Moral License in Video Games: When Being Right Can Mean Doing Wrong

• In Event: Designing, Selling and Shaping Video Games (and Gamers)

Abstract

Research on video game violence has found largely consistent evidence that it tends to be associated with an increase in antisocial behavior. However, this work has mostly ignored one prominent feature of many violent games: moral decision-making. It is possible that the influence of video game violence could change when moral decisions are brought into the context. The present experiment asks participants to make moral choices in a video game, and then measures their behavior on two subsequent tasks. Results indicate that taking what participants perceive to be the more moral mindset in the video game predicts more anti-social behavior on the first task, but more pro-social behavior on the next task. These results indicate that there may be greater complexity in video game violence effects than previously understood.

Authors

• Morgan E. Ellithorpe, University of Pennsylvania

• Carlos Cruz, Ohio State U

• John Velez, Texas Tech University

• Adam K Bogert, The Ohio State University