A New Kind Of Mod/A Mod Study

[SpirosMesare]

First Words

Fellow modders hello. I am a university student, studying programming. For this semester i am planning on conducting a study, on social aggression reduction via video games.
The general notion of the paper is relatively simple. What we hope to determine is whether the player’s behavior can be influenced by an immersive video gaming experience, resulting in lower aggression levels. The free will of the player will not be influenced in any way, since no subliminal messages will be used. Instead, what we hope to find, is whether the player’s general mindset or opinion towards others will change, by placing the player in three different in-game scenarios. Ideally, the study should be conducted on pre-pubescent children, but due to the lack of resources the study may initially be conducted on students of the college, as well as on the gaming community via distributing freely on the internet.
And to be honest i will need your help in order to make this study work. Right now the whole thing is in a premature stage -i don't even have a solid scenario yet- but even though the whole thing is in a early stage, i need your help. I am looking for voice actors, as well as animators, people that can create or help me create custom 3D items for the mod and in general, if you wanna help in any way you are welcome. Once the mod is completed it will be uploaded to the Nexus, and a link to a wordpress site, will be given, so once the player has finished playing the mod, they may fill out the questioner if the want to. If you have any particular questions/wanna take part in the mod feel free to post underneath, or if you may sent me a message. This post will be updated as the mod continues to evolve. Beneath i present to you a general outline.

General Idea

In order to create the aforementioned experience, the author of the study will create a custom level for an already existing video game. The level will place the guide the player through a regular school day. During the school day, the player will be requested to take part in 3 different roles. The role of the person being abused, the role of the abuser, and finally, a mere observer of abusive situations, that will be able to influence the outcome of the final scenario.

The Role of the Abused

The role of the abused will place the player in the shoes of a highly abused individual. The individual will go through various school activities and receive high levels of abuse. In this scenario, the author hopes that the player will be able to understand how an abused individual feels. Due to the repeated abuse, the individual will either commit suicide, or take part in a high school shooting.

The Role of the Abuser

The role of the abuser will place the player in the shoes of a highly abusive individual. The individual will go forth and harass a fellow student repeatedly. At the end of the virtual school day, the abuser will be confronted by the abused, or by various friends and family of the abused, depending on the end of the first scenario.
This scenario hopes to achieve two separate goals. Firstly, we want the player to understand the torment one’s action may create. The second goal might be considered controversial, and a little harder to achieve. The author of the paper, hopes to determine whether in-game abuse, may result in the abusers temper reducing, since all their aggressive feelings will be expressed in the virtual world.

The Role of the Observer

The final scenario, will place the player in the shoes of the observer. As the scenario will play out, the player will be able to make 3 main choices. They will either take part in abusive scenes, they will defend the abused individual, or they will remain idle. The final outcome of the scenario will depend on the player’s choices. Of course, at the end of the scenario, the player will be confronted by the abused individual, or by friends and family of the abused one.

High video game immersion

In order to properly deliver a highly immersive experience, in the beginning of the custom level, the player will be asked to answer a series of psychological questions, in order to determine the players, insecurities as well as various aspects of their personality. Depending on the answers the player will give, the aforementioned scenarios will contain proper dialogue choices, in order to place the player in the role they will be given, in the highest rate possible.