The Effects of Coplayer Supportiveness and Difficulty in a Sports Video Game on Prosocial Behavior

• In Event: Gaming for the Good: (Pro)Social Aspects of Games

Abstract

Emerging research has found that playing video games cooperatively can have beneficial impacts on prosocial orientations after gameplay. The present study wanted to expand the scope of this line of research by considering both inter- and intrapersonal factors. In an experimental study (N = 115) we manipulated the difficulty of a game (easy or hard) and the playing style of a confederate teammate (supportive or unsupportive). We found that neither coplayer supportiveness nor game difficulty had an effect on expectations of a teammates’ prosocial behavior or one’s own prosocial behavior towards the teammate after the game. Increased expectations of prosocial behavior from one’s teammate were related to one’s own prosocial behaviors, independent of our manipulations. Our findings suggest that other types of manipulations might be necessary to further explore the effects of game difficulty and cooperation, and challenge us to also consider alternative measures of prosocial behavior.

Authors

• Johannes Breuer, GESIS – Leibniz-Institute for the Social Sciences

• John Velez

• Nicholas David Bowman, West Virginia U

• Tim Wulf, U of Cologne

• Gary Bente, U of Cologne