There’s still all of this silly talk about shooting games and how they make gamers aggressive and violent. I don’t see it. In fact, shooters make me sad because I’m so bad at them. Now driving games? Those make me crazy.
I call it the “Karate Kid” effect, named after the kids that go around kicking and chopping things after watching the movie. I’m like that with racing games in my car. Speeding, cornering, trying to beat my time, and powersliding for points — I can’t help it. Sega Rally would almost drive me to hit the dirt in my car.
A new study shows that I’m not completely crazy. Researchers at Huddersfield University in the UK will present findings this week that show that driving games provoke a higher aggressive response than violent games do. Their study used some unnamed FPS, a table tennis game, and Project Gotham Racing compare. Turns out that PGR caused the greatest change in heart rate and brain activity. And believe it or not, the shooter caused the least.
So, even table tennis brought about a higher aggressive response than shooters? Damn, I gotta get that game.
[Via GamePolitics]
