The Problems of using Data from Virtual Reality Experiments
Tags: Morality, Psychology, Navarrete, Virtual Reality, Kitatustalks

Limitations of Video-Games

Stepping away from Virtual Reality exclusive issues, video-games as a whole bring a number of important to note limitations — many of which can cause issues with data collected from virtual reality experiments.

Even though not all virtual reality experiments are video-games or even presented as such, these experiments usually share many of the same tools, programs and design philosophies that video-games also utilize in their creation, such as a 3D game engine (such as Source, Unity or Unreal Engine 4), 3D models and 2D texturing programs.

Due to the fact that experiments in virtual reality share a lot of the same DNA with video-games puts them at risk of the same issues and possible flaws that video-games also suffer from. This means that many of the hurdles that video-game studies suffer from are also a risk for virtual reality studies.

On the top is a screenshot from a moral study performed in 2014 and on the bottom is a screenshot from the video-game Half-Life. Both the experiment and the video-game shared many of the same tools in their creation. Image source: HCILabUdine / Valve

The two key issues with video-games that I feel can severely affect virtual reality studies and experiments are the abstraction from reality and the psychological behaviors of video-game players.

Abstraction from Reality

One of the hottest debated topics in terms of video-games that has persisted over the years has been whether video-games influence the behaviour of the player, such as if violent video-games make players more violent or aggressive in nature.

The very recent studies (at time of writing) on video-game violence have claimed that a direct link between Video-games and behavioural changes exist but these studies have yet to be validated.

These studies and the conflicting studies before them unite together in the theory that the player is segregated to the actions taken by their avatar. The recent studies point to a lasting effect of being exposed to violent imagery but do not directly conflict with the idea that players separate their avatar actions with their own.

Newspapers and studies into video-game violence directly conflict on idea of player detachment to their in-game characters and actions. Image source: Eurogamer / The Sun

This is a point of contention between these violence studies and newspapers. Newspapers tend to ignore the studies on player detachment to their in-game actions and avatars and instead make an erroneous link between the two. A good example of this is the Grand Theft Auto series of video-games.

The Grand Theft Auto series acts as a sandbox for players to take control of an avatar living a life of crime. The world has been crafted to allow players to steal vehicles, murder and perform dangerous feats such as drug trafficking. These are not the only actions players can perform in the series but they are the unique selling points that have helped propel the Grand Theft Auto series into critical acclaim.

Specific sales numbers for the Grand Theft Auto series (of even video-games in general) is notoriously difficult to source from outside of the publishing or development houses. According to collected sources over on the GTA Wiki, the series today has sold roughly around 174.7 million units.

The Grand Theft Auto series is a sandbox for players to live out their ideal life of crime. From stealing cars to selling drugs, almost anything is possible when it comes to ethically questionable choices in the world of Grant Theft Auto. Image source: DarkStation / TakeTwo

We can not take much from such volatile data due to variables such as people purchasing multiple copies, the data itself being unreliable as well as issues such as no way to track retention rates of the players of these purchased copies of games in the Grand Theft Auto series. What we can take from this data though is roughly 150+ million players have been exposed to Grand Theft Auto and the gameplay contained within.

From this estimation, that would mean that there are 150+ million people have been in a situation where they can murder, steal and commit various other criminal acts with no consequence to their psychical being. Most of these 150+ million people have not become cold-blooded killers, professional thieves or even commit common crimes.

It is a struggle to argue these facts just as much as it is difficult to disprove them. This is why studies and discussions in regards to video-games are debated quite significantly (especially as of recent) — gathering reliable data is a constant struggle in a medium that is constantly growing and changing to industry trends.

Jack Thompson famously debated the psychological effects of playing Grand Theft Auto. The BBC dramatized the debate in the docudrama “The Gamechangers” starring Daniel Radcliffe as Sam Houser, co-founder and president of Rockstar Games (the creators of the Grand Theft Auto series). Image source: BBC

One place you can look for data on subjects such as “Does Grand Theft Auto turn people evil?” is to talk to people who have played games from the Grand Theft Auto series. If they do not attempt to murder you, steal your car or commit various crimes against you — you’d be able to gauge quite easily if Grand Theft Auto has turned them into the killing machines that newspapers would have you believe.

We have established (basically and with unreliable data) that at a glance, it would appear that players have a clear understanding that the actions taken by their in-game avatars are not necessarily actions they would take in real life. There is a distinct disconnect between players and avatars.

From this connection, you could argue that people are more likely to act differently knowing that they are controlling an avatar and not themselves which could even extend to a subconscious level. Somewhere along the line, the player understands that actions taken in video-games are abstracted from real life repercussions.

Between the player’s desires and the video-game is the interface method. Is this layer of abstraction enough to alter what a person would do in specific situations? Image source: Business Insider

Until we can establish where this disconnect begins and ends, can data from virtual reality experiments be validated? External variables (such as this layer of abstraction between player and avatar) could affect and even misconstrue data collected from experiments, especially when player action is involved.

Psychological Behaviors of Video-Game Players (Diminished consequences)

Branching out from the core idea of the divide between player’s in-game actions and reality is the idea of diminished consequences. People will happily shoot enemies (and sometimes even “innocent” people) in video-games without feeling a drop of guilt. This is due to diminished consequences.

Even if consciously or subconsciously, players understand that committing violent acts and other various acts that are shunned or outlawed in the real world in a virtual world will not get them in trouble with the law, going as far to understand that there will be no real life consequence to their actions.

The video-game industry would be a lot different than it is today if players felt good for every gun they held or every bullet they used out of that gun. Image source: Electronic Arts / Respawn Entertainment

In fact, an overwhelming amount of games subject the players to learn that the only consequence they will face for their actions is that they’ll either win or lose the game they are playing. No FBI raids, no social exclusion for their in-game actions — just a simple “You’ve won” or “You’ve lost”.

Winning or losing is important in mostly every game, the states are ingrained into the very definition of a game (video or otherwise). The aim of a game is to achieve either outcome. Naturally, there are outlier to these rules with some games more intent on storytelling or otherwise but that is an argument unrelated to the point at hand.

The main point is that players (especially those who have grown up around video-games) understand that they will not get in trouble in real life for their in-game performance and actions and this embedded mentality has a high chance of affecting experiments performed in virtual reality.

Even people’s perception of games has the basic understanding of you will either win or lose. Image source: Bandai Namco

The correlation between video-game behavior and virtual reality behavior can be seen with the Illusory truth effect (as written in Frequency and the conference of referential validity study). The basic idea of Illusory truth is that if you’re told something over and over, you’ll eventually come to believe the statement — even if it is falsified information.

From a young age, we are taught that with games — you will either win or lose. Virtual reality experiments use a lot of elements that are known to even non-game players as game elements such as 3D models, textures, 3D rendering and gaming devices such as the Oculus Rift.

Currently not measured before virtual reality experiments is the exposure that a test subject has to the preconceived motion of what is a video-game and more importantly what they would define as a video-game. Because of this, there is no way to understand if the test subjects subconscious is playing a part in their decisions in virtual reality — thus affecting the outcome of these studies.

These days it is impossible to gauge who has or hasn’t played video-games or even understanding their subconscious understanding of video-games as a whole. Image source: The Daily Mail / Newsteam

If they have no problem shooting an enemy in the face in a video-game, why all of a sudden would they feel guilt doing the same thing but having the screen in front of their eyes instead of on a 50 inch television? When you factor in the Illusory truth effect and the possibility of obscuring the data, it makes it difficult to extract meaningful data on psychological patterns in virtual reality when dealing with “real world” situations.