Video Racing Games May Spur Risky Driving 428
kiwimate writes "A study concludes that people who play car racing games may be more likely to take risks and drive aggressively when driving in real life.
According to the article, "The study appeared in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, published by the American Psychological Association"." Just because after I play Grand Theft Auto I want to ram other cars does not mean I'm a worse driver. Honest.
Arrg! (Score:4, Insightful)
Wouldn't the people most likely to enjoy this genre be predisposed to this behaviour?
Why don't these "researchers" understand the importance of self-selection?!?
Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:5, Insightful)
Next study! People who date teenage girls are risky drivers!
Alternate equally cogent headline (Score:5, Insightful)
Makes me careful (Score:5, Insightful)
Crashing constantly in GTA actually makes me more careful by fear of having as many accidents as in GTA
Say it with me (Score:1, Insightful)
In related news... (Score:5, Insightful)
Any time i see the 'video games made me do it' excuse, I think that the appropriate sentence should be forced to watch 'Barney' for an entire month. Since the person is so easily influenced, this should work perfectly for rehabilitation.
Or... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:3, Insightful)
One part I don't miss about being a stupid teenager is the insurance premiums.
It's all about GTA (Score:5, Insightful)
When I first played (and when my wife first played), we tried to obey the traffic laws and stay in the proper lane. After realizing how pointless that was, we were driving on sidewalks, ignoring pedestrians, and laughing with glee when running red lights.
Your brain is very good at unlearning old skills and relearning new ones. The catch is that when doing very similar things, it's easy for one set of skills to bleed into another. Switching from throwing a whiffle ball to a softball requires a period of adjustment. Driving like an insane maniac to a law abiding citizen requires a degree of concentration.
The vast majority of people will likely use caution, focus, and not have any problem at all. Some folks, however, may have difficulty making the switch. Ban all driving games? That seems a bit silly. Banning cell phones or music in cars would likely have a more concrete effect.
In related news... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:5, Insightful)
I still find myself wanting to take turns faster and change lanes as if no one was really there (no signaling, etc) after playing a few games of Gran Turismo and I'm 28.
Generally I have more control over this impulse than a 16 to 19 year old might have but still the impulse is there. As the numbers of individuals that still play video games continues to increase into the 20/30 age range it *could* have an effect on the driving styles of those individuals past the "teenage boy risky group" you mention.
The bland world we could live in ,,, (Score:4, Insightful)
We could live in a world without excitement. A world in which we are not stimulated or thrilled. A world in which we could only watch movies or play games approved by the Flanders family of the Simpsons. There will be unbalanced people who will be inspired by what they watch. So instead of collecting cat skulls, they pretend they're the hero of GTA. Or Manhunt. Or Barbie Horse Adventures.
Note that they found a correlation between driving fast and people who play racing games. Maybe people who like to drive fast can't drive as fast as they want, so they pop in a racing game simulater. As far as the shooter game comment, most young men are aggressive to one extent or another. If someone blows off some steam by playing Halo 3, I would prefer that to them blowing off someone's head in real life.
Lies. (Score:2, Insightful)
FTFA: Gamers take risks in games! Shocking! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh man - you mean, after playing a game where you're rewarded for driving recklessly, the same gamers drove a little recklessly IN ANOTHER GAME?
SHOCKING.
The end conclusion is totally nonsensical.
"The question of age restrictions, legally or voluntary, should be discussed not only for "shooter" games but also for [racing] games, which have an impact on traffic safety," Kubitzki said.
The research didn't prove that. Correlation != Causality. Why do so many researchers have a problem with this?
Re:Arrg! (Score:3, Insightful)
Silly consumer. The purpose of studies is to support your hypothesis, not find facts!
Re:Say it with me (Score:2, Insightful)
The article didn't just study if gamers were more likely to agressively drive. They also used individuals who were not games and had them play either a race car game or a control game. Those playing the race car game had more risky behavior in a more formal driving simulator than those who played the control game.
Granted not a perfect study, but there is some causation.
Video game saved me! (Score:4, Insightful)
True story, as it just happened a couple of months ago: For the first time in my life my car severely fishtailed on me and without ever having experienced it before in real life, I knew what to do in that I had slammed enough rally cars into the snow in various games like GT4 to know "oh, when the car goes like this, I should do that..." and I translated my controller movements into real turns of the wheel. And it worked! I got out of it and kept going.
In this case I feel like my time with GT4 made me a better driver because I recognized a situation I had never experienced in real life but had so many times in the game that I was able to "figure it out". I'm not even going to pretend I'm ready to take an Aston-Martin Vanquish out on the Nurenburg, but I get the difference between "real" driving and "fantasy ha-ha no big deal if I crash a $600k car into the wall at 200mph" type.
Frankly, if I really had a Vanquish, I'd be too nervous about getting it into an accident that I doubt I'd ever leave the garage.
Re:Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Say it with me (Score:3, Insightful)
Arrrgggh! Please stop saying that! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, it does!
What it doesn't do is prove causation. Of course it implies causation. Then you investigate that implication.
Re:It's all about GTA (Score:2, Insightful)
I can see how playing GTA plants the 'what if...?' seed in my mind...'this traffic is bad, if only I drive on the curb?' But this is no different to thinking 'I could rob this bank...' I wouldn't and I suspect those that do are predisposed to it anyway.
in the early 1990s (Score:2, Insightful)
and, i am an avid gun control advocate. for example, i think the line "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is a hilarious example of propaganda, because it conveniently forgets that a gun is not neutral technology: it is designed with a specific purpose in mind, that enables people to easily express murderous will in a way that without easy access to guns, they would not be able to express
now some of you might say that this represents an interesting bit of hypocrisy on my part: that i am saying a gun enables evil actions, but a violent video game doesn't
exactly. tha tis what i am saying. 100%. ill will, violence, is in the heart of every man and woman (and child: study your average toddler for five minutes). therefore, there is nothing a violent videogame can impart upon a person that is not already there. a violent videogame can not enable someone to think something that they already had thought of before. violent rage and anger is violent rage and anger. it is original sin. we are not born vessels of purity that are corrupted. we are born screaming shit flinging demons (again: study your avergae toddler) that is molded into cilivized human beings. media cannot ENABLE you to violence, but it can enable the HARMLESS RELEASE of violence that already exists in you. it's not like suddenly people started commiting crimes they had never thought of before because of a videogame. are you telling me ancient rome was populated by video game addicts? blamign violent media for the state of the world is a classic bullshit "the devil made me do it" effort at avoiding personal responsibility
meanwhile, a gun is a bit of technology with a specific purpose: to kill people. the argument that a gun is neutral, without intent, is false: millions of hours of mental effort and design went into making a tool that, in your hand, is ideally designed for point and click murder. that has real meaning as to the blameability of a gun
this is real life, not fantasy we're talking about now. most people can tell the difference
now technology IS neutral. something like chemistry, or physics, is neutral. for example, E=MC2 is neutral technology. what does it mean? it doesn't mean anything until applied. a nuclear power plant? not neutral, a quantifiable good. a neutron bomb? not neutral, a quantifiable evil
likewise with guns: a blasting cap is a quantifiable good: it is meant, it is designed, for the purpose of shaping hills for highways, for example. what is a gun meant for, designed for? the underlying chemistry for a blasting cap and a gun is the same, and is neutral. and of course you can use a blasting cap to kill someone, or use a gun to do good: compete in target practice, announce the start of a race, etc. but these examples are ludicrous: you can't argue that these esoteric uses have any bearing on what 99.999% of guns or blasting caps are INTENDED for
INTENT. it's a magic word. it changes the argument
so yes, guns kill people. and if you parse my words above, i am not destroying the concept of personal responsibility by saying that: if you play violent videogames for 10 months straight, and go out and kill someone, you, and YOU ALONE, are responsible. because fantasy, media, cannot enable you to do something in real life. actually, the opposite: it can enable the harmless release in fantasy of pent up energies that might be imparted on someone else in real life. violent videogames are catharsis, a bleeding of ill will that already exists in us, each of us. a violent videogame can NEVER impart into someone a murderous will in real life that would not exist had the videogame not existed. to say it can, is to buy the lame excuses of a criminal
but, in real life, if you had a piece of technology which made it easier to express your ill will? that has real meaning. guns ENABLE evil. they are DESIGNED to be efficient killing machines. if you honest
Re:Arrg! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Who plays racing games? Teenage boys? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:huh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Arrg! (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem is, in essence you're suggesting that the only experimental result you'd trust is if someone actually conducted an experiment intended to get guys hyped on adrenaline and subsequently injuring / killing people in real life driving! Apart from the clear ethical problems with an experiment that requires risks for non-participants, you can also be practical and take on board the fact that experiments in simulated environments can bring useful and indeed valid results.
For example, even a risk taking person would lock down their instincts for dangerous driving if they knew were being watched, so conducting the experiment "in real life" also has as big a flaw. In this case of identifying causes for dangerous driving, it could even be more dangerous to get a false negative.
The mistake in this experiment is the tautology between the 2nd and 3rd studies. In the second, they established that racing games (as compared to "neutral" games) make people more disposed towards risk, as indicated by various accepted symptoms. If you accept that result, then what they found in study free could be summarised as:
"People more disposed to take risk at a given moment in time, are more likely to take risks while driving"
Can I get a chorus of "No shit, Sherlock!" ?
Surely a more useful experiment would be to compare enter the simulator having taken a number of activities known to get your blood pumping: after playing racing games, playing other games shown to get people "hyped" rather than "neutral", to other things like playing competitive sports, arguing high pressure lawsuits in the court house, trying to ignore the neighbours having excessively loud sex, etc? I mean, what if the "neutral" games are actually relaxing?
I drive differently according to my mood, and most everyone does no matter your self-control. And I wouldn't find it too difficult to believe that a bunch of teen age guys are more likely to do something stupid driving-wise after just trying to beat each other on the virtual race track. But at the end of the day, if all they've found is that playing racing games is just as dangerous as the frustration having to fill in your tax forms, what's the conclusion? Forbid high powered lawyers driving home after winning a case? Making meditation a legal requirement prior to getting behind the wheel?
Re:It's all about GTA (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly, seriously: there was a moment for me when, after playing a whole lot of GTA3, I was driving around and found myself thinking, "I'm tired of this car. I should go get that guy's car." Not very consciously, I mean. I didn't literally think those words I just typed, but I was driving, saw a nicer car than the one I was driving, and for a split second it went through my head that I should pull him over, yank him the driver out of his car, and drive away leaving my own car behind.
Of course, I didn't actually *do* anything. I just laughed a little to myself, thought, "that's awesome" and kept driving.
I'm not in favor of censoring video games or anything. You don't really know what activities are going to do for people. Maybe playing football would make one guy feel accustomed to violence and more likely to hit someone, while it might give another guy some sort of an outlet which prevents him from being violent. The government shouldn't take over responsibility for deciding which experiences are appropriate for people to have.
On the other hand, let's not pretend that this stuff has no effect. If I play solitaire enough, my mind starts sorting visual information differently. After playing Zelda for a long time, I look at the world differently. It's all having an effect, and you know, maybe sometimes some games have a bad effect on a person's psyche. So, if you're a parent of a teenager who you think can't handle driving safely after playing GTA, don't let them play GTA. Better yet, just don't let them drive at all. I'll tell you something, we are far too insistent that people drive everywhere, even when they're bad drivers, and it's bad all around.