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A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves Christopher John Kneifer University of South Florida, [email protected]

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A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves Christopher John Kneifer University of South Florida, Ckneifer@Mail.Usf.Edu University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 7-8-2014 A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves Christopher John Kneifer University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons Scholar Commons Citation Kneifer, Christopher John, "A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves" (2014). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5250 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Comparison Study on Violent Video Games: Explained by the Gamers Themselves by Christopher J. Kneifer A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Mass Communications Strategic Communications Management Department of Mass Communications College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Scott Liu, Ph.D. Jameson Hayes, Ph.D. Kelly Werder, Ph.D. Date of Approval: July 8, 2014 Key Words: Desensitization, Emotion, Empathy, External Validity, Focus Groups, Internal Validity Copyright © 2014, Christopher J. Kneifer Dedication It is with all the love and gratitude I have to give, that I dedicate this thesis to my parents, Karen and John Kneifer for inspiring and encouraging me throughout not just this long journey but my entire life. They provide me with their unconditional love and have taught me through their examples, to never give up and always fight for what I want in life. I may not say it often enough, but I am soo grateful to them and forever proud that I am their son. i Table of Contents Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................ii Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1 Literature Review Why Video Games Were the Chosen Medium....................................................................3 Desensitization/ Emotions...................................................................................................4 The Effects on Children.......................................................................................................9 Empathy.............................................................................................................................10 Psychological & Behavioral Responses.............................................................................11 Short & Long Term Studies...............................................................................................13 Research Questions....................................................................................................................... 15 Methods Focus Groups.....................................................................................................................17 Participants.........................................................................................................................18 Materials............................................................................................................................18 Questions............................................................................................................................19 Procedure...........................................................................................................................22 Results & Analysis.........................................................................................................................24 Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................38 References....................................................................................................................................43 Appendix: Additional Research Data & Transcripts Informed Consent Form.....................................................................................................46 Demographics Information Sheet......................................................................................49 Demographics Sheet Code Book.......................................................................................51 Demographics Excel Sheet................................................................................................52 Violent Group Transcript...................................................................................................53 Non-violent Group Transcript............................................................................................62 ii Abstract This qualitative focus groups analysis examines the harmful effects of violent video games on emotions and behavior by comparing violent video game player’s responses to that of non-violent video game players of the same age group. Research on the effects of video games has been done since the 70s, yet more research is needed to better understand the potentially harmful emotional and behavioral effects of playing violent games, especially from the gamers' perspectives. This thesis presents a qualitative analysis of data obtained from focus group sessions among undergraduate college students. Results of the analysis supports the presence as well as absence of violent video game effects, according to violent and non-violent video gamers' personal experiences and in their own words. 1 “The daily spectacle of atrocious acts has stifled all feeling of pity in the hearts of men. When every hour we see or hear of an act of dreadful cruelty we lose all feeling of humanity.” —Taylor Caldwell, A Pillar of Iron (1965) Introduction Academics have been scrutinizing the potential harmful effects of media violence for over six decades, and recent studies have shown that there is even a direct correlation between a person's emotions and their exposure to intense violence in video games. This study continued on this concept by specifically focusing on examining the steady flow of such violent media in the form of violent video games and how they directly affected the viewer's/ player's behavior, emotions and empathy. It also examined the violent video game players themselves and observed if they were desensitized and more prone to provoking emotions like anger and rage to occur more often than non-violent video game players. The importance of this was, because over 85% of video games nowadays contain at least some minor violence, and approximately half of video games include serious violent actions (Carnagey, 2007). Therefore this is why video game violence research and literature is expanding so rapidly that new studies are being reported almost monthly (Krahé, 2011). Past quantitative research shows that exposure to fictitious media violence through video games can desensitize the player’s emotions to real-world tragedies. However, no qualitative research and studies have been done focusing on the gamer’s own insight into their experiences, which is the purpose of this thesis. It is to collect qualitative data from the gamers themselves to 2 garner better understanding of the effects of violent video games as seen through their eyes, based on their very own experiences with video games. This study focuses on this by utilizing University of South Florida undergraduate students that considered themselves either non-violent or violent video game players. The study begins with a literature review of other studies and research on violent video games and their impact on the gamer, with particular emphasis on emotional desensitization. In addition, the literature on violent video games is mostly quantitative and discussed from the perspective of the researchers through surveys or experiments. However there is very little information on the actual experiences from the gamer's perspectives. Secondly, the method of qualitative research design utilized for this study is a comparison of two different focus groups to examine the effect of the violent video games through the viewpoint of the gamers themselves. Focus groups were the chosen method because of their ability to gather rich, descriptive information from multiple subjects in a single setting. Thirdly, the findings of this study are examined, which revealed that both groups of gamers provided useful data on: (1) the gamer’s perceptions of violent video games effects on the emotions of the players; (2) the effect on behavior; (3) the rating scale for video games and what is considered age appropriate; and (4) what consoles violent/ non-violent games most appear on. Finally the study concludes with the gamer’s perspectives of the accuracy of stereotypes and labels about violent games and their players. 3 Literature Review Why Video Games Were the Chosen Medium In 1982, the US Surgeon General called for research on whether video game violence desensitizes individuals to real violence (Carnagey, 2007). The reason that they called for violent video games instead of violent movies or TV shows is because video game players actually partake in and to some extent create the video game actions that they participate in, rather than simply being a content
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