14 DAY TRIAL // A new study coming from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign shows that even short-term exposure to the usual archetypes that are promoted via video games can lead to changes in the behavior of all those involved.
Gunwoo Yoon and Patrick Vargas are the two researches who conducted a study on 194 subjects in order to test out their hypothesis.
Those taking part were told that there would be two separate experiments: they were first randomly assigned a good, bad or neutral avatar and then had to battle enemies for five minute. Then they were invited to taste chocolate and chilli and then pour an amount of one of the condiments for another taster.
The two researchers found that those who fought as good characters were much more willing to use chocolate and pour a larger than average amount, while those who were assigned an evil avatar used chilli in larger amounts.
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign expanded the experiment by separating the subjects into actual participants and observers and the results show that all those who just watched a good or bad avatar fighting were less influenced when it came to their own behavior.
The sample used in the experiment is a little small and there are some variables, like personal taste in food, the researchers did not control for.
Despite these shortcomings, the information derived from it is interesting because it might be used in educational titles in the future in order to make it easier for interested subjects to learn new behaviors or improve their social skills.
Traditionally, video game research focuses on its negative effects on players, but a number of teams have recently suggested that virtual experiences can be used to improve short-term memory for a while and to create faster reflexes in those who focused on first-person shooters.