Psych study finds gamers play their ‘Ideal Selves’
With the explosion of character customization and more-or-less sophisticated ethics and faction systems in video games over the past decade, we’ve seen a lot of conversation about what motivates someone to choose a particular path. Why be a monastic Jedi when you could just Force Lightning your way through the plot of Knights of the Old Republic? How could you have possibly let those poor people of Megaton go out in an inglorious blaze of cleansing atomic fire in Fallout 3? A new study set to be published in the upcoming issue of academic journal Psychological Science may have an answer.
Dr Andy Przybylski, a visiting research fellow at the University of Essex, wanted to understand what draws so many people to such a wide variety of games. The study investigated the idea that many people enjoy playing videogames because it gives them the chance to “try on” characteristics which they would like to have as their ideal self.
Ultima IV was one of the first games to put morality, ethics, and player identity at the forefront.
The research found that giving players the chance to adopt a new identity during the game and acting through that new identity – be it a different gender, hero, villain – made them feel better about themselves and less negative. This runs counter to the frequently-heard claims that games somehow magically shape players into the likeness of the murderous on-screen avatars. More realistically, players are drawn to opportunities to experiment with different personality traits.
“A game can be more fun when you get the chance to act and be like your ideal self,” explained Dr. Przybylski. “The attraction to playing videogames and what makes them fun is that it gives people the chance to think about a role they would ideally like to take and then get a chance to play that role.”
Using a cross-section of both casual and “core” gamers, researchers looked at the players’ emotion after play as well their motivation to play. The study found the enjoyment element of the videogames seemed to be greater when there was the least overlap between someone’s actual self and their ideal self
These findings pose an interesting question for developers: if people are seeking opportunities to explore their better nature, what kind of experiences should they be creating to maximize players’ satisfaction? Are the existing systems of morality and ethics — which for the most part are clunky, polarized caricatures of the human experience — up to the task of providing meaningful role-play scenarios?
I trust that we’ll hear more on this from the likes of Jane McGonigal, whose book Reality is Broken touches on these themes and serves as a manifesto for making games that make people feel better about themselves.
Kristen is a dormant volcano of creative awesomeness. One of these days he is going to erupt into a giant explosion of compelling audio-visual masterpieces. Until that day, he bides his time as a floundering father of two boys, an insular geek, and a purveyor of crudely fabricated multimedia experiences. Kris contributes regularly through the “Prattle” podcast, as well as the animated feature, “Scribble.”
Interesting. I would like to see anthropology tackle this topic also. Cyborg anthropology describes our relationship between technology and ourselves. I wonder what type of connection anthropologists would come up with concerning MMO’s and how they effect peoples relationship with technology (since the idea of addiction always comes up with video games).
Interesting concept Priscilla. I think as games get more realistic with things like the LA Noire performance capture and artificial intelligence, and the interfaces get less abstract (think 3rd generation Kinect), that relationship could be quite different than what we’re used to. I think our kids’ games will be drastically different from ours…
I TOTALLY AGREE!!! i play games like fallout 3, the elder scrolls, fable and such, like my ideal self, its pretty dam good if you play the games that way, because it does have a truly immersion to the story and characters. For example, i can play fallout 3 or the elder scrolls with a femmale (wich im not) but Fable no!!! why? because im a guy, and i dont have maternal fellings but father feelings yes, i hope you see my point, and for the record, i only play mass effect with femmale character because my ideal girlfriend!!!! and shes a renegade!!! hahahaha
so i think this is the best article i ever seen so far, because i thought it was only me, who played that way the games (well some of them) and this is good news!!!! kudos for this web page!!! and the author of course GREAT JOB!!!!
does that mean i’m gay??