Video games have become the scapegoat for violent murders, and now they may become the scapegoat for car accidents as well.

German psychologists recently published three studies in the Journal of Experimental Psychology that examined 198 men and 92 women ages 16 to 45 while they played various racing games on a PlayStation.

To win, players had to perform typical racing fare like driving really fast while crashing into other cars, etc. Afterwards, players who participated in the racing game had more thoughts and feelings linked to risk-taking than those who played a non-racing game.

Although the experiment was never taken on the road, researchers now believe that people who play racing games will drive more aggressively and have a greater risk of car accidents than those who don’t.

I find that after playing Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec, the only thing I'm left feeling is "cars don't drive like that" after slamming a Dodge Viper into a wall for the umpteenth time because I let off the gas when taking a turn and hitting it when I would in a real car.

When I play games like Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, I'm left feeling "it was satisfying to kill all those gangsters."

I have yet to slam my car into a wall, I have yet to pick up a gun and go on a killing spree to see how much police response I can get. The thing is, there's a disconnect between feeling something and doing something.

You might also say that because when you're on a ledge or near some stairs with someone that because you feel like you could push them, you're a danger to society. You don't actually push them. Almost nobody does, but that doesn't matter. You feel like you could, and that's where the real danger lies.

Anyhow. Blah blah blah, insert typical leftist response about thought crimes here, since I believe them. You know the drum beat, you can hum it for me.

insert typical leftist response about thought crimes here

Leftist as in totalitarian?

No, more along the lines of anti-Big Brother...

I think that video games only lead to violent behavior if those playing are immature enough to let it get to them.

I think that video games only lead to violent behavior if those playing are immature enough to let it get to them.

Well, I think there are more cultural taboos against violent behaviour, not so many against reckless (or fast) driving.

I'm actually glad about this one. Since I NEVER play racing cars, this could make up for the insane amount of shooters I do play, thus making me a little tiny itty-bitty less of a maniac. I already feel a little more normal \o/

Here's hoping sports games also turn you into some kind of homicidal freak.

Lol I'll go with Jae Rune

< insert obvious liberal statement about video games and the philosophy of free will and entertainment stated over a million times before by millions of other gamers everywhere>

I think it sums up the whole thing well and it saves a lot of typing :-)

I never play racing games either (and I don't even drive any more), but when I went to the stock car races I always drove like a maniac on the way home, as I did after going to a movie with a lot of fast car chases! Of course, I was young and maybe a little stupid.

When I play shooting games, however, I don't want to go out and kill people, that's utterly different.

In any case I would never subscribe to the "gaming made me do it" mentality, or in my case, "the movie made me do it" - that's just sloughing off responsibility.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. This is basically the same as the old "video games cause crime" canard. Different lyrics but the same old song and dance, people blaming social problems on peripheral issues like video games.

Well, but this is a completely new aspect! I mean, racing games leading to accidents -- wow! Well done, scientists! Quite an innovation in the ongoing discussion. Actually, I wonder what would happen if scientists checked out some other genres or games... like:

* Jump'n'Runs may lead to compulsive jumping and hitting walls!

* Tetris may lead to reckless construction and building!

* Lemmings may lead to unwanted niceness to small furry animals with green hair and an urge to kill themselves!

* Ultima IV can lead to become an utterly unlikeable, hypocrite, self-righteous maniac!

* Pac-Man may lead to acute paranoia concerning ghosts when eating lots of colorful pills!

* Wolfenstein 3D may have lead, by a strange time backlash effect, to a killing sprees in a German castle in the 1940s!

etc.etc. And let's not forget one thing:

* Scientific research can lead to complete loss of reality!

That made me remember that famous quote (which I'm not sure who the author is):

If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.

Edit: corrected the quotation according to Mom's link.

(hehe) Thats Marcus Brigstocke

Hey, thanks for the source! I always thought it was just some anonymous online joke. Or meme, if you prefer.

And this research was sponsored by Jack Thompson, right? I'm so tired of these "video games complaints". I can't imagine if, let's say, 20 years ago some dudes got into a hospital with mushroom poisoning and than say, that they ate it, cause they seen it in a Mario game on NES. After recovery from poisoning they will probably go to a nearest asylum.

I think everyone is being a bit defensive here. A couple of friends of mine admitted already they've felt the gas pedal a little lighter and more prone to risky maneuvers after playing, say, Burnout. Comparing killing someone after playing GTA and pushing the pedal a little harder after GT or GTR are completely different things, as while the first requires a major mess up with the brains, the second can work very quietly on the subconscious, not to mention it was something all drivers eventually did before in their lives.

Of course, this isn't any different from driving faster after hearing, say My Favourite Game (one of those people I've mentioned has a list of tracks he won't add to his MP3 player driving playlist because of that), so there's no need to go all defensive on this.

Yeah, well... I don't drive much, but I recently helped a friend move things from Berlin to Vienna, some 1000 km, by car. I have been playing GTA excessively the weeks before, but I did not feel any impulse drive like I did on GTA in any way.

You're right about songs you shouldn't listen to in cars. I've got some really laid-back and hypnotic dub tracks, and I wouldn't listen to them while driving. I could imagine I'd just drift away and stop paying attention to what's going on on the road.

Might be stating the obvious here, but after learning how to drive for real I became much better at driving games.

snowy rally games + Canadian winters = better winter driving.