The impact of Computer Games on Children's aggressive behaviour and learning abilities
Bulletin of Information Technology Research. Vol 1, Issue 1 (June 2003). ISSN 1176-3108.

Paul R. Kearney
School of Computing and Information Technology
UNITEC
Auckland, New Zealand
pkearney2@unitec.ac.nz

Abstract

A search of the Internet for views on whether video games are good or bad for children will result in over three million hits, the majority being negative. One could surmise that only people with negative views on video games would post such comments, the positive views remaining unheard. However, the majority of completed academic research tends to lean towards the view that many of today's games do in fact elicit unwanted behaviour from children, specifically short term aggression.

This paper discusses some of the concerning results from research into action video games, as well as highlighting the cognitive effects of games such as Tetris. The paper concludes by questioning whether the negative effects of one can be attributed to the other, and whether or not children can benefit from playing a first person shooter game such as Doom.

Introduction

"I hope we kill 250 of you", Klebold says. He thinks it will be the most "nerve-racking 15 minutes of my life, after the bombs are set and we-re waiting to charge through the school. Seconds will be like hours. I can't wait. I'll be shaking like a leaf. It's going to be like f---ing Doom", Harris says. "Tick, tick, tick, tick… Haa! That f---ing shotgun is straight out of Doom!" (Gibbs & Roche, 1999, p.1)

Dylan Klebold and his friend Eric Harris were avid players of the computer game, Doom. Using a game editor, the pair modified the game to be a two player game - two shooters, unlimited health and ammunition, extra weapons and pipe bombs. They created non-player characters with no weapons or defences to be the victims within the game. On the 20th of April, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris planted three sets of pipe bombs in and around Columbine High School. Between 11:19am and 12:05pm, the pair embarked on a 46 minute Doom-style rampage wounding 23 and murdering 13 defenceless victims. They then used 'Arlene', the sawn-off shotgun named from Doom, to take their own lives on the day they had named 'Judgement Day'. From this tragic event, one might conclude that such games should be banned due to their negative on young people. But are these games entirely negative? The majority of literature relating to computer games, and particularly first-person games such as Doom, is negative. Literature on the negative implications for children ranges from the daily press to academic journals. The aim of this paper is to identify and discuss some of the potentially beneficial effects of two dimensional puzzle games on children in relation to the literature reviewed, and to explore the assumptions that lie behind the negative aspects of first person shooter games. The literature review carried out for this paper was not exhaustive but was considered to be representative of the current state research into video games.

The Development of the Computer Game

A first person shooter computer game (FPS) is a 3D interactive animation where the computer user is the person holding the weapon and moves forward through the game making it appear real. The FPS game called Doom was released by id Software in December 1993. However, thirty two years earlier in 1962, the game that is thought to have started the computer game phenomenon, and some believe ultimately led to the Columbine High School massacre, ironically was invented by a student. Spacewar, developed for a PDP-1 computer, involved two players each controlling a spaceship with 31 torpedoes. The goal of the game was to shoot and destroy your opponent. Many simple yet novel electronic gaming devices followed, but it was not until 1972 that the computer game era started to develop momentum with a game called Pong. Originally run on an arcade style platform, Atari launched Pong on to the world market and launched an industry that returned 25 Billion US Dollars last year - 2002.

In 1976, Zircon developed the first Shooting Gallery game for the home market. Run on a console style device, these games utilised the home television. The release of many handheld devices and early gaming consoles followed, but it was not until the early 1980's when computers like Amiga, C64, and Vic20 became prevalent, that the industry moved into high gear. Games like Zork and Ultima captured the imagination of game players and cults developed to the extent that these games are still played twenty years later. The character Super Mario has also developed a cult following, earning over half a billion dollars for Nintendo. It was in 1989 that Nintendo released the original Gameboy with Donkey Kong and the Mario brothers, and some 14 years later in 2003, the Gameboy Advanced SP with Super Mario had a world-wide waiting list when it was released.

With the entry of the Personal Computer from IBM and Apple, the corporate sector of America started to invest in software companies that developed computer games. This financial backing gave birth to icons like Electronics Arts, Lucas Arts and Sierra. They quickly dominated the game industry and still publish world-wide titles today, but these large conglomerates were not prepared for what was about to happen. It was in 1991 that a fledgling software company simply called id, put the gaming phenomenon into overdrive. A young pizza boy by the name of John Carmack, invented a technique that scrolled 2D graphics smoothly and seamlessly. He used this in the now infamous Commander Keen - a game in which an eight year old boy shoots aliens. Id Software's first royalty cheque was 10,000 US Dollars. Carmack then channelled his talents to produce a revolutionary 3D graphics engine. In late 1991, id Software produced the first of what we now know as first person shooters - Hovertank one and Catacombs 3D. They then went on to develop Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake, and today they licence their 3D technology for games like Heretic and Half-Life. In 1999 id's revenue exceeded 22 million US Dollars. The company is still privately own by three of the original four developers.

Around the same time that Carmack was developing ground breaking graphics techniques, a Russian government scientist became fascinated with a children's toy called Pentominos. The object of the toy was to fit the different shaped pieces back into the box that they were removed from. He devised a way of displaying this on his computer and later developed it into a game. The scientist was Alexey Pajitnov and the game was Tetris. Still played today, Tetris is ported to more platforms and played in more countries than any other game. Nintendo alone have shipped more than 70 million Tetris modules on its Gameboy platform.

Positive aspects of the Game

The other claim to fame of Tetris, is its use as an education tool. Mental rotation (MR) is the ability to imagine what two and three dimensional objects would look like after being rotated. This ability, termed spatial visualisation, is required in occupations involving engineering and conceptual tasks. Research completed by Dorval and Pepin (1986) suggests that students with spatial visualisation abilities are generally high achievers and excel in subjects like maths and science. Tetris was also used in a study by Okagaki and Frensch (1994). They found that spatial visualisation abilities were improved in college students after 6 hours of playing. Similarly, research done by De Lisi and Cammarano (1996), showed that students playing a game called Block Out, also improved their mental rotational skills.

Massendorf (1955), in discussing his research with learning-disabled children, concludes:

Thus we can say that it is proven that two-dimensional and three-dimensional spatial abilities can be cultivated in learning-disabled children by purposeful training in how to manipulate geometrical figures and bodies, as provided by the computer game programs Tetris and Block Out. Both programs, ensconced in a motivating and exciting game, permit the child to explore working geometrical shapes and bodies, to shift them about, and to reflect on the fact that they will look different depending on the angle form which they are viewed. (p.51)

Dolittle (1995) recorded data over 8 years showing that students who played computer games, solved riddles and tackled problems with more imagination than those who did not play games. The game playing students excelled in critical thinking courses and were able to overcome statistical problems by thinking outside the square. He concludes with:

The principle barriers to a society of better problem solvers may simply be that too few teachers are attempting to teach students the skills of creativity. (p.35)

The obvious negative effect

Dolittle (1995) might be correct, most teachers do not encourage computer games, and FPS games like Doom or Quake are generally banned in schools and on campus. Hardly surprising when the Columbine incident still haunts many teachers. Concerning issues other than behavioural ones number many - cardiovascular problems, anxiety issues, and game induced seizures have all been cited as negative impacts on children from playing computer games (Dorman, 1997). Dorman also cites a study completed by Dinubile (1993), highlighting the fact that children today are more overweight, less active, and adopt a more sedentary lifestyle than those of twenty years ago - mainly attributed to television viewing and computer games. We even have a new term for severe pain caused by spending too much time playing on a Gameboy. Nintendinitis (Brasington, 1990), was reported and treated with ibuprofen plus the removal of the batteries from the offending device.

Beazzant (1999) sets out to refute the hypothesis that "children's physical and psychological health is at risk and being damaged through the use of games consoles and the games being played through them" (p.1). However, he draws the following conclusion:

"Unsatisfactory behaviour" does not described the Columbine incident, however Beazzant does make an interesting point. The computer game is used as a diversion from the problems that the child cannot deal with alone. Rollings & Morris (2000, p.329) believe that "there is no way a computer game can turn a reasonable human being into a deranged killing machine without there being something seriously wrong with them in the first place". But if the original problems are of a behavioural or aggressive nature, the diversion may in fact add to the problem.

Ivory (2001) cites a study by Anderson and Dill (2000) which concluded that short-term aggression is increased after playing violent computer games. However he also cites an earlier study by Kestenbaum and Weinstein in 1985 (cited in Dorman, 1997) in which computer games showed a calming effect on students. But the 1985 research was completed 6 years prior to Carmack's FPS environment, when the popular games were 2D fantasy games and very much of a cartoon style. Computer games of the late 1990s and the ones used for the Anderson and Dill (2000) study, are far more realistic. For example, the game Counter Strike, a popular version of the FPS Half-life, has accurate weapons configuration, credible technical specifications, and life-like 3D graphics. Because of this, many people lay the issues of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris from the Columbine tragedy, firmly in the hands of John Carmack from id Software.

Families of the victims from Columbine filed a 5 billion US dollar lawsuit against id software and other gaming companies. The case was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Babcock. He said that "there was no way the makers of violent games including Doom and Redneck Rampage, and violent movies such as The Basketball Diaries, could have reasonably foreseen that their products would cause the Columbine shooting or any other violent acts." He went on to "reject the argument that the video games were defective because they taught Harris and Klebold how to point and shoot guns without teaching them the responsibility or consequences of using weapons" (The Associated Press, 2002, p.1).

Therefore it could be concluded that either the games are teaching responsibility and consequence, or they are not teaching players how to point and shoot. Why then has "America's military elite swapped their rifles for joysticks by turning to a British computer game to fine-tune their combat training"? Further more "US Marines will play the game as a way of running through combat scenarios with the most serious risk being only blisters on their fingers" (Harris, 2001, p.1). U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Babcock (The Associated Press, 2002) does not believe these games teach players about weapons, yet the US Military has invested millions of dollars in a game for recruiting potential soldiers. "America's Army" is an online FPS game that is free to all players. Normally, games that run over the Internet are subscriber based. The player pays a monthly fee to be connected to the game server. Goamericasarmy.com, the server that hosts this FPS game, currently boasts 1.2 million subscribers. They have recently moved the game to the worlds first Super Computer dedicated to hosting such games.

In summary, studies show that some computer games add to the learning abilities of many students and often create high achievers in mathematical and scientific industries. Studies also show that the same learning abilities will benefit children who struggle in conceptual areas and as such, have been used successfully for this task. Other studies highlight the fact that the more recent 1st person shooter games create short-term aggressive tendencies that can lead to behavioural problems. The US military supports similar games for recruiting soldiers and uses the same type of game to train US Marines.

Discussion: The next level

If these findings are to be believed, it could argue that the addictive nature of computer games and the resulting arousal from playing, triggers the aggression in some people. Why then, did the Tetris players not show short-term aggression like players in the other studies? Perhaps they were not tested for it. Further to this, if the US marines use 1st person shooter games to hone their military skills, what benefits could these 3D games have in other areas of development?

In an informal survey of 25 avid computer game players, conducted by the author, most on them suggested that FPS games not only enhanced hand-eye co-ordination, but also increased their ability to multi-task. A typical FPS involves controlling the player movement, aiming and firing the chosen weapon, evading being a target for other players, monitoring health status and ammunition supplies, and devising a seek and destroy strategy in order to complete the level. All this is done in unison, in a pressure situation.

If in fact, the playing this type of game does increase the players multi-tasking abilities, games like Doom may have the same, if not a greater positive impact on society, than that of Tetris. Tetris is shown to increase spatial visualisation, in particular mental rotational abilities, in both the average and the learning-disable child. Furthermore, multi-tasking abilities are required for some of the most mentally demanding tasks that Humans embark upon. Fighter pilots and Astronauts are both required to score well above the average on the computer test called Synwork1, which is designed to measure test multi-tasking.

Further to this, children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are know to have difficulty focusing on detail and completing tasks which require multiple concurrent actions ie: multi-tasking. Could ADHD sufferers benefit from playing FPS games or would the rise in short term aggression have an adverse affect? (Anderson and Dill, 2000).

The first step in furthering this study would be to test the multi-tasking abilities of a group of game playing students. An upgraded version of Synwork1, called SynWin is produced by Activity Research Services (ARS). The program,

presents four simultaneous tasks to the user, each in one quadrant of the screen. The tasks comprising SynWin (derived from the DOS program SYNWORK1) were selected to provide a generic work environment where the operator is required to remember and classify items on demand (MEMORY (Sternberg) TASK), perform a self-paced task (ARITHMETIC PROBLEMS), and monitor and react to both visual (VISUAL MONITORING) and auditory information (AUDITORY MONITORING). The goal of the program was to create a prototypical PC-based synthetic work task.

At the end of every SynWin session, the summary data are appended to the file "SYNWIN.LOG" located in the \data folder. The first record (line) in the log file contains labels for the fields in subsequent records. The fields in data records are identical to the fields in summary data files, described above, except the subject ID and session number are added as the first two fields. Fields in the file are comma delimited. Thus, the LOG file is an historical record of all SYNWIN sessions run on the computer. This file can be conveniently imported into Microsoft EXCEL for analysis (Activity Research Services, 2000, p.1).

A program of continuous play of a chosen 1st person shooter, interleaved with scheduled tests using Synwin, would ascertain whether multi-tasking abilities are improved or not. This could be tested further and results compared on both genders, seasoned game players compared to beginner players, and ADHD children.

Conclusion or game over?

This paper initially set out to summarise the impact of computer games on society, specifically children's aggressive behaviour on the negative side and learning abilities on the positive. Puzzle games like Tetris have been studied extensively for their apparent ability to improve cognitive skills. Other games such as DOOM have been embroiled in controversy after the many studies completed show a link to aggression and the Columbine tragedy.

However, if FPS computer games increase the ability to multi-task, the impact on many areas of society would be dramatic. The acceptance of these "violent" games may improve and the negative aspects may be tolerated, particularly if aggression is shown to be due to the addictive/arousal aspect of the game - also present in games like Tetris. Although the literature review was not exhaustive, somewhere in the process of compiling this data, it became apparent to the author that the resulting negative and positive effects of one, may be attributed to the other. Further study is planned, as suggested in the discussion, to prove or disprove this theory.

References

• Activity Research Services. (2000). SynWin: A Synthetic Work Program for Windows. http://www.activityresearch.com/synwin.htm. (Retrieved 12 April 2003)
• Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory of life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 772-790.
• Beazzant, S. (1999). Dissertation: Children and Video Games: What's the fuss? http://www.scottbezzant.btinternet.co.uk/Downloads/Dissertation.htm. (Retrieved 12 April 2003)
• Brasington, R. (1990) Nintendinitis, letter. New England Medical Journal, 322, 1473-1474.
• De Lisi, R., & Cammarano, D. M. (1996). Computer experience and gender differences in undergraduate mental rotation performance. Computers in Human Behavior, 12, 351-361.
• Dinubile, NA. (1997). Youth fitness - problems and solutions. Prev Med, 22(4), 589-594.
• Doolittle, J.H. (1995). Using riddles and interactive computer games to teach problem-solving skills. Teaching of Psychology, 22(1), 33-36.
• Dorman, S. M. (1997). Video and computer games: Effect on children and implications for health education. Journal of School Health, 67 (4), 133-138.
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• Gibbs, N., & Roche, T. (1999). The columbine tapes. Time Magazine. 154 (25) 40-51.
• Harris, P. (2001). British computer game keeps the US Marines fighting fit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/computergames/story/0,11500,630453,00.html. (Retrieved 12 April 2003)
• Ivory, J. (2001) Video Games and the Elusive Search for their Effects on Children: An Assessment of Twenty Years of Research , http://www.unc.edu/~jivory/video.html. (Retrieved 12 April 2003)
• Masendorf, F (1995). Training Learning-Disabled Children's Spatial Ability by Computer Games. European education. Summer. 27(2), 49.
• Okagaki, L., & Frensch, P. A. (1994). Effects of video game playing on measures of spatial performance: Gender Effects in Late adolescence. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. 15. 33-58.
• Rollings, A. & Morris, D. (2000). Game architecture and design. Arizona: Coriolis.
• The Associated Press. (2002). Columbine lawsuit against makers of video games, movies thrown out. http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15820 (Retrieved 12 April 2003).
  
  

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