Serious Violence: The Effects of Violent Elements in Serious Games

Abstract

In serious game development, violent elements are not used as widely as in the industry. Very few studies looked at the effects of violence in interactive educational contexts. This paper explores the effects of violent versus non-violent audiovisual and narrative elements. In which a better understanding can lead to a positive and appropriate use of violence in serious games. We present 2 experiments (n = 30 and 38) using a custom-made game for human bone anatomy learning. We conducted our first experiment incorporating violent and non-violent audiovisuals without narratives. Small negative effects were observed in the sample group with violent audiovisuals. Afterward, We conducted the second experiment incorporating narratives that aim to negate the negative effects. Our results found significant improvements in short-term memorization in all conditions in both experiments. Player experience evaluation indicates that the non-violent condition results in greater intuitive control, but only in the first experiment.