image on a screen for feedback. Currently there is a trend to replace these controls, providing more natural means of input and more realistic output, bringing the game playing experience closer to real life interaction. There has been a general concern regarding violence in media, with a very important branch directed to computer games. The effects of violence in media have been broadly studied, but we stand at a turn in Human-Computer Interaction. Future games and games machines will be more powerful, always connected and will transmit a much more real experience in every sense. This article focuses on the possible causes and effects of violence in the near future computer games.

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The Dangers of Immersion Effects of Violence in Lifelike Virtual Reality Games Computer games have evolved from simple characters or symbols on a green/amber screen to practically photorealistic visual representations of the real world. The visual similarity to the real world was never a concern and little or no people at all would oppose a better graphical rendition of reality. The visual perfection achieved by modern games, however, contributes to a higher immersion. This fact alone would be enough to raise some criticism, as it contributes to the alienation of real facts. While visual
realism may be a positive factor, the real problem emerges as violence is included some

times to extremely high levels and combined with an immersive environment. In the last few years we have witnessed the rise of a new era of interaction with video games (as well as other types of software, which are out of the bounds of this paper) Virtual Reality. Not only the simple two-color characters gave place to virtual actors that are almost indistinguishable from real people, but the 2-dimensional images turned into head-tracked 3-dimensional landscapes, stereo sound into 3D audio, and the keyboard was replaced by joysticks, game controllers, and natural interfaces like the WiMote and VirtuSphere or Cyberwalk, which allow the user to walk around naturally in an almost perfect virtual world, whether within a C.A.V.E. (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) system or wearing a Head-Mounted-Display. Games are also played online, against real opponents and Non-Playing-Characters possess a look and intelligence that in context are undistinguishable from real people, aliens or monsters. Numerous studies focus on the improvement of the experience by hypothesizing a virtual world that mimics, complements or totally differs (maintaining the realism) from the real world. If violence in mass media has been a constant concern for more than five

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decades (Anderson et al., 2003), these new paradigms indicate that the real problem may be starting now.

The Dangers of Immersion The past and present situation Media effects have always been a major concern. The question of whether or not

media has an influence on the users behavior has received numerous replies, many of them contradictory. The American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the Surgeon General and other prestigious institutions have all endorsed the theory that violent media make kids violent. (Rhodes, 2000). Many of the school shootings in the last years have been performed by young students with a history of video game playing. Also, other major acts of violence have been attributed to violence in media, and that has raised concern about the topic. It is only natural that the subject has deserved so much attention and still does. The video game industry moves millions of dollars and reaches a wide audience. If it is indeed contributing to violence in the real world, the causes should be found and dealt with. Mild violence in media has been proven to have an effect on human behavior. For one side it is easier to derail slightly from an otherwise normal conduct than it is to perform a complete U-turn around the rules that are imprinted on a person, either from education, genetic code or social interaction. For the other side, while it is somewhat easy to perform studies that demonstrate slight behavioral shifts, more severe crimes like murder or rape would take a wider period of time and bigger samples to allow for proof (Anderson et al., 2003). The amount of influence that media violence has over an individual varies with several factors. As mentioned before, education, genetic code and social life contribute much more to an individuals conduct (and shape his/her receptivity to external influences) than violence in current videogames. Furthermore, while some studies indicate that violence in media may contribute to a violent attitude, others state the exact opposite (Anderson et al., 2003). As a third point, violent media effects have gradually decreased over the years. Using an analogy to explain this point, some decades ago it would be shocking to see a woman wearing a bikini or even the most conservative bathing suit from

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this decade, where nowadays nobody even looks twice when a woman sunbathes in topless. Exposition to a situation works as a vaccine against its effects. After playing a video game, most people tend to become nervous and experience higher adrenaline levels, but without wishing to generalize based on personal experience, as a game designer, and after interacting with numerous gamers, I have never witnessed a case in which I can say that an individuals social behavior was shaped by the amount of violence in a game. Biological functions may be altered, but only for a short period and immersion and addictiveness are responsible for these changes, not the violence contained in the game. The cultivation effect must be considered as well if we want to relate video games to violence levels among game players. There are games for all ages and of all types, but most violent games target an adolescent crowd. Adolescence is the time of life when authoritarism levels drop, as children show higher levels of authoritarism than adults. High exposure to television is known to retard this process (Shanahan, 1998) What Shanahan showed to be true in what concerns to television, may also be valid for other kinds of media, including video games. The phenomenon called resonance (Gerbner, 1998) also influences the effect of media on the user. It will not make an individual violent more than it may make him scared, but its effects are visible in heavy television viewers that live in dangerous areas. Cultivation may occur in video games as well as it occurs on television. Being exposed to violent content the user develops a tendency to believe that the world is more violent than it really is. But again, the effects of this exposure do not vary in a linear way. Besides from the cultural or social factors mentioned before, cultivation is more effective in individuals that can in a way compare the content they consume with the environment where they live. It is my opinion that past and present studies (many times with contradictory results) are not conclusive enough to state that violence in video games has a direct effect

The Dangers of Immersion on people. This effect varies with too many factors, most of them more important in the

development of violent behaviors than the use of video games. But what will happen in the future, when games employ the technologies that are currently being developed? The new way of experience video games The way we interact with a computer game has been more or less constant since the beginning of video games. Keyboards, joysticks and mice are the standard ways of instructing computers and consoles about the players actions, with few additions like a game pistol or sensitive surfaces applying only to a very small percentage of games. Feedback has been constantly given by a monitor, with few alternatives that fall outside of the mainstream video game industry. In the last few years there has been a race to alternative control methods, in which the main competitors are the leading brands of game console manufacturers: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. The WiiMote started the revolution, with a complete new method of interaction. A stick whose acceleration in three axis could be measured and transmitted to the console, as well as the point on the TV screen where that stick was pointed, revolutionized the way video games are played. This control method combined with Nintendos expertise in the development of addictive video games made the Nintendo Wii the most sold console, leaving behind the Sony Playstation 3 and the Microsoft Xbox, even if the Wiis graphical and computational power was one generation behind the competition. Microsoft started working on its alternative method of input and developed Project Natal, an apparatus that sits below the TV screen and captures and translates every movement of the players body into data that can be used by games. Project Natal has recently seen its prototype name changed to a more definitive Kinect and is about to be launched worldwide. Not happy with the idea of leaving the train, Sony developed the Move controller. These input peripherals allow for a much more natural way of interaction, in a first move to close the gap between real life and computer games.

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The traditional television receiver that has been dealing with the output of a game has seen its size enlarged as prices fell, the old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) replaced by Plasma or LCD (Liquid Cristal Display) with better pixel resolution and high-definition, and is currently in the process of being complemented with 3D images, in opposition to the 2D image that until now was used both for 2D and 3D games. Projectors create high-definition images of the virtual world that are big enough to fill a whole wall or even four or more walls with several projectors, creating a C.A.V.E. system and with the help of head tracking devices the player experiences a very faithful experience, closer to the real world, or at least to the way we perceive it. An alien for example is not a group of organized dots anymore, but a life-like creature that can appear around the player from any side, with directional sound and apparent solid body. The difference between life and a game simulation is now closer to the different between life and a dream, but unlike a dream the game is a voluntary, conscious act that people decide to experience. It is normal to wake up from a dream with a smile, anxiety or sadness, and it is sometimes hard to get rid of those feeling, even after we are wide awake and totally conscious that all was just a dream. After playing a game in such ideal conditions, return to reality may not be as straightforward as it used to be. The idea of flow can be translated as the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). It is a real effect of video games, and examples are numerous, especially in groups of teenagers who forget about dinner, sleep, school or even friends and family when playing video games for several hours. People forget about their lives when playing video games, but when video games seem as real as real life, it will be even hard to break the flow and to leave the game experience behind. The problem of immersion

The Dangers of Immersion Many technologies emerge from cases of life imitating movies. Tom Cruises workbench in Minority Report, a glass display manipulated by gestures, has been faithfully

reproduced by different companies, including the Displax technology from the Portuguese Edigma. Our mobile phones allow us to communicate and possess several sensors, like the tricorder from the TV series Star Trek. If by creating technology we get the same effects that the characters got in the movies, would the opposite be a possibility? Star Trek is also known from its famous holodeck, a virtual reality room where different scenarios could be reproduced and interacted with. The same principle is exposed in more recent series like Virtuality or Caprica. Without even touching the subject of hacked software, which is a real possibility that would be able to reproduce an alternative world of gambling, sex, drugs and violence (as the example of Caprica) without the consent or control of the game publisher, the difference between real and virtual is close to disappearing. Artificial intelligence implemented on NPCs (Non-Player Characters) is already so advanced that they do not only move or follow the player, but also hide and sneak behind the main character, they call for help when they see the player, and possess many other characteristics that until not long ago were a privilege that only humans could enjoy. MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) are the new way of experiencing video-games. As amazing as Artificial Intelligence in NPC may be nowadays, the experience of challenging real humans is much more addictive than playing solo. All three major contenders in the video game market (Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony) have gone to great lengths to allow for a rich online experience. Microsoft spent billions of dollars over a time span of several years to build what is now the Xbox Live service (Grant, 2006). Regardless of platforms, all major game companies are investing time and money on the best possible multiplayer experience. What this means is that we are not just playing a game against a computer anymore, we are competing with other human players in the biggest

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arena ever dreamt. Furthermore, MMORPGs are, as the name implies, role playing games. A game where the user develops a persona who interacts with other users personas in fantasy worlds, which can be as close or as distant to reality as the game developer wishes. When experienced in an immersive environment, these worlds will eventually be undistinguishable from reality (returning to the movies for examples, The thirteenth floor and Avatar provide images of a very possible future for gamming). Marshal McLuhan talked about the Global Village (McLuhan, 1969) more than forty years ago and referred to the electronic age as a return to a tribal state. According to McLuhan, the medium IS the message. What he means is that the medium may have more influence on us than the message itself, and he supports his statement by dividing time in four different eras: Tribal, literate, print and electronic. What he could not have predicted is that the electronic age can also be divided in different eras in what concerns to media. For McLuhan, electronic was one medium. It is not. We now talk about traditional media and new media. The electronic age comprehends both, and emphasizes new media, a collection of medium that were not available before. The idea of Global Village refers to a community without boundaries, independent from space and time. That has been experienced for the last decade with the proliferation of the internet. The term does not have pretensions to extrapolate over different types of electronic media, it refers only to the exchange of messages over an electronic channel. But the new media brings a palette of new medium. A great part of the population of earth is (or may be) connected and is able to interact in synchronous or asynchronous ways. That refers to the internet. To the World Wide Web, eMail, chat services; but these are channels over which messages can be passed. The term New media refers to an amount of new channels and ways of transmitting messages (and even new messages) that were not available before. It was not even predictable that two people in opposite sides of the world would eventually be able to meet in a third place, when

The Dangers of Immersion this third place does not even possess a physical existence. This happens every day in Second Life or Worlds of War Craft. Where the first consists of a world for simple communication and interaction, the second is a source of alliances and rivalry. The electronic age can itself be divided in different ages. Disregarding everything

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apart from what is related to computer games, as other advances in technology fall outside the scope of this article, this division starts with the personal computer, text games, games based on 2D graphics, games based on 3D graphics, near-photorealistic games, real-time online games and vitual/augmented reality. Real-time virtual reality games fall in a group of their own, since the experience is radically different from everything behind. Basic computer games allow for little more immersion than a typical board game. Nevertheless, board games offer real-time interaction with other players, and some of them create feeling that in some people may be enough to change, at least temporarily, the relationship between two people (Intrigue, for example, by Donald X. Vaccarino, is known for altering emotion among players (Boardgamegeek). Allow me to rapidly change the subject in order to exemplify the effects of games in people. Even relatively pacific non-electronic games, like soccer, are known to bring violence to people, and in most cases it is not even the players that experience this violence, but the audience. Examples of hooliganism have been seen all over the world, turning a voluntary recreational activity into a battle field. This fact is based on the competition between different factions and the real-time action filled with several strong stimuli to every sense (noise, lights, music, even touch and smell) that increases the levels of adrenaline. Soccer has been known to change ordinary peaceful people into nervous hooligans. Even if they return to their normal selves when they return home, the game experience (or even the game-watching experience) is enough to completely alter a persons behavior. The effects of a peaceful soccer game have given rise to more violent than the most violent of computer games.

The Dangers of Immersion What happens when computer games and game interaction reaches levels of realism close to playing or watching a live soccer or hockey game? If traditional friendly games are enough to turn a honest working man into a hooligan, just because he is watching, hearing, feeling the game, a violent computer game with the same amount of

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immersion may well allow for levels of adrenaline and violence that have never been seen before. The following facts may contribute to violence: 1 People are totally immersed in the game. Everything they see, hear, smell of feel regards to the game experience, not to the real environment that surrounds the player (of which he is unconscious). 2 Games contain more violence than they used to contain in the beginning of video game history. With the increase of realism, there is an increase in the effects of violence shown. 3 Games are played against other human players, not against Artificial Intelligence enabled bots. This may have an effect in the relationships between players, who may be playing in different parts of the world or in the same room. 4 Besides from the extreme amounts of adrenaline that may be produced during game play, the effects derived from the frustration of losing the game will be much higher when the player has to return to reality, instead of leaving the game but being already in reality. 5 Video games can be addictive. When it becomes possible to have a faithful parallel world at the distance of a button, people who may be discontent with their own lives may have problems switching off the machine and going back to reality. This change of realities may be felt as a negative experience. Conclusion Traditional non-violent games have been responsible, even if only temporarily, by the raise of anxiety on players. Violence in traditional media has been a major concern for

The Dangers of Immersion the last decades. If a truly immersive experience is provided for an already violent game, the real concern will be about to start. It is not hard to imagine gangs and clans being formed inside a game and their actions transpiring to the outside world.

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I do not think it is ever too much to repeat that even if violence in media may have some effect on real life violence, this effect is minimal if not combined with other factors like genetics, sex, age or social surroundings and background. But with really immersive experiences, violence in video games may turn out to be a factor as important as any other, or even more important. Furthermore, violence in immersive games may function as a trigger for a behavioral conduct that would not happen otherwise. By this I do not mean to stop progress in the video game experiences. On the opposite, I believe immersion is one of the very important subjects in human-computer interaction that should be developed in the next few years. A game is a recreational experience, and the more fun it can be made to provide, the better. Also, higher levels of immersion in serious games will contribute to a better effect and better chances of achieving the games intentions. I am solely saying that if violence in video games was a factor of concern for many people, this is the time to start considering the effects that that same violence will have in a few years time. And instead of stopping violence in video games as long as there is a reason for that violence to be included it would be more important to concentrate and minimize the other factors that make people affected by it. Video game violence is not more than a spark that lights when we start the game and goes off when we finish. If the player has no explosives, the spark will just act as a beautiful, light firework.

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References Anderson, C. A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Rowell Huesmann, L., Johnson, J. D., Linz, D., Malamuth, N. M., Wartella, E. (2003). The Influence of Media Violence In Youth (Vol. 4, No. 3), American Psychological Society, p.81, Boardgamegeek. Intrigue,Boardgamegeek, http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/265/intrigue Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow The Psychology of Optimal Experience, HarperCollins e-books Gerbner, G. (1998). Cultivation Analysis: An Overview, Temple University Grant, C. (2006). Sony declares "full-on assault" on Xbox Live, http://www.joystiq.com/2006/01/31/sony-declares-full-on-assault-on-xbox-live McLuhan, M. (1969). The Playboy Interview: Marshall McLuhan, Playboy Magazine Rhodes, R. (2000). The Media Violence Myth, Rolling Stone Magazine Shanahan, J. (1998). Television and Authoritarism: Exploring the Concept of Mainstreaming, Cornell University