Study Shows (Oddly) That Losing At Video Games Makes People Angry

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Ahtman**

Sauce

Using science to confirm what people with a history of violence against controllers have known for decades, researchers at the University Of Rochester have concluded that losing at video games makes people angry and aggressive. The study used custom-made video games that allowed the researchers to alter the controls and difficulty. They found that participants who played the more difficult versions of the games were likely to get more frustrated and act aggressively.

How did they come upon these stunning findings? In one experiment, researchers had the participants stick their hands in “painfully cold water” for 25 seconds and told them (falsely) that the length of time was chosen by another participant. Then, they made everybody play Tetris and afterward asked them to set a length of time for someone else to stick their hands in “painfully cold water.” The jerks who played a harder version of Tetris chose to have a stranger stick their hands in “painfully cold water” for, on average, 10 more seconds than the people who played easy Tetris.

And the researchers would very much like you to know that this aggression resulted from losing at both violent games and non-violent games. “If you press someone’s competencies, they’ll become more aggressive, and our effects held up whether the games were violent or not,” Richard Ryan, one of the study’s authors and a psychologist at University Of Rochester, said in a release from the university. So now you know to stay just as far away from people who are bad at Candy Crush as you would someone who stinks at Call Of Duty.

**SlaveToDorkness**

God please tell me my tax dollars didn't fund this.

**TheCustomLime**

And in other news, the sun is hot and water is wet.

**Ahtman**

TheCustomLime wrote:
And in other news, the sun is hot and water is wet.

There are studies that show that.

**TheCustomLime**

Are there studies about how much money is wasted in frivolous studies?

**curran12**

SlaveToDorkness wrote:
God please tell me my tax dollars didn't fund this.

Luckily, it was a private institution's work. So yeah...no tax dollars THIS time

**Ahtman**

TheCustomLime wrote:
Are there studies about how much money is wasted in frivolous studies?

Well the problem there is with 'frivolous'. Often studying things we assume to know are true tells us something we didn't know. Just assuming something is bad science and bad research. Occasionally it means we get goofy stuff like this, but it also means sometimes we learn something as well. This isn't one of those times.

**TheCustomLime**

True, but in this case I would assume the amount of empirical evidence would be enough to indicate a trend. I understand the need for rigorous and scientifically valid testing before it can be accepted, well, scientifically but... haven't there been studies before on how people feel when performing a task? Wouldn't those apply here too? Video games are, in essence, a series of tasks?

Though, if they had worded it "Studies show people get equally aggressive whether losing at violent or nonviolent video games" I don't think it would seem as stupid since that is a more interesting find.

**LordofHats**

Come on people. Do you want researchers to go out of business and be unemployed? My god if the frivolous study industry were to go away, like, twenty people could be out of work and we'd lose 0 dollars in profits from their non-profit research projects!

**Manchu**

Another triumph for SCIENCE!

**Melissia**

TheCustomLime wrote:
Video games are, in essence, a series of tasks?

Yes, but a few kinds of people haven't grasped this concept.

**Squigsquasher**

Ahtman wrote:
Sauce

Using science to confirm what people with a history of violence against controllers have known for decades, researchers at the University Of Rochester have concluded that losing at video games makes people angry and aggressive. The study used custom-made video games that allowed the researchers to alter the controls and difficulty. They found that participants who played the more difficult versions of the games were likely to get more frustrated and act aggressively.

How did they come upon these stunning findings? In one experiment, researchers had the participants stick their hands in “painfully cold water” for 25 seconds and told them (falsely) that the length of time was chosen by another participant. Then, they made everybody play Tetris and afterward asked them to set a length of time for someone else to stick their hands in “painfully cold water.” The jerks who played a harder version of Tetris chose to have a stranger stick their hands in “painfully cold water” for, on average, 10 more seconds than the people who played easy Tetris.

And the researchers would very much like you to know that this aggression resulted from losing at both violent games and non-violent games. “If you press someone’s competencies, they’ll become more aggressive, and our effects held up whether the games were violent or not,” Richard Ryan, one of the study’s authors and a psychologist at University Of Rochester, said in a release from the university. So now you know to stay just as far away from people who are bad at Candy Crush as you would someone who stinks at Call Of Duty.

Another reason to make games easier.

**Melissia**

They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

**Cheesecat**

Melissia wrote:
They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

That seems more like an exception though most games I play take a lot longer than 4 hours.

**Fafnir**

It says the researchers had the ability to alter the controls, I'm wondering if the losses felt fair.

**KingCracker**

Melissia wrote:
They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

Yeah...... as much as I like Super Mario 3d world, it's mind numbingly easy. You don't even get penalized for dying...... Infact you get rewarded for it!

**Melissia**

Cheesecat wrote:
Melissia wrote:
They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

That seems more like an exception though most games I play take a lot longer than 4 hours.

Call of Duty: Ghosts could be completed in that amount of time. Most new games are on the low end of the four to six hour scale these days.

Hell, when I bought Remember Me, I was pleasantly surprised at it taking 12 hours for me to finish. It actually had content and a story, unlike most new games.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Fafnir wrote:
It says the researchers had the ability to alter the controls, I'm wondering if the losses felt fair.

True, this can be a very big reason behind why something is frustrating.

**AlexHolker**

SlaveToDorkness wrote:
God please tell me my tax dollars didn't fund this.

This and the other recent study on this topic might make Hillary Clinton and her kin shut their mouths about violent video games. That's money well spent.

**TheCustomLime**

AlexHolker wrote:
SlaveToDorkness wrote:
God please tell me my tax dollars didn't fund this.

This and the other recent study on this topic might make Hillary Clinton and her kin shut their mouths about violent video games. That's money well spent.

It's been 20 years, people, and society hasn't descended into anarchy. Just give up the stupid crusade and focus on what's really corrupting our youth: Young adult fantasy novels!

**KingCracker**

I've never once smashed a controller in anger, I don't think I've ever even tossed one in anger. Though I will admit that I've rage quit and in a hurry got rid of the controller and left

though that hasn't happened too often in my life. Donkey Kong has made me do that because later on in those games...... my god they get frustrating. Other than that it was when I played team fortress 2 on the 360 simply because that game devolved into hackers paradise and as a person that never cheats on games, that become a serious annoyance

**Medium of Death**

Gears of War 2 on Xbox Live.

That is all.

I must have severely shortened my lifespan getting far too angry at that online experience.

Subsequent Gears games proved less rage inducing.

Been playing Titanfall recently and haven't really raged. Uttered the word bs a couple of times at some Call of Duty brand round the corner deaths, but that's about it.

**CthuluIsSpy**

Melissia wrote:
They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

But what about the Immersive graphics and the story?
I mean, games are like movies, right? 60 dollars seems like a fair price for that.

**EmilCrane**

Seriously though, I've gotten pretty angry at games before, never broken anything though. What makes me even angrier is people who don't get mad at stuff that is clearly groxgak.

"Dual wielding 1887s is just part of the game, you don't have to get angry about it."

Me: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

**kronk**

LordofHats wrote:
Come on people. Do you want researchers to go out of business and be unemployed? My god if the frivolous study industry were to go away, like, twenty people could be out of work and we'd lose 0 dollars in profits from their non-profit research projects!

I'm a researcher and I approve this post.

However, I'm a FOR PROFIT researcher, which is the bestest kind!

**LordofHats**

kronk wrote:
LordofHats wrote:
Come on people. Do you want researchers to go out of business and be unemployed? My god if the frivolous study industry were to go away, like, twenty people could be out of work and we'd lose 0 dollars in profits from their non-profit research projects!

I'm a researcher and I approve this post.

However, I'm a FOR PROFIT researcher, which is the bestest kind!

You daring capitalist you

**SagesStone**

KingCracker wrote:
Melissia wrote:
They are already making games painfully easy these days.

I shouldn't be able to beat a 60 dollar game in four hours-- on the highest difficulty level.

Yeah...... as much as I like Super Mario 3d world, it's mind numbingly easy. You don't even get penalized for dying...... Infact you get rewarded for it!

I know right... I'd die once and gain about 5 lives for it. The amount of lives I had became pointless as they started reaching above 100.

**CthuluIsSpy**

EmilCrane wrote:

Seriously though, I've gotten pretty angry at games before, never broken anything though. What makes me even angrier is people who don't get mad at stuff that is clearly groxgak.

"Dual wielding 1887s is just part of the game, you don't have to get angry about it."

Me: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

What game allows you to duel wield 1887 winchesters?
The only game I know of that has that weapon is The Darkness 2, and you aren't allowed to Duel wield rifle type weapons in that game.

**purplefood**

CthuluIsSpy wrote:
EmilCrane wrote:

Seriously though, I've gotten pretty angry at games before, never broken anything though. What makes me even angrier is people who don't get mad at stuff that is clearly groxgak.

"Dual wielding 1887s is just part of the game, you don't have to get angry about it."

Me: "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-"

What game allows you to duel wield 1887 winchesters?
The only game I know of that has that weapon is The Darkness 2, and you aren't allowed to Duel wield rifle type weapons in that game.

Modern Warfare 2 IIRC.
Those things were fething annoying.