The Negative Effects Of Avatar Customization On Prosociality In Violent Video Games

In recent years,the video game industry has flourished.At present,video games have become the fastest growing form of entertainment,favored by more and more players,and have become an indispensable entertainment mode in people’s daily life.Due to the popularity of video games,researchers have begun to pay attention to the effects of video games on players,especially the negative impact.The negative influence is mainly concentrated on the impact of violent video games on players’ aggressiveness and prosociality.A number of studies have taken the general learning model(GLM)as the theoretical basis,proving that exposure to violent video games will promote the aggressiveness and inhibit prosociality.Reducing the negative effects of violent video games is necessary and urgent for the healthy development of young people.Therefore,exploring factors in violent video games that could affect the prosociality of players has become a hot spot in the research of violent video games.A new development of video games is to allow players to create or change their own game avatars.This process may affect the psychological effects of video games on players.So,this study will explore how avatar customization influence players’ prosociality based on violent video games.Study 1 is an experimental study explored the impact of avatar customization on plays’ prosociality in violent video games in a short-term situation,and whether avatar identification plays a mediating role.108 participants were randomly assigned to the neutral game group,the violent game-non-customized group and the violent game-customized group.After 20 minutes,participants finished prosocial words recognition task,positive emotional faces recognition task and helping behavior test,then filled out the online game customization questionnaire and avatar identification scale.The results showed that:(1)Cognitively,the response time of the neutral game group to prosocial words was significantly lower than the other two groups,but there was no significant difference between the violent game-non-customized group and the violent game-customized group;(2)Emotionally,the response time of the neutral game group to positive emotion was significantly lower than the other two groups,and there was no significant difference between the violent game-non-customized group and the violent game-customized group;(3)In avatar identification,the violent game-customized group was significantly higher than the violent game-non-customized group;(4)In prosocial behavior,the willingness and time to help of the violent game-customized group was significantly lower than the violent game-non-customized group;(5)And avatar identification plays a completely mediating role between avatar customization and prosocial behavior.In the second study,we explored the effect of avatar customization on prosocial tendencies and prosocial behavior in long-term situations,and whether character attachment plays a mediating role.66 participants were randomly assigned to the neutral game group,the violent game-non-customized group,and the violent game-customized group.After finished the last game,they completed the prosocial tendency scale,character attachment questionnaire and donation task.The results showed that:(1)In terms of prosocial tendency,there was no significant difference between violent games-non-customized groups and violent games-customized groups;(2)The level of character attachment of violent games-customized group was significantly higher than violent games-non-customized group;(3)In terms of prosocial behavior,violent games-non-customized group was marginal significantly higher than violent games-customized group;(4)The character attachment plays a completely mediating role between avatar customization and prosocial behavior.In summary,the results of this study showed that,in the short-term effect,avatar customization can improve the avatar identification,amplify the inhibition effect of violent game content on the prosocial behavior,and avatar identification plays a completely mediating role between avatar customization and prosocial behavior.In the long-term,avatar customization can promote the character attachment of players,amplify the violent game content’s inhibitory effect on the player’s prosocial behavior,and the character attachment also plays a completely mediating role between the two.