/
RSS Feed
It’s not often there’s breaking news in the world of academic articles on gaming, but a potential retraction of an article is worth talking about.
A 2014 study called “Boom, Headshot! Effect of Video Game Play and Controller Type on Firing Aim and Accuracy†concluded that playing games with a gun-shaped controller, even briefly, will make the player much more accurate at shooting a real gun.
That study went on to be cited in policy documents and the news, but there’s just one problem: some of the data may have been falsified or manipulated.
What does this mean for academic gaming research? Can or should we trust a single published study?
Show Notes & Links
- Boom, Headshot! Effect of Video Game Play and Controller Type on Firing Aim and Accuracy, by Brad Bushman & Jodi Whitaker, 2014, Communication Research
- Dispute over shooter video games may kill recent paper (Retraction Watch)
- Analyses of Miscoded Data, a timeline of the investigation into the article’s data
- Origins of the “Boom, Headshot†meme
- Andrew Przybylski on Twitter
- Do violent video games play a role in shootings? (CNN)
- APA’s Resolution on Violent Video Games
- More details on replication rates of academic studies
Other games mentioned in this episode:
- Mario Kart 8
- Duck Hunt
- Resident Evil 4
- Wii Play
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Halo
- Super Scope
- Pong
- Asteroids