Playing "prosocial" games such as MMORPGs and MMOs might actually inspire you to lend a helping hand more often to your fellow man (or woman) according to the June 2009 issue of the academic journal, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (via Gamasutra).

This conclusion comes from three separate studies held around the world. In Singapore, 727 children with an average age of 13 were asked to name their favorite games and then were subsequently questioned on "how likely they were to perform good deeds." Apparently the researchers found a "strong correlation between playing prosocial games and helping others as well as violent games and violent behavior." Go figure, right?

On a sidenote, I'd like to point out that the kids could've lied. Why would they? Who knows, but taking their "word for it" is a poor way to conduct a study like this.

A similar study was performed in Japan with 2,000 kids; the research revealed the same results.

The third, and slightly better, study was conducted in the U.S. using college students around the age of 19. Participants had to play a prosocial, violent, or neutral title and then work with a partner to solve a puzzle for $10. The difficulty of that puzzle was decided upon by the player.

Research found that the prosocial players were much more helpful and likely to assign easy puzzles, while the violent gamers were just the opposite.

Personally, I think there are still far too many variables in this research to validate any kind of solid conclusion. Instead, this information should be used as the basis for improved studies of the effects of MMORPGs and other games.

Posted by Kyle Stallock
June 20, 2009

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