A study conducted at the Ohio State University in the US has found out that violent gaming on 3D screens is more likely to be the reason for anger among gamers than 2D gaming. The immersive nature of such offerings has been cited to be the prime reason for such a phenomenon. These findings were announced recently at the New Horizons in Science briefings which were held at an Ohio State annual conference called ScienceWriters2014.
The study was conducted by the duo of Brad Bushman, a professor of communication and psychology at The Ohio State University and Robert Lull, a graduate student in communication at the same institute. According to Bushman, during their research, it was found that the higher anger in those playing on 3D screens was directly linked to the fact that they felt they were ‘immersed in the game.’ They are hence more likely to not hesitate in emulating the on-screen violence in real life.
194 college students participated in this research, with about two-thirds of them being women. Each of them was asked to play Grand Theft Auto IV for a span of 15 minutes. While half of them were instructed to play violently, the others were asked to play non-violently. They played on a 17-inch 2D screen, a 96-inch 2D screen and on a 96-inch 3D screen while wearing 3D glasses. After their gaming was done, they were asked about their mood, and it was found that those who played violently on 3D screens were significantly angrier than those who played violently on the 2D systems.
This study is of special importance right now, since video games are being seen as catalysts in a number of shooting incidents that are taking place around the world, and particularly in the US.