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Researchers say racing games may cause more accidents and more road rage

Several days ago, DailyTech reported that researchers at Britain's BSM driving institution conducted a study that revealed gamers who play driving games tend to drive faster in real life.

A new study by researchers at the Allianz Center for Technology in Germany and researchers at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilians University now say that racing video games could be a contributing factor to people's bad driving habits (PDF) such as competitive behavior, recklessness and performing risky maneuvers. According to the report, people who play these games and drive cars are more likely to drive recklessly and get into accidents than people who don't play racing games.

The abstract from the report states "[The authors] found that the frequency of playing racing games was positively associated with competitive driving, obtrusive driving, and car accidents; a negative association with cautious driving was observed."

The researchers also indicated that because driving games are becoming more and more realistic, the games feel real and directly affect how gamers drive. "Driving actions in these games often include competitive and reckless driving, speeding and crashing into other cars or pedestrians, or performing risky stunts with the vehicle. In short, most actions in racing games imply a very high risk of having an accident or severe crash in a highly realistic virtual road traffic environment," said the researchers.

The research included 198 men and women, from those who played racing games often to those who did not. People who did play racing games often reported to have engaged in more aggressive driving more frequently than those who did not. Interestingly, the researchers indicated that racing games had a direct effect on risk taking behavior. The study showed that 68 men who played even one racing game took more risks in a driving simulator than those who played other types of games.

DailyTech previously reported that a study suggested that violent video games affect the brain, inhibiting players from demonstrating more self control and restraint. Recently, Germany declared that it would work towards banning all violent video games, while a university professor said that the current style of education in North America is outdated and books should be replaced by games.

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Skewed research?
By danskmacabre on 3/19/2007 5:58:04 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
.The study showed that 68 men who played even one racing game took more risks in a driving simulator than those who played other types of games.


Is this how they drew the conclusion?
I.E. got those who play driving games to drive in a driving simulator and see how they drove?

If so, then there's not much merit to this research.
A driving simulator has no risks, is basically the same as a computer game and this research should only really be worth considering if they actually checked how they drove in real life.




RE: Skewed research?
By DocDraken on 3/19/2007 6:29:11 AM , Rating: 5
quote:
A driving simulator has no risks, is basically the same as a computer game and this research should only really be worth considering if they actually checked how they drove in real life.


Exactly. But also, how do they know that they haven't gotten the causality reversed? The conclusion could very well be that people who drive recklessly have a higher tendency to play racing games. I find that far more likely than the other way around.

But no, instead they turn it around and say that people who play racing games are more likely to drive recklessly and from that try to conclude that racing games make you drive recklessly. A totally flawed argumentation and conclusion!

All they've done is link the two. They haven't determined *how* they are linked, that's just biased conjecture.


RE: Skewed research?
By FITCamaro on 3/19/2007 6:41:08 AM , Rating: 2
God forbid they put the blame where it belongs with kids who are bad drivers. On the parents.


RE: Skewed research?
By themadmilkman on 3/19/2007 8:48:02 AM , Rating: 2
It's kind of hard to blame bad driving on the parents, since the parents are usually not present. A kid can drive perfectly well when his parents are in the car, and then drive like a bat out of hell the rest of the time. Short of the kid getting in an accident and/or getting pulled over and ticketed, the parents can be perfectly attentive and STILL have no idea how their child drives.


RE: Skewed research?
By therealnickdanger on 3/19/2007 9:50:15 AM , Rating: 3
Yeah, but kids who respect their parents (and fear the "boot to ass" application of discipline) and follow their rules are more likely to obey laws. There's a reason why kids with high marks can get insurance discounts.

The next few years will be interesting as more devices become available that allow parents to not only track where they drive, but how they drive.


RE: Skewed research?
By doctor sam adams on 3/19/2007 10:17:16 AM , Rating: 3
I think the point the first guy was making was that the parents themselves are bad drivers setting bad examples, and not that kids need to be more obedient to or controlled by their parents.


RE: Skewed research?
By othercents on 3/19/2007 10:33:51 AM , Rating: 5
We are all experts now. No longer can we blame the person who actually caused the accident. It is now the Parents fault, or a computer game made me do it. I shot my friend because I played too much Counter-Strike.

Our society has always been based around blaming others. Look at Adam and Eve in the bible when Adam ate the apple. God ask him and he blamed Eve and God. God asked Eve and she blamed the serpent. We need to take accountability for our own actions.

Other


RE: Skewed research?
By FITCamaro on 3/20/2007 1:03:49 PM , Rating: 1
Actually no the other guy was right. Parents need to be parents more and friends less. Stop trying to bribe them with gifts to make them behave and whip out a belt and beat their a$$ instead. Giving kids gifts to make them behave after they misbehave only tells them to misbehave more.

I got spanked as a kid as I'm sure many of you did. Are you a socially inept person who lives in your parents basement because of it? No. Well, maybe a few of you are. What did it teach me? Not to do the thing that caused me to get spanked.

And yes, you don't know if your kid doesn't get any tickets or accidents. But wreckless drivers typically will get a ticket or get in an accident. The problem is once that happens, the parents don't take the license away because that would mean they would have to drive them around. So they just fix the car and let them continue.

Sure if you're a bad driver your kid probably will be too. But my parents are great drivers and my brother is not. They were way too lax with him. So now at the age of 21 he's totaled two cars (in one month), had numerous tickets, is driving on a restricted license (to and from work only), and is paying $500 a month in insurance.


RE: Skewed research?
By treesloth on 3/19/2007 11:17:56 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
But also, how do they know that they haven't gotten the causality reversed? The conclusion could very well be that people who drive recklessly have a higher tendency to play racing games.


Read:
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUS...

A part of the study is to have a control group that isn't playing the racing game. They would be as similar as possible in all other respects. If the causality were reversed, the results in the driving simulator would be much more similar for both groups.

quote:
...instead they turn it around and say that people who play racing games are more likely to drive recklessly and from that try to conclude that racing games make you drive recklessly


No, the study doesn't say that. Anandtech says that, and it's inaccurate. The study simply says that there appears to be a connection, but does not say what that connection is. The study said, "People who play car racing video games may be more prone to drive recklessly and get into accidents". Consider this result from a study of car accidents:

97% of drivers involved in car accidents had eaten french fries in the month before the accident.

That statement says only what it says. A reporter might look at it and say, incorrectly, that french fries cause car accidents. That's what Anandtech did-- their headline does not follow from the information in article. However, having said that, I do believe that there are people that


RE: Skewed research?
By kkwst2 on 3/19/2007 4:21:05 PM , Rating: 2
OK, but the paper doesn't prove that their groups are similar. Usually in scientific research, you have a table with the relevant demographics of your experimental and control groups so that the readers can judge for themselves whether the groups are the same.

I'm less familiar with experimental psychology, but not including this data makes the conclusions hard to interpret at best, intentionally misleading at worst.


RE: Skewed research?
By kkwst2 on 3/19/2007 4:12:15 PM , Rating: 2
Or how about the possibility that they're both correlated with another variable - age. I see nowhere in the paper where they've tried to control for age.

Younger people tend to play video games. They also tend to be crappy drivers for many reasons, mostly lack of experience.

I'm always amazed at the lack of science involved in most social "research".


RE: Skewed research?
By therealnickdanger on 3/19/2007 7:08:22 AM , Rating: 2
The only thing I can conclude from facts presented so far is that people who play racing videogames have a tendancy to drive aggressively and take more risks in driving simulators (aka "big videogames).


RE: Skewed research?
By derdon on 3/19/2007 7:34:46 AM , Rating: 2
Oh come on, just try it out for yourself. Do you really question this study!?
I've had that experience a lot of times after playing fast paced games. I drove speedier than I normally would.


RE: Skewed research?
By therealnickdanger on 3/19/2007 7:57:56 AM , Rating: 1
OK, so you admittedly have a problem with discerning games from the real world. Media affects judgement to a degree, I don't think anyone disputes that, but we have to be realistic. If we look at the facts - at least in the USA - traffic fatalities have been in steady decline over the past 30+ years while the number of drivers and miles traveled have increased dramatically. More people died on the road in the age before videogames.

At the end of the day, it's your own judgement (or lack thereof) that defines your actions.


RE: Skewed research?
By vortmax on 3/19/2007 9:49:11 AM , Rating: 2
The study isn't about traffic fatalites, but about accidents, bad driving habits, ets. Your argument is not so valid:

The abstract from the report states "[The authors] found that the frequency of playing racing games was positively associated with competitive driving, obtrusive driving, and car accidents; a negative association with cautious driving was observed."

Like the above poster stated, for the kids that are still under their parent's authority, the parents should be held responsible to a degree since they are letting their kids purchase and play these games. As for the adults, they are fully responsible for their actions.


RE: Skewed research?
By therealnickdanger on 3/19/2007 10:10:33 AM , Rating: 2
Not valid? Where do you think traffic fatality stats come from? How do you think crashes occur? You can't die in a crash without having a crash. My point was only that despite the invention of videogames, driving has never been safer for both adult and teen. These researchers want to correlate videogames with bad driving habits, but the evidence is shaky. Since they didn't actually monitor the real-world driving habits of these kids (installing black boxes without their knowledge), interview or observe parents and how they enforce teen driving behavior, analyze the extent of the driver education of each participant, monitor the games played and the hours spent playing, or take into account the level of police enforcement in the areas they drive, it is very difficult to expect any real "proof" of anything.

Here in Minnesota, one of our counties has taken the initiative by simply improving the educational standards of teen drivers in combination with some unique enforcement campaigns and incentives. The results have been astounding. Education and combined parental and police enforcement of that education is what will save drivers, not banning videogames.


RE: Skewed research?
By vortmax on 3/19/2007 10:27:13 AM , Rating: 2
They aren't stating anything about fatalites in the study, so in that context, the argument isn't relevant. It's not valid becuase the main reason traffic fatalities are lower now that in tha past is because of highly increased safety standards of vehicles (seatbelts, airbags, etc.).

It would be nice to see statistics of non-fatal accidents, road rage, etc. I bet they'd show that people are driving worse than ever now-a-days.


RE: Skewed research?
By derdon on 3/19/2007 12:38:23 PM , Rating: 1
Oh my god, I am having a problem and I dare say so... If more people would admit that games have this kind of influence, we wouldn't need shitty studies to confirm this. Just because everyone is such a closeted hate-gamer and never dares to admit playing violent games makes him feel more aggressive. Watching violent films makes me feel more aggressive, there I said it and I am sure I'd be more likely to hit someone if offended after watching a violent film than after not watching one. With games it's the same.

That's so blatantly obvious, but nobody dares to admit it for fear that the authorities might take away their violent movies and games. BOOHOO, but keep on crying and try to hide it.
All that you say is just blah. _You_ need to be realistic and drop that bullshit "more people died on the road blahblah" just because you can't admit it


RE: Skewed research?
By danskmacabre on 3/20/2007 4:40:13 AM , Rating: 2
I'm not trying to hide anything.
I'm just not affected in that way by video games.

Last night I played some Quake 2, followed by freelancer.
After that, I was quite calm and made a cup of tea and watched a movie.

I have a few different driving games on a console and PC and when I drive after laying these games, I simply donot feel any urges to drive fast.
It simply does not happen for me.

Justy because YOU might feel that way does not mean EVERYONE else therefore does.