A new study says that playing video games on 3D screens makes gamers angrier than playing on 2D screens, showing that a more immersive experience isn't always a good thing.
Researchers at Ohio State University found the negative emotions that come while playing can result from engaging in games on higher dimensions, according to Yahoo! Tech. The focus for this study was on the effects of playing on a 3D screen, not on game engines that relied on three dimensions.
Brad Bushman, study co-author and professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State, said anger increases with 3-D gaming because the players in the study felt more immersed in the violence during violent games.
"As the technology in video games improves, it has the ability to have stronger effects on players," he said.
The research team had about 200 college students play Grand Theft Auto IV on either a 17-inch 2D screen, a 96-inch 2D screen or a 96-inch 3D screen, Tech Times reported. Half of the participants were told to play violently, killing as much virtual people as they could, and the other half was told only play bowling in the min-game Memory Lanes.
The players reported their feelings after playing their games, rating them on a scale of 1 to 5. While the mood of non-violent gamers while playing in 2D or 3D stayed about the same, higher levels of anger, frustration, irritability, and similar moods were reported among those who played the same violent game. People who played violently were shown to be much angrier than those who played the 2D version of the game.
The connection between the level of immersion in games and levels of anger was found when the participants rated how immersed they felt in the game on a scale of 1 to 7, and the research team saw that those who played on the 3D screens felt more immersed than those who played on the 2D screens, Tech Times reported.
"The combination of violent content and immersive technology like 3D can be troublesome," Bushman said. "This is something that needs to be considered by everyone involved-electronics manufacturers, video game developers, consumers, parents and content ratings agencies."
The study has been accepted for publication in the Psychology of Popular Media Cultural journal. The team presented the results of their study at the ScienceWriters2014 conference last week at Ohio State University.
