thebonecollector

I think we need to review the tickets system ...

Article : FPS players feel better after dying than after killing others, say researchers
link : http://www.gamecritics.com/fps-playe...ay-researchers

An article in the February issue of the journal Emotion presents some strange findings regarding players' emotional reactions to killing and being killed in a first-person shooter (FPS). In the experiment, a group of students played James Bond 007: Nightfire (Super Monkey Ball II was used as a control) while their facial expressions and physiological activity were tracked and recorded moment-to-moment via electrodes and various other monitoring equipment. Conventional FPS wisdom would suggest that players like shooting enemies and dislike getting shot. The research findings, however, paint a different picture.

From the article: "instead of joy resulting from victory and success, wounding and killing the opponent elicited anxiety, anger, or both." In addition, "death of the player's own character...appear[s] to increase some aspects of positive emotion." This latter finding the authors believe may result from the temporary "relief from engagement" brought about by character death. Whatever the underlying basis, however, the results seem highly counterintuitive.

My first reaction to the article was that something must have been wrong with the experiment. From what I recall playing Call of Duty 4, I most certainly did not enjoy being wounded and killed and I usually felt pretty satisfied after shooting an enemy. I don't entirely understand the researchers' method for measuring positive and negative emotions, and so I can't pass judgment on it. But suppose for a moment that their methodology is sound? Am I actually experiencing negative feelings on some level when I shoot an enemy in Call of Duty 4? I guess that would speak well for my morals.

The researchers also found that: 1) Players showed no signs of desensitization over the course of multiple play sessions; and 2) Subjects who tested higher for psychoticism (based on a pre-trial psychoticism questionnaire) experienced less anxiety from killing enemies. That higher psychoticism would correlate with lower negative feelings about violence is not surprising. It is interesting, however, that players showed no signs of physiological or emotional desensitization. While this doesn't necessarily disprove that desensitization to videogame violence can occur over long periods of time, it does suggest that brief exposure has little or no desensitizing effect.

Of course, more research would be needed to confirm these findings. This was a small study and the authors' conclusions are mostly tentative. But on the whole, an interesting read.

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Thyreus

Maybe all the test subjects were emos. "Yay, I died! This is even better than cutting myself!".

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snǝɹʎɥ⊥

jOHNNYdOUBE

You all know pr is stressful, but
... when you die ...
you can take a drink of your soda,
a bite of pizza,
or hit the bathroom.
So yes, it is refreshing......SOMETIMES.

Elwenil

Lmfao, that is interesting though. I do completely understand the relief after death bit. Sometimes it is the only time I get to relax a second and take a few breaths. Then again, it can mean relief in a whole different way as it makes for a nice chance to go take a whiz, lol.

I don't think I feel anger or weird when I kill a player. I think I feel more relieved that I took him down before he took me down, which seems right to me.

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|TG|Elwenil

S*Whitewolf*

I agree with Jhonnydoube, When you are in a close firefight or running on foot to a location i always feel a little anxiety about being shot. then when its over and im dead i tend to relax a little and as he said get a bite or take a drink.

westyfield

I've played Nightfire (on the PS2) and I have never felt happy when someone kills me. Especially since you lose all your weapons and the enemy gets your gun & ammo. Maybe they were all PS3 players and thought 'I am happy that I am dead so I don't have to play any more of this game with it's awful graphics.'
It's still a fun game though!

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|TG-irr| westyfield

Thanks Oldirti for this sig!
Xfire: westyfield
Ikariam- Westopia, Quosios [18:35] (S). Colonies: Westyville, Nytios [18:29] (M), Westropolis, Tasetia [15:33] (CG).
Irregular since Sept 15th, 2007

NerdyDodge

Well, the study talked about monitoring subjects facial expressions when they were playing, I know that I certainly tend to lean back and smile after getting shot, enjoying the temporary respite. Other than that, I'm not really sure, perhaps the concentration required to play properly means that players don't react positively until ALL the enemies are killed?

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Jeepo_SAS

Only time i feel Joy and relief is when i wipe out a load of guys from the 6th....means that for the rest of the round, its a grudge match!!!!

interesting article though, not what you expect at all!

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|TG-X|Jeepo

thegreatnardini

Then you must be a very miserable person

I suppose it makes sense, feeling relief and taking a break from the game, since you know that the person you just killed knows exactly where you are and will be there in about 30 seconds.

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lTG-6thl TheGreatNardini

Ferris Bueller

I always wondered why Jeepo giggled like a schoolgirl when he TKed me, now I have my answer.

For me, dying is something that is GOING to happen. I'm not one of those people who can ever say "I went 35-0 the other day on kashan". More like "I went 35-60 on kashan, but I did have 31 revives." So theres no real emotion associated with it because being dead is kinda the normal state of things for me. Killing someone, however, is definitely like getting a surprise gift on a day that isnt my birthday.

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|TG-6th|Ferris Bueller

SnipingCoward

i find those "findings" unbelievable

after playing PR excessivly - having a lot of fun and being actually really relaxed and content i joined my clan m8s on a round of COD4, where i died 50 times in <20 min, with a K/D < 0,5 - i certainly can tell you that i was NOT happy at all or even close to being more content than when playing (and after playing) PR, although i managed to get as many death in 20 min as it would have taken me playing PR for over a day

so am i the exception of the rule?

bah i hate COD4 ...
love PR

edit: asked my roomm8 and he ment i should stop playin COD4 - b/c of the "scary look" on my face xD

w.WAREHOUSE

LOL thats great!

I think EMOTION journal ranks up there with the New England Journal of Medicine, so we better believe them. I can see their slogan now: Emo journal...written BY emo's, FOR emo's...

I think a better study would be to hook up a voice recorder, and compare the "choice" words that come out of my mouth when I shoot someone else... and 4-letter ones that come out when they shoot me.

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ZaBoo

-1 rep for scientists

Dying is only fun in games like this:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=23845

I have bad dreams about dying

Gabbane

Attention dont get me wrong! but sometimes(hmm usually?) I love getting killed, especially when I'm driving/gunning a tank, which means I gotta wait 20 mins until the tank spawns.
It sounds weird, and you probably think I dont care about my team and my squad, however that not means I run across the map carriying a sign saying kill me!, no! but it has its explanation: what could I do in 20 mins? call my girlfriend, work(strange word for me) and plenty of things that I cannot do from my chair.

ZaBoo

It would be interesting for the researchers to rig a game so you always lose.. Then we will see how much fun they are having.