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Game developers may want to take note—Toning down graphic violence might actually benefit the bottom line.

“Much of the debate about game violence has pitted the assumed commercial value of violence against social concern about the harm it may cause,” explains Scott Rigby, president of Immersyve. “Our study shows that the violence may not be the real value component, freeing developers to design away from violence while at the same time broadening their market.
Both seasoned video gamers and novices players say they prefer games where they can conquer obstacles, feel effective, and have lots of choices about their strategies and actions. Richard Ryan, a motivational psychologist at Rochester who co-led the study, says those elements are the core reasons people find games so entertaining and compelling. “Conflict and war are a common and powerful context for providing these experiences, but it is the need satisfaction in the gameplay that matters more than the violent content itself.”

To assess players’ experiences on a wide variety of games, the authors conducted two survey studies involving 2,670 frequent video game players, rating the satisfaction they received from playing their favorite games. Four additional experimental studies involving more than 300 undergraduates allowed the investigators to study the effects of violence under controlled conditions. In three of the tests, researchers modified the video programs to create violent or non-violent formats of the same game. One study used the commercially available game Half-Life 2 and assigned subjects to play either a bloody battle against computer-controlled adversaries or a low-violence alternative, in which the robots were tagged and teleported serenely back to base.

Another study using House of the Dead III varied the gore level from no blood to realistic wounds and graphic violence. Across all of the studies and both surveys, violent content added little and in some cases detracted from the enjoyment reported by players. Violent content was preferred, though This same research team has been studying the factors that motivate people to play games of all types, both as casual players or intense long-term fans.

“Initially, many games are perceived as being fun,” Rigby says. “Much of our work is focused on understanding when games reach to deeper levels of satisfaction that often sustain engagement over time, and to identify both the healthy and unhealthy aspects of that play.”

University of Rochester news: www.rochester.edu/news