Playing the Hero or Playing the Villain: An Investigation of the Violent Video Game Character Role Effect on Aggression

Five experiments were conducted to evaluate whether violent video game play as a deviant character produces higher aggression than does violent video game play as a heroic character. In all experiments, participants read a brief description of their character as either deviant or heroic before playing the same game. Participants were more aggressive if they played alone as the deviant character than the heroic character (Experiments 1–5). The role effect appeared limited to single player conditions (Experiment 1) and was minimized when provocation by an opponent was manipulated to be either unambiguously high or low (Experiments 2–3). The role effect was also smaller among participants induced to choose their character (Experiments 4–5). Theoretical and practical implications for the findings are discussed.