Comments on: Playing Race Video Games Make Car Drivers Go Recklessly

By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:14:33 +0000

Of course, it could just be that some people simply like driving fast — regardless of whether it is in real life or a video game.

By: Roman Budzowski

Roman Budzowski — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:18:37 +0000

I work as an acadim teacher and have to do some research work – though I am going to quit that job because of articles like this one that are written by “scientist” just to write something to get some “science points” so they won’t be fired.

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:55:02 +0000

I gotta admit that Gran Turismo 3 DID influence me to get a Subaru Impreza and then modify it. I also go pretty fast (when it’s safe to) and try to find the best line etc

By: sfg

sfg — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:22:24 +0000

Mh, sounds a lot like a German study. Sorry for our country. Videogames have some hard times these days. Some of our politicians use this hype to promote themself. Ignoring the facts.

Don’t count on these studies. Just ignore them. The problems are much deeper, not on the people-who-like-to-play-videogames level.

By: anttiki

anttiki — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 06:30:43 +0000

I think that this is just the simple case of misinterpreting the simultaneous occurrence of two phenomena as a causality. I don’t know if the error was an accident or a conscious decision or if it was made by the reporter or the researchers. Anyway, pretty awful research reporting. There’s been so much of this kind of “the effects of playing videogames” research lately that I’ve learned to take it with a grain (large sack?) of salt. Instead of these statistical survey kinds of studies I’d like to see more in depth studies of the relationship between players and games and the interactions between them. There’s actually these kinds of studies made too, but somehow these (sometimes even politically motivated) hyped-up surface-level studies seem to get the limelight with bold but not-so-well backed up claims.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 23:15:35 +0000

There is another theory that says that playing video games has a cathartic effect with regards to the actions/emotions being simulated.

Eg – when playing an aggressive game of football in real life, you are less likely to be aggressive afterwards as you’ve theoretically purged the emotion (the desire to be aggressive) from your system.

In this same way, some researchers believe that those who play violent video games (with guns, murder etc) are actually less likely to physically engage in activities of that nature, for example, be involved in gun related crimes. No doubt this also applies to driving games.

By: Blueskied Games

Blueskied Games — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:07:41 +0000

I could swear that i had an enhanced feeling for driving bends after some long Gran Turismo session. The physics are pretty realistic.

By: Jay Barnson

Jay Barnson — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:51:14 +0000

Statistics are the superstition of the modern world.

Not that it doesn’t make them valuable (just as many superstitious beliefs of the past had a grounding in fact). But all human beings feel a need to control the uncontrollable, and having statistics to help them predict (and thereby, maybe, prevent) the horrible makes them sleep better at night.

All that being said… back around 1989 or so I remember finding myself driving a little too fast immediately after playing the arcade game “Hard Driving” by Atari. It passed quickly, but I did find that the brain needed to do a context switch, either over time or by a conscious effort. So I believe there’s something to the study.

But it’s still pretty meaningless. It’s like saying, “Holy cow, you tend to be more aggressive right after watching a live basketball game!” Well, DUH. This is news HOW? And what are we supposed to do about it? Put everyone in padded cells with purely neutral stimuli?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 18:40:57 +0000

Any time I see a study published that correlates behaviors with activities, I’m skeptical. I usually prefer to sum these attempts to pigeon-hole people based on their likes with the well-known saying popularized by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

I tend to disregard these types of studies – people are too complex to predict just by their likes, dislikes, and activities. Case in point: growing up I played D&D, listened to heavy metal music, had a strained relationship with my father, was ostracized by my siblings, and was raised in a very pro-gun environment. By all acounts, according to most studies of this nature, I should be the epitome of a serial killer.

However, despite all the evidence to the contrary, I’m a well adjusted member of society who is respected in my community. Am I the exception to the rule? Doubtful.

Kevin