Study By Kansas State University Demonstrate First Person Shooters Causing Temporary Periods of Aggressiveness and Adverse Psychological Effects

First Person Shooters is a genre of videogames that have become
extremely popular since the start of the 21st century.

First Person Shooter, a term used to describe a genre of video games in which the primary gameplay is centered at shooting some entity whether that be an animal, human, or even futuristic aliens, all in a first person perspective. However, just how much can playing these video games affect us? The department of psychology in Kansas State dug deep into this controversial genre to test just that. An approach called “The General Aggression Model (GAM)” measured the  physiological arousal, state hostility, and how aggressive participants who played first-person shooters were after an hour gaming session.  Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman, the men who created the GAM, concluded:

The individual difference variables and the exposure to that violent video game interact to increase the aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings, and physiological arousal of that person. Those three internal state variables interact to lead to a decision process that could lead to an impulsive decision

While playing and being exposed to these violent video games, aggressiveness and other physiological arousal occur for the duration of gameplay. The GAM did not conclude any of these symptoms being permanent, causing violence, or being a factor in one's daily life after a gaming session. There is a risk however to these temporary effects as individuals may react differently. With prolonged gameplay, violent video games can cause mild to severe symptoms such as headache, anger, sweat, increased blood pressure, and heart palpitations (Weaver 2003).

According to a survey from 22 respondents on reddit's gaming forum, most players who do feel aggressiveness or adverse psychological from playing first person shooters only feel the effects during gameplay and never more than 20 minutes. Another 30 respondents from students at the University of Maryland College Park were asked whether they feel these effects can be prolonged or are strictly temporary and the majority answered the latter.

Duration of time reddit and UMD players felt any form of aggressiveness and/or adverse cognitive effects while playing First Person Shooters.

Several Factors Can Contribute to These Effects but Graphics is Not One of Them 

This video game genre has been around for well over two decades and is among the most popular and profitable. From shooting pixelated nazis in 1992's Wolfenstein 3D to crashing photo realistic physics based terrain in 2013's Battlefield 4, FPS has certainly evolved over time. The core of the FPS genre is essentially still the same however, a first-person perspective shooter. Claims about realistic graphics as being the cause for aggressiveness amongst players couldn't be further from the truth. To note, there have been claims as far back as the early 2000's criticizing FPS video games for their violence and realism and this was when the genres graphics were primitive compared to today's. Former US army ranger LT Col. David. Grossman says "video-games violence is making killers out of some children", this was a statement from an interview in 2002. The core gameplay for most first person shooters is by their nature violent. It wouldn't be surprising seeing a player getting angry when their characters face is blown off 5 times in a row by an enemy and currently there isn't sufficient evidence that a players anger is prolonged or causes violence. Vaughan Bell, clinical and research psychologist at King's College, London , says "The verdict from the now considerable body of scientific research is not that video games are a new and ominous threat to society but that anything in excess will cause us problems."

Graphics have greatly improved for first person shooters
over time but the core mechanics are still the same.

New generations of video game consoles revolutionized the first-person shooting industry in both graphics and game play options. First person shooters are now typically played online where users can fight one another, a feat not possible on a wide scale 20 years ago. It isn't the realism introduced with these games that might trigger negative effects to the players but rather the core gameplay mechanics, social environments, and prolonged game play. Studies suggest that in just 30 minutes of playing violent game in an online environment, one’s behavior can become slightly more hostile (Weaver, 2003). As gamers grew so did the technology and online play adds new social stresses combined with the already present stress these types of games bring. This results in negative aspects such as anger, depression, and loss in attention span with prolonged periods of gaming time with first-person shooters (Dolan, 2012).

First Person Shooters Are Becoming More and More Popular

Violent first person shooters such as  Call of Duty are becoming increasingly popular with every release. It has become almost a trend to get the newest Call of Duty in the video gaming world every single year. In fact, Gamefly, a website where one can rent video games online, usually has some type of FPS genre as their highest rented games. This shouldn't be surprising since violence as being popular in America's media is nothing new, it has been around since the 1910’s. It's seen in many forms of media as well such as movies. “Saw” a horror movie franchise has had 6 sequels since its original in 2004. Despite the lack of difference between the sequels they are all considered nationwide successes. Violence in video games are now evolving because of the increase in their budget. First person shooters can have budgets that exceed modern day movies. These factors lead to first-person shooters being around for a very long time so it’s inevitable that a lot of people will continue to play them.

The Future and How Virtual Reality May Be a Concern for Video Game Developers

Although the realism in first person shooters are not necessarily the culprit, virtual reality gaming is unknown territory and VR developers are being cautious in its development. Recently sony removed a suicide option in its upcoming VR headset project morpheus. "The medium is so powerful, so we need to be careful with what we provide" says Yoshida a developer of project morpheus. Its clear that the immersion VR is bringing will undoubtedly affect the experience gamers have with first person shooters but with these recent claims it's safe to assume the experience will have much more of an impact than just starring at those pretty graphics from afar. 

Playing first person shooters are a past time many of us gamers like to enjoy but players should be mindful on the temporary effects they may have on them. It isn't abnormal to get angry whilst playing these games but there are small risks such as heart palpitations being a concern. It is also highly unlikely that a sane individual would cause real world violence from playing these games simply because their effect on us isn't to that point yet and hopefully never will be. It will be interesting in seeing how the genre develops over the next decade as new technologies and game play mechanics immerse players in this genre.

Environmental Performance Index by Yale University

Environmental Performance Index

I think this is a good example of interactive visualization of data because of the amount of information shown in a condensed format. Although the website is a little slow, it gives you interesting information about the environment for each country in the world. The slider at the bottom of the world map illustrates the EPI for each country from greatest to small and when a country is clicked, even more detailed information is displayed such as air quality and health impacts.

Studies By Trinity University Determine Massively Multiplayer Online Games Increase Cognitive Performance

Cognition is activities of  understanding, thinking, learning, and remembering
(Webster)

With the on-going growth of technology, videos games have evolved to more than just a single player or coop experience. Studies from Trinity University have determined Massively Multiplayer Online Games not only promote increase in social interaction and critical problem solving, but overall cognitive growth. Online Games catering real players simultaneously is what is defined as an MMO(Massively Multiplayer Online Game), these types of video games encompass all kinds of genres, from RPG's to Shooters. With technology growing at a rapid rate, users are affected by many different forms of media. With people having a constant need for distraction, such as college students with heavy work loads, MMO's may prove as a beneficial alternative to more passive media like watching T.V or browsing the internet.

An article published by the scientific journal outlet Elsevier  titled  "MMORPGS and Cognitive Performance" was a study conducted on 1280 High School students to determine if MMORPG's had an impact on cognitive performance. The authors Bruno Campello de Souza, Leonardo Xavier de Lima e Silva, and Antonio Roazzi concluded that " MMORPG players tend to be more hyper cultural than their non-playing peers, engaging more not only in games in general but also in the use of almost every type of digital technology." They noticed this was accompanied by evidence of "superior logical and mathematical skills". Their study also concluded this increase in cognitive thinking directly held  positive impact to academic performance. This positive impact was directly related to the time spent playing MMORPG's. The reason why the outcome was so successful is because of the complex thinking involved in playing these games whilst concurrently being in a social environment.

Black Desert Online, a next-gen Korean MMORPG
emphasizes social interaction

When playing an MMO, you are interacting with media in ways that simply aren't possible compared to more passive media. This interactment will ultimately affect the user in a multitude of ways. Communities and long term friendships have been made in many MMO's and these social interactions help with social skills and cognitive growth, especially amongst adolescents. However, there can be negative affects that MMO's have on users. For example, MMORPG's usually have a large scale group activity called raids in which players gather together in order to destroy boss that is extremely high in difficulty. When in a group such as this, it wouldn't be surprising if the social environment suddenly turned hostile if one user does not play their part.

MMO's are becoming more popular everyday  and affect large amounts of people. The MMOFPS Planetside 2, recently broke the world record for most most online players in a single FPS battle. This type of MMO is usually at a  faster pace than most MMORPG's  and require more team coordination and quick reflexes. Some might view the cognitive benefits that are associated with MMOFPS's as not worth it with the amount of violence the FPS genre is known for. However, the amount of thinking and quick time reflexes involved can prove a good mental exercise. With the constant amounts of rewards and goals, these incentives can give players a sense of accomplishment and a way to release stress.

Is passive media not worth engaging with the lack of cognitive improvement that active media such as MMO's provide? Well it is up to the user to decide that. Passive Media such as T.V comes with its own benefits as well. Although it is not as taxing on the mind as an MMO it can still stimulate come type of cognitive performance. An example of this is the game Jeopardy in which the user at home watching may want to try to answer the questions posted. Another example would be if the user is engaged in a channel that dealt with politics and the economy. Subjects such as those require a deeper understanding to comprehend all the details. Passive media in general is more laid back and mostly requires the user to only retain knowledge and not issue it. This allows the user to even sleep while engaged in them because of the little effort involved with the brain.

Passive Media can require little to no Cognitive Performance

In conclusion, with the fast pace of American culture combined with exhaustive routines of work and school, at the end of the day everyone wants to sit back and relax. Whether this is in the form of active media such as playing MMO's or passive media such as T.V, it is up the the user to decide which is more beneficial and enjoyable. Some might like the relaxing nature of sitting back and watching a movie whilst others enjoy more social environments where users get together for a common purpose. Although passive media is less taxing on the brain and doesn't require much thinking, active media can play a big part is increasing cognitive performance.