Violent Videogames Not More Enjoyable

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester in New York has concluded that violence in videogame does not make them more enjoyable. The study reveals that games are enjoyed because they offer people the ability to interact and work together and to feel effective and make decisions, not because of violent content.

Lead author Andrew Przybylski says "The reason why children gravitate to something like 'Halo,' 'Halo 3' or 'World of Warcraft' or 'Team Fortress' isn't necessarily because they want to get at the blood or the acts of violence. What they're really chasing is having their psychological needs met. Cranking up the violence knob doesn't automatically make a game automatically more fun."

One portion of the study involved a two modified versions of Half-Life 2. One of them was violent, and the other non-violent replicating a game of tag rather than a shooter, these were used to assess enjoyment levels. The research showed the generally the violent version was no more enjoyable. There was an exception to this however, as a sub-group of 'aggressive' participants found the violent game more enjoyable. These gamers accounted for only 5% of the total participants. "They didn't really experience more pleasure when they were pulling the trigger, but when they were given the choice of what to do next, they opted in to playing again at a higher rate than individuals who were lower in aggression."

"The research convincingly shows that there is no relation between amount of violence in a game and the enjoyment experienced by the players, once opportunities for satisfying competence needs and autonomy needs have been equated in violent and non-violent games" Przybylski said. He recommended that developers focus on satisfying the gamers psychological needs by making them feel competent.