Predicting the Effect of Violent Gameplaying to Violent Behavior Intention among Females using Tree Regression and AdaBoost Tree Regression

The issue on the effect of violent video game to aggressive behavior has gained wide interest from various communities. This paper presents some results of predicting quantitative measure of aggressive behavior from variables that measure violent video game playing. Experiment results showed that Decision Tree Regression (DTR) and Adaptive Boosting Tree Regression (AB-DTR) models predicted aggressive behavior intentions with high accuracy. For predicting Hostile variable: DTR’s training and testing RMSE (0.0, 0.0); AB-DTR’s training and testing RMSE (0.08, 1.08). For predicting Instru variable: DTR’s training and testing RMSE (0.0, 2.18); AB-DTR’s training and testing RMSE (0.0, 3.30) respectively.

Emotional memory in violent video game players and nonplayers

Emotional memory in violent video game players and nonplayers

Emotional memory in violent video game players and nonplayers

Emotional memory in violent video game players and nonplayers

Insensitive Players? A Relationship Between Violent Video Game Exposure and Recognition of Negative Emotions

An ability to accurately recognize negative emotions in others can initiate pro-social behavior and prevent anti-social actions. Thus, it remains of an interest of scholars studying effects of violent video games. While exposure to such games was linked to slower emotion recognition, the evidence regarding accuracy of emotion recognition among players of violent games is weak and inconsistent. The present research investigated the relationship between violent video game exposure (VVGE) and accuracy of negative emotion recognition. We assessed the level of self-reported VVGE in hours per day and the accuracy of the recognition using the Facial Expressions Matching Test. The results, with adolescents (Study 1; N = 67) and with adults (Study 2; N = 151), showed that VVGE was negatively related to accurate recognition of negative emotion expressions, even if controlled for age, gender, and trait empathy, but no causal direction could be assessed. In line with the violent media desensitization model, our findings suggest that higher self-reported VVGE relates to lower recognition of negative emotional expressions of other people. On the one hand, such lower recognition of negative emotions may underlie inaccurate reactions in real-life social situations. On the other hand, lower sensitivity to social cues may help players to better focus on their performance in a violent game.

A Positive Side of Violent Video Game Play

The exploration of the potential link between aggression and violent video game play has been extended to violent video game play as a precursor to violent crime. If violent video game play does increase aggression in players, that does not translate into real-world violence or violent crime. There is no single criminogenic risk factor that causes someone to commit violent criminal acts, so the idea that violent video game play causes players to commit a crime, through desensitization or otherwise, is not plausible. Therefore, this paper discusses if violent video game play is a contributing factor for an individual to participate in violent crime. The conclusion is that violent video game play and violent crime exist in a negative correlation to one another. Crime data compared to video game sales, implying higher video game play rates, shows a decrease in property and violent crime in areas where violent video game play is increased. This outcome may be explained by more time spent in the home playing video games via Routine Activities Theory as well as the presence of a catharsis effect. Since violent video game play contributes to lower crime rates, this may produce lower social costs for society as well as a heightened feeling of safety in impacted areas. Future research in this area includes violent video game play and violent crime studies conducted with a broader range of participants with various demographics, as well as the long-term effects of violent video game play on players.