Playing 3D video games may be one of the coolest forms of entertainment these days, but they also make players more vulnerable to being violent, a study suggests.
A study conducted by the researchers of Ohio State University revealed although video gamers have a higher tendency to become angrier, those who play 3D are more vulnerable to violence than those who are into 2D gaming.
According to one of the author s of the study and communication and psychology professor of the university, this may be because 3D gaming is more immersive. This means that players feel more involved in violence than they do in other video game formats.
Along with Robert Lul, Bushman worked with almost 200 college students, of which around 66% were women. They then asked participants to play for 15 minutes Grand Theft Auto IV, a very popular video game with an action-adventure storyline. It features a major storyline where characters had to move up in criminal underworld by following orders from mobsters and other high-profile criminals. Thus, players often play as assassins in the video game.
To establish control groups, the authors then divided into two, where 50% of them were asked to be a violent gamer, which means they had to kill as many opponents as they can given the limited time. Others, meanwhile, were instructed to be nonviolent.
They also played the games in various video formats and screen sizes, including a 17- and 96-inch screens for 2D gaming and 96-inch TV for 3D gaming. Players also wore 3D glasses.
After the games, researchers then asked the players to evaluate their mood, especially their level of irritation or anger from 1 to 5. Based on their findings, screen sizes don't matter. Those who played 2D in a nonviolent manner either of the screens had very low mood self-evaluations.
Meanwhile, those who were asked to play violently also scored quite high in anger level than those who didn't whether they played in 2D or 3D. However, those who played violently using 3D gaming have higher anger scores than violent 2D gamers.
