The university of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, has made public the results of one of its latest studies: Players of so-called ‘Killerspiele’ like Counter-Strike actually don’t like the military or war more than those who don’t. They asked 5000 people, 4500 of which were gamers, about their views on the military, war and terrorism and found out that the answers don’t really depend on whether or not that person plays videogames. The person’s age, education, aggressiveness and their stance on authority on the other hand are important.
The study didn’t stop there, they also analyzed the most popular FPS games on the market in terms of content. Most of the 166 games they analyzed were focused either on the Second World War or the Vietnam War. The portrayal of modern, more recent or ongoing conflicts is quite rare and is most of the time replaced by a fictional war.
So, in the end, videogamers don’t like violence, wars and terrorism any more than the average person? Who knew? Seriously though, was that study really necessary? I mean, it is kind of obvious that videogames don’t just change your view on things like that. On the other hand, studies like these are always welcome arguments you can use in certain discussions.
Killerspiele machen keine Lust auf Krieg [Financial Times Deutschland via Gamestar]
