Effect of Violent First-Person Shooter (FPS) Video Games on Shooting Accuracy

The Ohio State University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Gun Shot Wound

Treatments: Behavioral: Video game; Behavioral: Controller

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03445156

2010B0261

Details and patient eligibility

About

The present research tests the effects of violent shooting games on behavior within the game (Pilot Study) and on behavior after the game is turned off (Experiment Proper). The Experiment Proper is an exact replication of a previous study conducted in our lab that was retracted (see citation), but with a larger sample to get more reliable results (N=287 rather than N=151).

Full description

Violent shooting games are used to train soldiers and police officers. This research tests whether violent shooting can train people to shoot targets in the head, both during gameplay (Pilot Study) and after the game is turned off (Experiment Proper). Participants in both studies played a violent shooting game with humanoid targets that rewarded headshots, or a nonviolent shooting game that punished shots to bull's-eye targets with faces. Afterward, participants shot at a mannequin with a realistic CO2 gun. We anticipate that participants who play the violent game which rewards headshots to hit the mannequin's head more often than those who play the non-violent game.

Enrollment: 327 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 46 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• 18 and older
• Ohio State participant pool

Exclusion criteria

• Under age 18

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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327 participants in 2 patient groups

Pilot Study

Experimental group

Description:

After giving their consent, participants completed a survey. Next, they were randomly assigned to play either a violent First-Person-Shooter video game or a nonviolent shooting video game for 20 minutes. Video game play was recorded. A debriefing followed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Controller

Behavioral: Video game

Experiment Proper

Experimental group

Description:

After giving their consent, participants completed a survey. Next, they were randomly assigned to play either a violent First-Person-Shooter video game, a nonviolent shooting video game, or a nonviolent non-shooting video game for 20 minutes. Next, they shot a training pistol at a mannequin 20 feet (6.1 meters) away using 16 Velcro "bullets." A debriefing followed.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Controller

Behavioral: Video game