• Video Games Influence Your Mind! (Kind Of, According To Study)
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[quote][b][u]Video game avatars can go to your head, study says[/u][/b] [b]Two experiments by a UT professor found that gamers using bad-guy avatars exhibited aggressive and antisocial behaviors in team exercises.[/b] The characters that video game users choose for themselves — their avatars — can affect their thoughts and emotions in those virtual environments, whether it's Mario or Luigi or the colors of a football uniform, according to research by a University of Texas communication studies professor. In two similar experiments, assistant professor Jorge Peña found that gamers using negative avatars — such as those wearing black cloaks — exhibited aggressive and antisocial behaviors in team exercises. The study, "The Priming Effects of Avatars in Virtual Settings," will be published in the December issue of Communication Research, a national publication. The first experiment randomly assigned either black- or white-robed avatars to gamers playing "Jedi Knight II." The second experiment assigned gamers roles as Ku Klux Klan members or physicians in a virtual museum. The control group was assigned transparent figures. Participants in both experiments were asked to write a story about an ambiguous picture or were asked to make decisions with virtual team members dealing with problems that arose during the game. Subjects using the black-robed and KKK avatars consistently exhibited negative, aggressive and antisocial behaviors, Peña said. "What's interesting here is not only did using the avatar in the dark uniform affect a negative attitude and point to individual problems, but also showed less group cohesion," he said. Peña said that when the participants using the KKK and black-robed avatars were asked to describe an ambiguous picture, their stories dealt with murder, revenge and scorn and did not incorporate any relationships, as opposed to those who used the doctor-like or white-robed avatars. The effects were automatic and usually unconscious to the user, Peña said. "Situations queue people's behaviors, and they go with the flow," he said. "It's more than just in video games," he said, adding that people can be primed negatively in a variety of environments. Peña said similar studies of the effects of video game avatars have found that primed behaviors can be carried beyond the virtual environment into the user's daily life. He said some games, such as "EverQuest" and "World of Warcraft," depend on the dynamics of communication and said his research may help game designers be aware of the effects of avatars on those dynamics. Nicholas Merola, a communication studies graduate student who co-wrote the study with Peña, said it's important for game designers to have the knowledge from the study, especially when designing games for younger players, who can build on their cooperation skills through such games. Coleman Stewart, a UT sophomore majoring in linguistics, said he has been a gamer for 12 years. He plays online multiplayer games, such as "Counter-Strike", up to four hours a day. Avatars — and what they may say about a gamer's real-world character — are a common talking point in the gaming world, said Stewart, who did not participate in Peña's study. Stewart said that in "Counter-Strike," which is a first-person shooter game, there are terrorist and counterterrorist avatars. Stewart said gamers in both groups tend to be equally negative in their communication with other players. "Mostly, it's just people being negative about almost everything — people who mess up in the slightest, people who do things wrong, people that get in other people's way, etcetera," he said. Stewart said that in "World of Warcraft," which he also plays, there are obvious distinctions between good guys, the Alliance, and bad guys, the Horde. The trash talk involves calling gamers who side with the Horde "antisocial, mouth-breathing rejects that live in their mom's basement," Stewart said. "But some people, myself included, are of the opinion that it really doesn't matter what faction you are," because everyone can be a jerk. "The choice of avatar is not the only way you can judge someone," Stewart said. "I've met some really nice undead rogues and some really annoying Draeni mages." [/quote] Source: [url]http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/11/23/1123avatar.html[/url] What. The Hell? This is over-analysis if you ask me. Hell, even the last sentence sums up how much bullshit this... may... be... *looks at his forum avatar* Oh. My. God. I'm being influenced by a character who's narcissistic, pops pills and is an atheist! :byodood: [sp]Last news post from me for a couple days. I swear :V[/sp]
[img]http://www.facepunch.com/image.php?u=224521&dateline=1257468361[/img]
Sounds interesting... <---- :v: Edit That means I suck at team playing? :saddowns:
Pretty fucking obvious.
I've heard that the horde has more mature players than the alliance...
If avatars wearing cloaks make you aggresive, how does playing as a scientist make you annoying and idiotic? [img]http://s3.garrysmod.org/img/cache/2/3/1/6/4/5e8b93296afd5f1eb03018dfcbcec2cb.jpg[/img]
I always pick dark, more sinister charcters on purpose. Fuck.
[QUOTE=Negrul1;18566412]If avatars wearing cloaks make you aggresive, how does playing as a scientist make you annoying and idiotic?[/QUOTE] It just does.
I stopped reading at the part that said KKK.
I'm outright intelligent and my favorite character is Gordon Freeman.
Of fucking course the people in KKK uniforms are going to do negative stuff.
i told you bro.
that last line screamed "QUICK LET'S PUT A REFERENCE INTO THE ARTICLE TO LOOK CREDIBLE" which ended up making them look like douchebags [editline]02:26PM[/editline] also lol "good guys, alliance, bad guys, the horde" it's completely neutral, that's the point. each side has reasons to hate another. and if anything, the horde are the good guys. the alliance are pricks. and this is coming from someone who played alliance.
fuck [editline]08:27PM[/editline] I have a good-for-nothin backstabber on my avatar :saddowns: [editline]08:28PM[/editline] Maybe its the other way around? People pick dark evil avatars [I]because[/I] they're anti-social? [editline]08:29PM[/editline] Of course, that's still retarded, but they're just tipping the balance against video games.
[QUOTE=Musicfreak59;18566285] I'm being influenced by a character who's narcissistic, pops pills and is an atheist! :byodood: [/QUOTE] how come people throws around the word ATHEIST all the time now, please leave it alone, i'm sick of seing it everywhere, at least spoilertag it?
Wait, isn't it supposed to be that you naturally role-play accordingly to your avatar/given character/etc.?
[quote=bomimo;18567922]how come people throws around the word atheist all the time now, please leave it alone, i'm sick of seing it everywhere, at least spoilertag it?[/quote] atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist atheist
I change my avatar. My avatar does not change me. inb4 "in soviet russia, avatar changes you!" jokes
[QUOTE=Bomimo;18567922]how come people throws around the word ATHEIST all the time now, please leave it alone, i'm sick of seing it everywhere, at least spoilertag it?[/QUOTE] [sp]Because atheism basically describes most of the internet.[/sp] [sp]I gave into your request now, because apparently yer offended by it...[/sp]:words: Spoiler Tags galore! V:v:V Also, to Bomimo: I'm Agnostic for the record.
I have a badass space marine avatar, I guess that means I'm antisocial and aggressive and will purge the world of heretics?
I'm gonna go make a thread in FT called "Describe what you think the above user's avatar says about them" :v: And I'm gonna throw around the word atheist like it's 1999!
Hey guys what ups.
Maybe the players were cosplaying into their video game roles? I mean, they were [b]randomly assigned[/b]. It wouldn't make much sense to have a KKK member talking about picking daisies in the field with his pals, now would it? (Though I'm sure it's happened... :tinfoil:)
good <--
[QUOTE=Doug52392;18568046]I have a badass space marine avatar, I guess that means I'm antisocial and aggressive and will purge the world of heretics?[/QUOTE] You gonna taste da pointy end of my choppa, humie!
I guess playing the moral good guy with an awesome beard has been working out for me
[QUOTE=Gmod4ever;18568091]It wouldn't make much sense to have a KKK member talking about picking daisies in the field with his pals, now would it? (Though I'm sure it's happened... :tinfoil:)[/QUOTE] Reminds me of this picture... [media]http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs39/f/2008/331/1/a/PYRO_by_ChemicalAlia.jpg[/media] Media'd for size
its Batzilla how harming can it be?
:tinfoil: My last avatar was the Narrator from Fight club
So what does that mean for my avatar?
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