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300W Exploratory Essay 1
300W Exploratory Essay 1
Vijay Reddy
Simon Fraser University
Psych 300W: Critical Analysis of Issues in Psychology
Dr. Gordon Rose
February 9th, 2023
While looking at the readings for the critical reading evaluation schedule, the week eight
readings caught my eye. As someone who plays a fair amount of video games and mostly
consumes media centered around the topic, it felt appropriate to research. I enter this topic with
very superficial knowledge of studies that show the positive effects of video games like Glass,
Maddox and Love (2013) in which they tested to see if playing certain action video games would
increase the cognitive flexibility of participants. Currently my main curiosity is the positive
Similarly, to Glass (2013), McColeman looks at Starcraft players of different skill levels but the
focus is the patterns of information processing (2020). They used players who have spent 545
hours playing this game (McColeman, 2020). This number of hours, in my opinion, is a good
amount but I do not know much about this game other than it is strategy based. While reading, I
wondered why they chose this game, as it was nine or ten years old when this study was being
conducted and is dwindling in popularity since the peak active players during Starcraft 1
(“Starcraft 2 Player Count 2022”, 2022). My main curiosity after finishing reading is what type
The first genre I decided to look at was first-person shooter or FPS games. I chose this
genre because, in my experience, it is one of the first game genres that people are exposed to due
to the popularity of Call of Duty and Halo. I started my search on Google Scholar and found
Colzato, Wilden, Zmigrod et al (2013). In this study the researchers compared people who play
first person shooters to those with no gaming experience with cognitive tasks that measure
working memory and response inhibition (Colzato, Wilden, Zmigrod et al., 2013). The results
showed those that play FPS games updated and monitored their working memory faster and
more accurately than those who do not play games while the other measure was unaffected. After
reading this I wondered if these effects are supported by other peer-reviewed articles. After not
finding relevant research on Google Scholar, I decided to continue the search on the Simon
Fraser Science Database where I found a follow up study to Colzato et al (2013), Steenbergen et
al (2015). In this study, they used a similar experimental procedure but they tested action cascade
and action inhibition (Steenbergen, 2015). They had reaffirmed that the action cascade of
participants who played games are faster in responses but the same inhibition as people that do
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 3
not play games. From these results, I wondered if these results would be the same in sandbox
this study, researchers looked at a first-person shooter, sandbox, and puzzle games and the effect
playing them has on the creativity of players using the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking
(Moffat, 2017). For sandbox games, after playing Minecraft, the results of participants increased
in fluency and flexibility but dropped in originality. These results are to be taken with a grain of
salt because they used a sample of seven for this condition of the study (Moffat, 2017). Due to
this, I decided to look for more studies that may corroborate these findings. In an experiment by
Ellison and Drew (2019), they attempted to use sandbox games to induce more creative writing
in Year 3 boys. This experiment had not statistically significant results but students either
improved or maintained the same score as before (Ellison & Drew, 2019). Unlike the first-person
shooter, the sandbox games do not have clear, statistically significant benefits. This conclusion to
the sandbox research surprised me because I assumed that there would be clear evidence for
improved cognitive abilities from sandbox games. The next genre I believe would have positive
MMORPG was overall negative. Most research focused on the addiction and escapism aspect,
for example, Kaczmarek (2014) looked at MMORPG escapism and its relationship with well
being. Researchers tested beliefs, time spent in game, offline and online support for real life
problems (Kaczmarek, 2014). The results showed that those with escapist attitudes tended to
have more time in game, higher online support and higher belief in game realism. They also had
lower offline support. The higher rate of online support did not make up for the lack of offline
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 4
support in the people surveyed. This study looked into the negative impacts of the MMORPGs
which is the opposite of the research I have been looking for. Similarly, Kirby et al (2014)
looked into the correlation between playing MMORPGs and the wellbeing of the player. These
researchers found, through a survey of five hundred World of Warcraft players, a negative
correlation between wellbeing and playtime (Kirby, 2014). After reading the research on this
genre I was surprised by the overwhelming negative outcomes discovered. As I read I found
myself asking “how come online support not subvert the negative effects?”. This leads me to
The last genre that I am curious about is MOBAs or multiplayer online battle arena
games. This genre is famously toxic and reknown for terrible behaviour. As toxic as it may be,
researchers are looking into skills and cognitive differences between MOBA players and non
players. Most studies look at high level players which is hard to apply to the average player. In
flexibility, decision making, fluid intelligence, control inhibition and working memory in
comparison to their rank and various other metrics (Valls-Serrano, 2022). The research had
found a positive relationship between cognitive flexibility and rank, decision-making and
minions per a minute or creep score per a minute and some other in-game metrics (Valls-
Serrano, 2022). Although this study looks more into the cognition on performance in game these
aspects may be generalizable to the rest of the MOBA population. After looking through so
much research the thesis I came up with is “The vast amount of game genres creates unique
experiences that allow the brain to become more effiecient in many way so determining
which game genre benefits human cognition can assist in teaching and education”.
References
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 5
Colzato, L.S., van den Wildenberg, W.P.M., Zmigrod, S. et al. Action video gaming and
cognitive control: playing first person shooter games is associated with improvement in
working memory but not action inhibition. Psychological Research 77, 234–239 (2013).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-012-0415-2
Ellison, M., & Drew, C. (2019). Using Digital Sandbox Gaming to Improve Creativity Within
doi:10.1080/02568543.2019.1675823
Glass, B. D., Maddox, W. T., & Love, B. C. (2013). Real-Time Strategy Game Training:
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0070350
Kaczmarek, L. D., & Drążkowski, D. (2014). MMORPG Escapism Predicts Decreased Well-
Being: Examination of Gaming Time, Game Realism Beliefs, and Online Social Support
for Offline Problems. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(5), 298–
302. doi:10.1089/cyber.2013.0595
Kirby, A., Jones, C., & Copello, A. (2014). The Impact of Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Motivations and Problematic Use. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction,
doi:10.4018/ijgbl.2017040103
Steenbergen L, Sellaro R, Stock A-K, Beste C, Colzato LS (2015) Action Video Gaming and
Cognitive Control: Playing First Person Shooter Games Is Associated with Improved
EXPLORING VIDEO GAME AND PSYCHOLOGY 6
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0144364
T. (2022, May 31). Starcraft 2 Player Count 2022. Esports Betting Blog | Thunderpick.
https://thunderpick.io/blog/starcraft-2-player-count-2022
Valls-Serrano, C., De Francisco, C., Caballero-López, E., & Caracuel, A. (2022). Cognitive
Flexibility and Decision Making Predicts Expertise in the MOBA Esport, League of
Legends. SAGE Open, 12(4), 215824402211427.
https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221142728