Section 1: Research Questions
Primary research question:
Section 2: Background Report Summary
Source 1:
Scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than a decade but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence. And no single risk factor leads a person to act violently; rather it is the accumulation of risk factors that leads to violent behaviors, and violent video games are one single risk factor.
Source 2:
The consumption of violent video games was measured against teenagers' violence rate in the past 2 decades; we found that playing violent video games leads to a fall in violence committed by teenagers.
Source 3:
An experiment was conducted among a group of non-gamers where they were separated into two groups, the people in one group were asked to play video games for a certain amount of time per day, and then the two groups were tested; the experiment concluded that the group that was asked to play video games improved their perceptual and cognitive abilities.
Source 4:
In 2011, people playing an online game called fold it, solved a problem that researchers had been working on for 11 years, the problem was resolving the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids like disease in monkeys. Also, people playing an astronomy game called planet hunters discovered 40 planets that could potentially support life, all of which had been previously missed by professional astronomers.
Section 3: Questionnaire Results
The survey conducted was about gaming and violence and whether they are connected; there were 16 participants and it was conducted orally.
For the first part I found out the percentage of gamers and non-gamers among the participants and the results were 75% gamers (12) and 25% non-gamers (4)
For the second part the participants were asked a set of questions depending on whether they are gamers or not.
For the gamers group,
The first question was whether they identify as hardcore or casual gamers; only one person identified as a hardcore gamer.
The second and third questions were about how often they play and how long they usually play, the results were 33% (4) only play on weekends and holidays and the sessions vary from 2 to 4 hours, 58.33% (7) play almost every day for about 4 hours on weekends and 2 hours on weekdays while one person stated that he never plays for less than 4 hours if possible.
Questions 4 to 6 were about the platforms they play on, the game genres they play and the rating of games they like. For the platforms 75% (9) played on consoles only, 2 people played on PC only while 1 didn't have a specific platform to play on. For the genres, 75% liked first person shooters, 50% liked action, adventure, sport, sci-fi and role playing games (RPG), 33.3% liked MMORPG. For the ratings they all agreed on adult and mature oriented rated games.
Question 7 was do they like playing violent video games; 50% answered yes while the rest answered only if it was necessary for the story.
Question 8 was about if they think that violence is necessary in video games and they all agreed that everything depends on the story of the game.
The final question for the gamers group was if they thought that violence in video games leads to violent behaviors, 75% (9) people thought that there was no connection between video games and violent behavior, while the rest said that it depends on the person playing video games and whether he could tell the difference between reality and video games.
For the Non-gamers group,
The first two questions were whether they have a gamer friend or relative and how many hours do they usually play, 50% (2) said that they have a gamer friend but didn't know how long they play, 25% (1) said they have and they usually play for about 2 hours per day and 25% (1) said that they don't know.
The second two questions were what do they think are the most popular genres and rating for games, and they all agreed that the most popular genre is first person shooters and the most popular ratings were adult and mature rated games.
The next two questions were what do they know about the gaming community and what do they think when people say that they are gamers; none of the participants knew a thing about the gaming community, and 50% (2) thought that it's a hobby that they are very excited about, the rest 50% thought that they are acting childishly.
The next question was what category of gamers they think are more violent, casual or hardcore gamers; 50% (2) thought that hardcore gamers are more violent while the rest said they have no idea.
The next two questions were if they think that violent video games have an effect on people's mind and what age group are most likely to be affected, 50% (2) said that video games have no effect on people while the rest thought it may have an effect if they don't know how to vent their frustration, and the age group that is most likely to be affected are teenagers between 11 to 14 years old.
The final question was whether they think that violence is necessary in video games, and as the gamers group they also all agreed that everything depends on the story of the game.
Finally, both groups were asked if they think video games can help children, and science. For the children's part everybody thought that video games can actually help by providing an interesting and fun way to learn and improving their perceptual abilities. For the science part, two were skeptical but said if they were presented with some instances where video games helped science, they would believe that video games could help science, while the rest agreed that video games can help science.
Results:
Before starting the questionnaire I thought that non- gamers would be more than gamers, the most popular genre would be first person shooters, the most popular ratings would be adult and mature rating, most gamers would think that there is no connection between violence and video games while the non-gamers would think that violent video games would have an effect on gamers and that both groups would think that video games can help children and science. But the results were different about the first opinion as 75% were gamers and 25% were non-gamers but for the genre and ratings the result were as I thought. The most popular platform to play on were consoles. 50% of the gamers liked to play violent games while the other 50% said only if it's important to the story. For the connection between violence and video games, as I thought before in the gamers group 75% thought that there's absolutely no connection between violence and video games while only 25% thought it depends on the mentality of the person playing, but in the non-gamers group the results were interesting because 50% thought that there is no connection and the other 50% thought it may have an effect only if they don't know how to vent their frustration. Finally, on whether video games can help children and science, everybody agreed that video games can help children, while only two were skeptical about video games helping science but are willing to change their mind if they are presented with examples of video games helping science.
Section 4: Discussion
After concluding the survey and gathering the data I found out that the majority thought that video games had absolutely no connection to violent behavior in children and teenagers, and the rest agreed that video games may have an effect if the person playing had no idea how to vent their frustration or anger. Also everybody thought that video games can help children, while only two were skeptical about video games helping science.
In conclusion, the survey answered my research question exactly as I initially thought, but in order to get more accurate results, more research should be done with on larger groups of different age and backgrounds.
Primary research question:
- Do violent video games affect children's behavior
- Can video games help children and science
- What age group are most likely to be affected
- How bad are the effects of violent video games
Section 2: Background Report Summary
Source 1:
Scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than a decade but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence. And no single risk factor leads a person to act violently; rather it is the accumulation of risk factors that leads to violent behaviors, and violent video games are one single risk factor.
Source 2:
The consumption of violent video games was measured against teenagers' violence rate in the past 2 decades; we found that playing violent video games leads to a fall in violence committed by teenagers.
Source 3:
An experiment was conducted among a group of non-gamers where they were separated into two groups, the people in one group were asked to play video games for a certain amount of time per day, and then the two groups were tested; the experiment concluded that the group that was asked to play video games improved their perceptual and cognitive abilities.
Source 4:
In 2011, people playing an online game called fold it, solved a problem that researchers had been working on for 11 years, the problem was resolving the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids like disease in monkeys. Also, people playing an astronomy game called planet hunters discovered 40 planets that could potentially support life, all of which had been previously missed by professional astronomers.
Section 3: Questionnaire Results
The survey conducted was about gaming and violence and whether they are connected; there were 16 participants and it was conducted orally.
For the first part I found out the percentage of gamers and non-gamers among the participants and the results were 75% gamers (12) and 25% non-gamers (4)
For the second part the participants were asked a set of questions depending on whether they are gamers or not.
For the gamers group,
The first question was whether they identify as hardcore or casual gamers; only one person identified as a hardcore gamer.
The second and third questions were about how often they play and how long they usually play, the results were 33% (4) only play on weekends and holidays and the sessions vary from 2 to 4 hours, 58.33% (7) play almost every day for about 4 hours on weekends and 2 hours on weekdays while one person stated that he never plays for less than 4 hours if possible.
Questions 4 to 6 were about the platforms they play on, the game genres they play and the rating of games they like. For the platforms 75% (9) played on consoles only, 2 people played on PC only while 1 didn't have a specific platform to play on. For the genres, 75% liked first person shooters, 50% liked action, adventure, sport, sci-fi and role playing games (RPG), 33.3% liked MMORPG. For the ratings they all agreed on adult and mature oriented rated games.
Question 7 was do they like playing violent video games; 50% answered yes while the rest answered only if it was necessary for the story.
Question 8 was about if they think that violence is necessary in video games and they all agreed that everything depends on the story of the game.
The final question for the gamers group was if they thought that violence in video games leads to violent behaviors, 75% (9) people thought that there was no connection between video games and violent behavior, while the rest said that it depends on the person playing video games and whether he could tell the difference between reality and video games.
For the Non-gamers group,
The first two questions were whether they have a gamer friend or relative and how many hours do they usually play, 50% (2) said that they have a gamer friend but didn't know how long they play, 25% (1) said they have and they usually play for about 2 hours per day and 25% (1) said that they don't know.
The second two questions were what do they think are the most popular genres and rating for games, and they all agreed that the most popular genre is first person shooters and the most popular ratings were adult and mature rated games.
The next two questions were what do they know about the gaming community and what do they think when people say that they are gamers; none of the participants knew a thing about the gaming community, and 50% (2) thought that it's a hobby that they are very excited about, the rest 50% thought that they are acting childishly.
The next question was what category of gamers they think are more violent, casual or hardcore gamers; 50% (2) thought that hardcore gamers are more violent while the rest said they have no idea.
The next two questions were if they think that violent video games have an effect on people's mind and what age group are most likely to be affected, 50% (2) said that video games have no effect on people while the rest thought it may have an effect if they don't know how to vent their frustration, and the age group that is most likely to be affected are teenagers between 11 to 14 years old.
The final question was whether they think that violence is necessary in video games, and as the gamers group they also all agreed that everything depends on the story of the game.
Finally, both groups were asked if they think video games can help children, and science. For the children's part everybody thought that video games can actually help by providing an interesting and fun way to learn and improving their perceptual abilities. For the science part, two were skeptical but said if they were presented with some instances where video games helped science, they would believe that video games could help science, while the rest agreed that video games can help science.
Results:
Before starting the questionnaire I thought that non- gamers would be more than gamers, the most popular genre would be first person shooters, the most popular ratings would be adult and mature rating, most gamers would think that there is no connection between violence and video games while the non-gamers would think that violent video games would have an effect on gamers and that both groups would think that video games can help children and science. But the results were different about the first opinion as 75% were gamers and 25% were non-gamers but for the genre and ratings the result were as I thought. The most popular platform to play on were consoles. 50% of the gamers liked to play violent games while the other 50% said only if it's important to the story. For the connection between violence and video games, as I thought before in the gamers group 75% thought that there's absolutely no connection between violence and video games while only 25% thought it depends on the mentality of the person playing, but in the non-gamers group the results were interesting because 50% thought that there is no connection and the other 50% thought it may have an effect only if they don't know how to vent their frustration. Finally, on whether video games can help children and science, everybody agreed that video games can help children, while only two were skeptical about video games helping science but are willing to change their mind if they are presented with examples of video games helping science.
Section 4: Discussion
After concluding the survey and gathering the data I found out that the majority thought that video games had absolutely no connection to violent behavior in children and teenagers, and the rest agreed that video games may have an effect if the person playing had no idea how to vent their frustration or anger. Also everybody thought that video games can help children, while only two were skeptical about video games helping science.
In conclusion, the survey answered my research question exactly as I initially thought, but in order to get more accurate results, more research should be done with on larger groups of different age and backgrounds.
