Violent video games &

videogame addiction
Jeffrey Goldstein
University College Utrecht
J.Goldstein@uu.nl
8 December 2009
Does playing violent video
games cause aggressive
behavior?
 Playing VIOLENT video
games?
“In violent video games, aggression
is often the main goal, and killing
adversaries means winning the game
and reaping the benefits. While in
real life, murder is a crime, in a
violent video game, murder is the
most reinforced behavior…. The
violent video game player is an
active aggressor…and the players’
[learn] new and varied aggressive
alternatives.” - K. Dill & J. Dill. Video game
violence. 1998
Playing violent video games and
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR?

Measures of aggression
 Aggressive play (Cooper & Mackie, 1986)
 Hitting a bobo doll (Schutte et al., 1988)
 Children’s interpretations of ambiguous stories
(Kirsh, 1998)
 Listing aggressive thoughts and feelings (Calvert &
Tan, 1994)
 Withholding money from another (Winkel et al., 1987)
 ‘Killing’ characters in a video game (Anderson &
Morrow (1995)
 Word recognition (Anderson & Dill, 2000)
 Punishing another with white noise (Bushman &
Anderson 2007)
What’s missing from research?

 Missing from research is any acknowledgment

that video game players freely engage in play

 Playing video games is largely social

 Video games as entertainment

 Attractions of violent entertainment

 Video games are social
 Violent entertainment appeals primarily to males
in groups. These are social occasions, suitable
for ‘male bonding’ and communicating a
masculine identity. Boys may play violent video
games alone in their rooms, but they are certain
to talk about them with their friends.
 Young people bring entertainment to bear on
their concerns with identity, belonging and
independence. Nearly all their public behavior –
the clothes they wear, the music they listen to,
and the games they play – has a social purpose.
The stereotype of the average gamer as
an
inactive, overweight, socially isolated
adolescent …
…is false on all counts.
 Video game addiction?
 No official medical diagnosis
of video game addiction
from the AMA, APA, or WHO
 Estimates of how many
players might be addicted to
video games vary from 1%
of players up to 30%
 VG addiction is usually
measured with a modified
scale from DSM-IV
 World of Warcraft is played
by more people than the
population of Denmark and
Norway combined
 addiction
Core symptoms:
 withdrawal (negative effects after cessation)
 relapse and reinstatement (resumption after
abstinence)
 conflict (with others or self)
 behavioral sallience (dominant activity)

Peripheral symptoms: (engagement)

 tolerance ( increase in activity over time)
 euphoria (emotional, physiological consequences)
 cognitive salience (think often about the activity)

- Charlton & Danforth. 2007. Computers in Human Behavior

 The Game Addiction Scale
(Lemmens
How often during the last six months:
2009)
 did you think about playing a game all day long? (Salience)
 did you spend increasing amounts of time on games? (Tolerance)
 did you play games to forget about real life? (Mood Modification)
 have others unsuccessfully tried to reduce your game use? (Relapse)
 have you felt bad when you were unable to play? ((Withdrawal )
 did you have fights with others (e.g., family, friends) over your time spent
on games? (Conflict)
 have you neglected other important activities (e.g., school, work, sports) to
play games? (Problems)

Response options were: (1) never, (2) rarely, (3) sometimes, (4) often, (5) very often.

from Lemmens, Jeroen S., Patti M. Valkenburg, & Jochem Peter. (2009). Development and validation of a
game addiction scale for adolescents. Media Psychology, 12, 77-95
 7,000 online players of EverQuest2 were found to be
physically more healthy, but to suffer from more
depression than the general population
 The main motives for play were achievement,
immersion in the game, and social
 Playing video games may be a coping strategy
 Making the connection…
What behavior is reinforced when playing a violent video
game? Media effects researchers say it is aggressive
behavior. (Although players are not actually aggressive.)
The behavior that is reinforced is PLAY, and
therefore the tendency to play grows stronger with
play experience. This results in engagement, a prerequisite
for addiction.
Further information:

L. Kutner & C. Olson.

2008.
Grand Theft Childhood.
Simon &
Schuster.