A couple Iowa professors have set up a video games lab designed to study how people respond when playing video games.
The professors have acknowledged that video games are becoming an important part of our life, and their Video Game Institute for Education and Research is designed to measure responses to those playing games, such as heart rate, respiration and skin response, according to a report by KPTH Fox 44 News in South Dakota.
The Morningside College instructors, psychology professor Susan Burns and computer science professor Dean Stevens, have already collaborated on two other video game studies without their lab. The pair want to continue their research into online gaming and gaming addictions to educate consumers to give them a better understanding about video games:
"It has such a huge affect on who we are as a people and so it's important to realize what's happening with video games and how they affect us," says Stevens.
"We feel it is our role, our purpose, to not just gather the knowledge and keep it to ourselves, but to educate the public as well," says Burns.
Opinion: It is refreshing to see researchers taking what appears to be an objective approach to a study, with education as the goal, as opposed to scare tactics. But, we still need to see how the final results are presented in the end.
Comments
Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
I'm pretty sure there are people out there that will pay $300, $1000, or even a million for a particular title that has been discontinued for over 20 years. Some games are just... Awesome.
I hope the research goes through well. So, I can determine if I'm insane or not :o
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"Because this town is under the stranglehold of a few tight eyed Tree Huggers who would rather play Hacky Sack than lock up the homeless" -- Birch Barlow
Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
I am more empowerd by music than any other medium. No matter how much I might like a game , I have never suddenly had a massive desire to twitch my thumbs when I see a game being played, but a good song makes my feet or hands start tapping to the rythm without me even recognizing it.
Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
I wonder if it would match whatever reserch showen for film and books. IE people are excited over thier media of choice.
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Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
""It has such a huge affect on who we are as a people"
Glad to see they aren't going into this with any preconceptions or anything.
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Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
I'm glad these two are researching important things like videogames and not cancer or something silly like that.
Re: Professors Study Human Response to Games
Sheesh, put the claws away. I'm guessing they're not medical doctors, which would largely rule them out as cancer researchers. There have been enough calls (whether honest or misguided) by politicians and society for research on video games that we shouldn't be surprised that some should answer it. And the one benefit of science is researching something that interests you. I wouldn't begrudge these folks that.
You want cancer research...get an advanced degree and research it yourself! :)