Behavioural realism and the activation of aggressive concepts in violent video games
Introduction
Realism is a game’s ability “to mimic things that exist, or events that have happened in real life” [38]. Since the early 1970s, researchers have argued that the more ‘real’ on-screen violence in television and film seems, the more aggressive viewers themselves are likely to become (e.g. [26]). This link between realism and aggressive behaviour has extended into accounts of the potential effects of VVGs. For instance [9] links the increased realism of modern VVGs to potentially increased effects, writing that “theoretically, violent video game graphics quality could be related to aggression-related variables, as they are more graphically enhanced to depict violent acts and blood in great detail and quality.”. This view, that greater realism may lead to more aggressive behaviour, is echoed throughout the VVG literature (e.g. [37]).
Despite this theoretical rationale, experimental evidence for a link between realism and VVG effects has thus far proved weak. Several experiments have attempted to clarify the effects of realism on the players of VVGs. These experiments have produced mixed or otherwise inconclusive results. However, it is important to note that previous research has largely focused on the effects of graphical realism in VVGs (e.g. [33], [47]). Graphical realism refers to the ability of video games to visually resemble real people, places and things. This is not the only way that video games can be realistic. By contrast, behavioural realism refers to the ability of things in a video game to behave like things in the real world [17]. The effects of behavioural realism on aggression-related variables have not yet been investigated in an experimental context. The experiments presented here address this important gap in the literature.
Experiment 1 investigated whether making in-game enemies behave realistically via the use of ragdoll physics increased the activation of aggressive concepts in players. A bespoke first-person shooter (FPS) game was made, and then manipulated so that it formed two different experimental conditions. In one of these conditions, the implementation of ragdoll physics gave enemies dynamic and physically realistic death behaviours. In the other condition, these deaths were instead animated via less realistic (and non-dynamic) pre-recorded animation sequences. The results of a large online experiment (n = 898) indicated that the use of ragdoll physics did not increase the activation of aggressive concepts.
Experiment 2 investigated the effects of a different form of behavioural realism. This experiment looked at the effects of realistic non-player character (NPC) tactics on the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. In this game, two versions of a bespoke FPS game were again created. In one condition NPC enemies behaved according to realistic squad-based tactics, whilst in the other condition they used less realistic, simpler behaviours. Results of a large online experiment (n = 1880) indicated that more realistic NPC tactics may lead to marginally less activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs, but they certainly do not lead to more.
When taken together, these experiments suggest that greater behavioural realism does not necessarily lead to greater amounts of the activation of aggressive concepts in VVGs. This provides further evidence that increases to the realism of VVGs may not necessarily lead to similar increases in their antisocial effects.
Section snippets
Graphical realism and behavioural realism
Realism refers to a game’s ability to imitate the real world. This term is often used to describe the quality of a game’s graphics. A variety of technological innovations in modern VVGs can be used to make these games look more like their real world counterparts. For instance, the increasing processing power of modern computers allows them to render 3D models which use ever larger numbers of polygons. This has allowed the transition of objects in VVGs from simple geometric shapes to “more
General discussion
The results of both experiments described above strongly conflict with the idea that increasing the behavioural realism of VVGs leads to similar increases in their aggression-related effects.
In Experiment 1, increasing the behavioural realism of a VVG through ragdoll physics had little effect on the activation of aggressive concepts. A large sample size was used here (n = 898). However, the effect of behavioural realism between conditions was so small (η2 = 0.0003) that no significant
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