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Studies find that non-violent games improve gamers' social behavior

Posted Apr 8, 2009 at 11:05AM EST by Glenn M.

Listed in: News Tags: Pinball, Super Mario

While violent video games are getting bombarded with criticism and even legislations, an Iowa State research team finds that non-violent games may enhance pro-social behavior in players. The team, from the Insciences Organisation, conducted a study and found that players who play prosocial games behave more prosocially than those who play other forms.

By prosocial games, they mean games such as Chibi Robo, and Super Mario Sunshine - the actual games that they used for the study. The research team was led by Douglas Gentile, and overseen by Craig Anderson, who are often critical of violent video games.

As reported by Insciences:

College students... who were randomly assigned to play prosocial games (Chibi Robo and Super Mario Sunshine) behaved more prosocially... in a subsequent task than those who played either neutral (Pure Pinball and Super Monkey Ball Deluxe) or violent video games (Ty2 or Crash Trinsanity). Those who played the violent games engaged in more harmful behaviors...

"Video games are not inherently good or bad," wrote the researchers in the paper. "Video games can have both positive and negative effects.

"Content matters, and games are excellent teachers," they continued. "Violent content in video games can lead people to behave more aggressively. Prosocial content, in contrast, can lead people to behave in a more cooperative and helpful manner."

As far as "prosocial" games go, they didn't mention any criteria on how a game would qualify as prosocial, at least not in the abstract. Furthermore, the study is a correlation, and that it doesn't actually prove that such games indeed improve gamer sociability. You may hit this link and read the abstract for yourself.

More studies:

Via Insciences

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Studies studies studies... Hey what? Crash twinsanity is violent? I thought it had a more social side to that iteration of the series, you know, with the whole sworn enemies team up thing. I'd possibly consider Mario spraying high pressure water in your eye a bit more 'violent'. And hey they used monkey ball! A perfect example to put forward having monkeys in over sized hamster balls, ah the irony.

So many studies these days on video games, mostly negative on our behalf but meh, gotta have some positive sides mentionned sometime.

# It's a fix! — apex05 2009-04-09 00:48

Isn't it funny how the results of these studies always reflect the beliefs of the people funding it. I'm not saying things are made up, but they always interpret the figures how they want, i wouldn't be surprised if there was some religious group behind this.

# =) — SchmilK 2009-04-09 02:25

I woke up 2 hours early and had a delightful time playing Little Big Planet for the first time this morning in bed while my wife giggled at the silly dances I was doing and pointed out bubbles that I didnt see that I could grab...I feel refreshed and looking forward to getting back home to play some more ... not like the frustration of trying to kill radec on veteran difficulty in killzone 2...ARRRRRGGGHHH i could just strangle someone after the 6 hours of trying and dying on that one ...

# LOL? — Andershizzle 2009-04-09 07:14

Last time I punched somebody was in 1st grade and we were both little and he hit me with a crochet stick. Other than that I've never engaged in any violence in my life.

I play violent games ALL day.

How does this study relate to me? Go ***** yourself.

# Hmm... — JediKnightJace 2009-04-09 08:16

I try to play the less violent games (no GTA, Postal or even Fallout for me), and I've never told ANYONE to "Go *****" themselves.

Not exactly a pro-social thing to say, is it? ;)

I don't so I'm not judging you, but it's just something to think about.

# correction — JediKnightJace 2009-04-09 08:18

*That's supposed to say "I don't know you, so I'm not judging you".

# @ Relinquisher — Matt-N 2009-04-09 09:49

I think you'll find you fall into the 'Nitpicking' category then... don't you?

Thanks for commenting... and proving my point.

Have a nice day!

# Just to cover all of your bases... — Galduke 2009-04-10 10:00

Try testing family friendly games like Spelunker on the NES or F-Zero GX on the GameCube and see how passive the test subjects stay.

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