Steakboy42

I gotta call shenanigans on this one.

Article

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- People who play car racing video games may be more prone to drive recklessly and get into accidents, according to a study that adds to evidence that video games can influence the behavior of some players.

The study by German researchers published on Sunday examined the effect these games, featuring realistic driving environments with players often racing through city and suburban traffic, affect people who play them.

"Driving actions in these games often include competitive and reckless driving, speeding and crashing into other cars or pedestrians, or performing risky stunts with the vehicle. In short, most actions in racing games imply a very high risk of having an accident or severe crash in a highly realistic virtual road traffic environment," the researchers wrote.

The researchers first questioned 198 men and women. Those who played the games most often were more likely to report engaging in aggressive and risky driving and getting in auto accidents. Those who played these games less often reported driving more cautiously, the researchers said.

The researchers then studied 68 men and found those who played even one racing game took more risks afterward in traffic situations on a computer simulator than those who played another type of game.

Then the researchers had 83 men play either a racing game or another type of game, and found that those who played the racing game reported more thoughts and feelings associated with risk-taking than the others.

"Risk-acceptance is one of the most prominent and important factors in the discussion of the origin of accidents caused by young drivers," Joerg Kubitzki of the Allianz Center for Technology, who conducted the study along with researchers at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians University, said by e-mail.

The researchers cited previous research involving the "shooter" genre of games, in which the player shoots at adversaries, that found an increase in aggression-related thoughts and actions among people who played these games. But they said little had been known about the influence driving games might have on actual driving behavior of players.

"The question of age restrictions, legally or voluntary, should be discussed not only for 'shooter' games but also for this kind of games, which have an impact on traffic safety," Kubitzki said.

The study appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association.

Now racing games are gunna be rated "M" too?

Discuss...

-Steakboy

Aero8

i didn't read the article. I am sick of reading articles such as these. If parents paid attention to their kids and actually teach them right from wrong, playing a video games shouldn't affect them. Instead it's "hey lets let the gov't take care of our kids, we just wanted to f8ck and look what came out."

VarneyMazda

just like back in the day when mortal combat promoted violence..
eff that shiz yo!

Aero8

[quote]Then the researchers had 83 men play either a racing game or another type of game, and found that those who played the racing game reported more thoughts and feelings associated with risk-taking than the others.[quote]

thoughts associated with rsk taking include "yes, I would 5 mph over the limit"

I read the article now. So it goes from a study of MEN and WOMEN to age restrictions needing to be in place. wtf? adults can't handle it, obviously kids can't.

anyone think the parents that can't handle it produce the kids that can't?

ok, someone else discuss

TomAssBender

one of my more frightening experiences I've had in a car was with my friend driving back in the day when GTA 3 first came out....shudder

apc_monk

Any person who has had a research methods class know too that with such a small sample that most researchers are going to ignore this "Study". The stupid media latches onto this crap and the uneducated masses eat it up. Give me a meta analysis of dozen or more studies than you can publish it. I am just waiting for the day when they put Ritalin dispensors in the cars just to make sure we don't drive aggressively.

Keef

That sentence is the only sentence needed to prove that the whole study was just a waste of their time, and waste of others life...

So if the participant masturbated before that computer simulation, would that urge him too randomly start masturbating during the simulation? Or is there some deeper mental connection that researchers are going too pull out of their ***, that dissalows my theory from making sense?

Would smoking a cigarette while driving cause even more risky behavior? If your allready smoking a cigarette then you are logically/slowly killing yourself. From the researchers rationalization it would be just as logical too claim that the same driver would run red lights because of his risky character.

You can't make a connection between a game and reality, just as much as you can't make any connection between what I've claimed and driving...

Or maybe I'll go play some Grand Theft Auto, drive around and kill pedestrians whilst looking for a ho, and shooting down some gangsters... Right, cause that's really what I planned on doing...

CarAndDriver

I don't play video games, I must not be a risky driver.

MazdaMonkey

Everyone here knows that after first playing a Gran Turismo or Forza game they were trying to apex every corner they came across for the next couple of days.

therm8

I do that anyway...nothing inherently dangerous in it


I guess baseball games make people go out and play baseball with a reckless abandon. Oooh, how 'bout wild and crazy billiards. Death-defying solitaire??

Ajax

Irresponsibility may cause irresponsible behavior.

Rhawb

I was just reading this on /. and couldn't help but laugh to myself when I read the summary.

I know for a fact that Gran Turismo has made me a BETTER driver, not more aggressive or more into taking risks. If anything, it has shown me how easy it is to crash a car and how difficult it is pull off risky or aggressive maneuvers.

These researchers can cram it - I know I'm a better driver for playing GT. The participants probably just knew there were no risks or consequences, so they didn't try as hard. I know if you put some of my friends in front of GT, they'll drive recklessly simply because they don't enjoy the sim style game - They get their fun out of the experience by driving like an ***. Betcha some of the people in the sample were the same way.

I just did a study on people who wear socks. Did you know that people who wear socks are nearly 60% more likely to go jogging than people without socks? Incredible!

tony_673

Uno makes me a psycho killer.

j_tso

When i was in highschool I knew this guy who thought he was a good driver because he did well at GT3, nevermind that he never took his car near a track.

I think driving events should be promoted more, that way they'd be less expensive, then people could get their jollies off at the track, and after a couple of spins not want to attempt that ****.

jburns

Yeah. Some asshat tried to stop me from playing so I had to kill him.

Razz1

Plain simple fact......

too much tiime is spent playing Computer and TV games.

Cody Red

-Cody

WhiteDealershipRice

On the contrary... I play Gran Turismo to get the road rage out of my system...
So then I don't feel the need to drive like an A$$ all the time.

I guess the failure in their logic is that they are not accounting for the fact that most people who play car racing videogames tend to be auto enthusiasts independently from their gaming habits, and therefore more prone to drive agressively (the average gamer that is not an auto enthusiast gets bored really quickly by games like GT4, where you don't get to blow stuff up)

It's putting the cart before the horse... kind of like saying "being an Alchoholic can lead to drinking" They are correct in identifying the exsistance of a relationship between the racing videogame, and the aggresive driver, but are inverting the cause with the effect. Videogames don't cause aggressive driving... the racing game appeals to already established aggressive drivers/ auto enthusiasts.