Podcast 1: Rage Quitting, Frustration and Aggression

Text. Pfft. Text is dead, am I right?1 Voice without video, THAT’S the future.

andy pGiven that, I’ve decided to dip into the world of podcasting and have recorded my first episode. I talked to Dr. Andrew Przybylski from Oxford University about research that he and his colleagues have done on video game violence, frustration, aggression, and motivation. Specifically around some additional questions and research topics that psychologists should be investigating around aggression and games.

We also talk about how game designers and community managers might use this research to make players feel less frustrated and angry in certain circumstances.

This is my first attempt at podcasting and I’ve already learned a lot making just this one episode. But I also want to hear your feedback and suggestions. Just head over to the Contact page and shoot me a note. Likewise, if you’re a researcher or someone with a psychology background working in the gaming industry, let me know if you’d like to be a guest! It’s a great way to share what you’ve been working on with interested listeners. I’m aiming to post a new podcast every month.

Finally, I hear you like links. Here are some links relevant to this episode.

Info on this week’s guest:

Audio credits

Footnotes:

1. No, I am not. Nevertheless…
2. Przybylski, A., Deci, E., Rigby, C., & Ryan, R. (2014). Competence-Impeding Electronic Games and Players’ Aggressive Feelings, Thoughts, and Behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 106(3), 441-457.

16 thoughts on “Podcast 1: Rage Quitting, Frustration and Aggression

  1. Pingback: Gaming News / Podcast Episode 1: Frustration, Aggression, and Rage Quitting

  2. Pingback: Podcast Episode 1: Frustration, Aggression, and Rage Quitting | The … - SciFi Picks

  3. Thoroughly enjoyed the fascinating podcast and looking forward to the next. Thank you! It was interesting to hear the results of the extensive research. I usually find I get cross with myself when gaming if I mess up … much more so than blaming the developer, game/game performance or hardware.

  4. Nicely done!

    I’m very much interested in self-determination theory for games and how it impacts game design, game genres, and player play preferences. It was exciting to see Dr. Przybylski on, maybe he could dig into this again? I’m also interested in where he’s evolved since working with Rigby. Rigby is fairly vocal in the design community and I’m curious what other work has been done outside his consultancy.

  5. Pingback: Games Make You Violent* | Improbable Insights

  6. I enjoyed the first episode. Great theme song! I think the point that video games are more comparable psychologically to sports than movies is spot on. I think video game addiction would be a good subject for another episode, although you would probably have to get into the philosophy of addiction. People can be addicted to many different things for many different reasons and psychology only has so much explanatory power. Other episode ideas are colors and how they affect us in video games, shiny collectible objects and how they inspire us to collect them haha, and video game music. Looking forward to listening to more of this podcast!

    • Thanks, Jake. Yeah, addiction is one of those topics I’ve steered clear of because a) it’s controversial, + b) it’s complicated. Either of those by itself is fine, but it’s a tricky combination. Would be a good topic if I can find the right expert guest to interview, though.

  7. I am an undergrad student of psychology interested in game development/gaming psychology. For me, this podcast (and your content in general) is a great reference point. Great podcast 😀 The content was not too academic, easy to understand, yet comprehensive enough to be a starting point for further studies on this subject. I am looking forward to the next episode.

    A possible topic I would enjoy learning about is the idea of ‘control’ in gaming. It is a very vague and broad topic, but I think ‘control’ (or at least the perception of ‘control’) is an important factor for gamers. This podcast already briefly touched upon this subject by revealing the subjects’ sense of incompetence (or loss of control) fosters negative feelings and vice versa. It would be interesting to listen to a detailed explanation/study on this matter.

    Again, I very much appreciate your content. It is helpful, educational, and most importantly motivational 😀

  8. Pingback: Health in Games – League of legends Toxicity | Next Level

  9. Pingback: Games Make You Violent* – Uncertainty

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