PLAYING WITHHow do computer games infl uence FIREthe player? Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen & Jonas Heide Smith NORDICOM The International Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research Clearinghouse on Children, Youth Göteborg University and Media Box 713, SE 405 30 Göteborg, Sweden NORDICOM Göteborg University 2004 Telephone: +46 31 773 10 00 Fax: +46 31 773 46 55 E-mail: [email protected] www.nordicom.gu.se ISBN 91-89471-27-X The International The International Clearinghouse Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, at on Children, Youth and Media A UNESCO INITIATIVE 1997 Nordicom Göteborg University Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG, Sweden In 1997, the Nordic Information Centre for Media and Web site: Communication Research (Nordicom), Göteborg http://www.nordicom.gu.se University Sweden, began establishment of the International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and DIRECTOR: Ulla Carlsson Media, financed by the Swedish government and SCIENTIFIC CO-ORDINATOR: UNESCO. The overall point of departure for the Cecilia von Feilitzen Tel:+46 8 608 48 58 Clearinghouse’s efforts with respect to children, youth Fax:+46 8 608 41 00 and media is the UN Convention on the Rights of the E-mail: [email protected] Child. INFORMATION CO-ORDINATOR: The aim of the Clearinghouse is to increase Catharina Bucht awareness and knowledge about children, youth and Tel: +46 31 773 49 53 media, thereby providing a basis for relevant policy- Fax: +46 31 773 46 55 making, contributing to a constructive public debate, E-mail: [email protected] and enhancing children’s and young people’s media literacy and media competence. Moreover, it is hoped that the Clearinghouse’s work will stimulate further THE CLEARINGHOUSE IS LOCATED AT NORDICOM research on children, youth and media. The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth Nordicom is an organ of co-operation between the Nordic and Media informs various groups of users – countries – Denmark, Finland, researchers, policy-makers, media professionals, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The voluntary organisations, teachers, students and overriding goal and purpose is to interested individuals – about make the media and communication efforts undertaken in the Nordic countries known, both throughout • research on children, young people and and far beyond our part of the media, with special attention to media world. violence Nordicom uses a variety of chan- nels – newsletters, journals, books, databases – to reach researchers, • research and practices regarding media students, decisionmakers, media education and children’s/young people’s practitioners, journalists, teachers participation in the media and interested members of the general public. Nordicom works to establish and • measures, activities and research concerning strengthen links between the children’s and young people’s media Nordic research community and environment. colleagues in all parts of the world, both by means of unilateral flows and by linking individual Fundamental to the work of the Clearinghouse is the researchers, research groups and creation of a global network. The Clearinghouse institutions. publishes a yearbook and a newsletter. Several Nordicom also documents media bibliographies and a worldwide register of organisations trends in the Nordic countries. The concerned with children and media have been compiled. joint Nordic information addresses users in Europe and further afield. This and other information is available on the The production of comparative Clearinghouse’s web site: www.nordicom.gu.se/ media statistics forms the core of clearinghouse.html this service. Nordicom is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers. PLAYING WITH How do computer games infl uence FIREthe player? Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen & Jonas Heide Smith The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media NORDICOM Göteborg University 2004 Playing with Fire How do Computer Games Influence the Player Authors: Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen and Jonas Heide Smith © The authors and Nordicom ISBN 91-89471-27-x Published by: The International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media Nordicom Göteborg University Box 713 SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG Sweden Cover by: Karin Persson Printed by: Grafikerna Livréna i Kungälv AB, Sweden, 2004 Contents Foreword 5 Introduction 7 The Report 8 Background 8 Research Directions 12 Active User Perspectives 12 Important Studies 15 Problems with the Active User Perspective 17 Active Media Perspectives 18 Theoretical Background of the Active Media Perspective 19 Major Studies on Aggression 21 Other Questions 24 Problems with the Active Media Perspective 30 The Laboratory is not An Everyday Situation 30 Problems of Causality 30 The Effects Research Forgets that Computer Games are not All the Same 31 General Criticism 31 Summary 33 Do Violent Games Lead to Violent Behaviour? 34 Is it Possible to Become Addicted to Computer Games? 34 Are Some Groups Particularly Vulnerable? 34 Notes 35 References 35 The Authors 39 3 Foreword In the debate on children, youth and computer games, the question of whether computer games are harmful is often posed. The answers provided are many and varying, making it easy to interpret the research results as contradictory. Ques- tions concerning the harmfulness of computer games often seek simple “yes” or “no” answers, while the research reveals a more complicated picture. Different investigations also have their starting point in different perspectives and ques- tions, which may explain the confusion. With an aim to clarify and bring some order to the area, the Danish Media Council for Children and Young People has conducted an investigation that pro- vides some insight into children’s and young people’s use of computer games. The investigation is based, among other things, on a picture of the scientific sta- tus of computer games and harmfulness as well as on an overview of the consid- erations other countries have made concerning regulation in the area. The origi- nal report Forskningsnotat om computerspil og skadelighed (Egenfeldt-Nielsen & Smith, 2003) is available at www.medieraadet.dk. Nordicom’s International Clearinghouse for Children, Youth and Media con- sidered the report to be of interest to a wider audience and sought collaboration with the Danish Media Council for Children and Young People concerning pub- lishing of the report. The authors, Simon Egenfelt-Nielsen and Jonas Heide Smith, have done some revising and updating of the report, which is now available in English. It is our hope that the report will contribute to clarification in the debate on computer games and inspire further research in the area. Göteborg and Copenhagen in November 2004 Ulla Carlsson Susanne Boe Director Director The International Clearinghouse The Danish Media Council for on Children, Youth and Media Children and Young People 5 Introduction As a medium, the computer game is currently in a period of rapid development. From a design point of view, video games are becoming more complex and they are rapidly spreading to new platforms such as mobile phones, pocket computers, and websites. From a cultural point of view, they are becoming more visible and more difficult to write off as merely a youth phenomenon. From an economic point of view, games are attracting increasing interest, with the industry showing rapid growth rates and global turnover of approximately $17 billion p.a. (ELSPA, 2002). This report looks at games from what might be termed the effects perspective – in other words, it focuses on the potential negative effects of computer games1 on the player. The question we pose to the extant literature is this: Do computer games have negative effects on their players? The question of whether a particular medium has negative effect on its users is a notoriously difficult one to answer; it has been the subject of a great deal of debate for decades. It should be said by way of introduction, then, that as far as computer games are concerned, there is no clear and unequivocal answer to that question and in fact, a variety of different, often conflicting answers have been proposed. This report summarizes the research already conducted on the subject and places it in a theoretical context. This is necessary in order to make under- standable research results that might appear contradictory at first glance. When the issue of potential negative effects of computer games is raised in public debate, it often happens in relation to the possible connection between violent games and aggressive behaviour on the part of the player. For this rea- son, much of the research into the effects of video games has revolved around that particular subject. This report, however, will also touch on other aspects of the negative effects of computer games, such as anxiety and the deterioration of social relationships. This report divides the research into two main areas, which are dealt with separately and then summarized. A) Research which poses the basic question ‘What do people do to media?’ This area of research is based on the idea that media consumption must be understood in its natural context. Importantly, it also stresses that media users use and make sense of media on the basis of their personalities and social situations. Researchers within this tradition rarely focus directly on the advantages or disadvantages of particular media developments. We refer to this research tradition as the Active User tradition. 7 B) Research which poses the basic question ‘What do media do to people?’ This area of research assumes that media form or content has a predictable effect on media users. It builds upon the idea that media users are similar enough to allow for generalizations from studies of very limited samples (in the case of experimental studies) or larger samples drawn from special groups (in the case of surveys conducted among college students, for in- stance). Thus, it downplays the importance of subjectivity and individual interpretation for the issue of media effects. This tradition often – but far from always – looks for negative media effects2. We refer to this research tradition as the Active Media tradition.