Effects of video games and its genre on prosocial behavior

• Main Authors: David, Rey Carlo M., Ong, Ann Margaret L., Yambao, Almyra Lea C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2010
• Subjects: Video games; Altruism; Interpersonal relations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/8624
• Institution: De La Salle University

There is a growing population of studies concerning the effects of video games on people's prosocial behavior and even more so on violent and aggressive behavior. However, not all video games are alike, video games are further divided into different genres, from the nature of the game, to their characteristics, and there has not been a study concerning the effect of video games on prosocial behavior in respect to video game genre. There are four identified popular genres available in the market, namely Action, Simulation, Role-Playing Game (RPG), and Strategy that are used in this study. The researchers also thought that affect or mood of the individual might affect their prosocial behavior. 200 participants from De La Salle University Manila played video games of the four genres, with 50 participants each genre. One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether the genres of the video games would have an effect to prosocial behavior. Since the findings suggest that video game genres increase the likelihood that a person would act in a prosocial manner, Turkey's HSD was used to determine which genres are more conducive to prosocial behavior. It is found that the genres Simulation and Role-playing are more likely to increase prosocial behavior than Action and Strategy.