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Summer
Research Projects
Does Playing Video Games have an Effect on your Income?
By Ryan MacLeod
As high technology becomes more and more integrated
into our way of life, so too is it becoming more integrated
into the way we as a society spend our leisure time. According
to a study recently released by IGN Entertainment and Ipsos
MediaCT, “gamers” now represent approximately 144 million
of the 244 million American online consumers. For the first
time in American history, then presidential candidate Barack
Obama released campaign ads in 18 different online video games
during his 2008 election campaign, and in the past year, the
video game industry has started seriously lobbying politicians
in Washington. Clearly, video games are becoming a significant
part of our society and thus, it is only natural to question
what effect video games are having on our society and on the
individual.
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A
growing body of research in the field of psychology highlights
a number of negative effects playing video games can have
on the individual. These include increases in the frequency
of violent thoughts and behaviors and decreases in the frequency
of pro-social behavior. Thus, there exists the potential that
through these channels, as well as others, playing video games
could yield a negative impact on an individual’s income. On
the other hand, studies conducted on behalf of the video game
industry report that video gaming families earn higher incomes
on average than their non-gaming counterparts. By using instrumental
variable and maximum likelihood regression analysis, data
from the 2005 General Social Survey will be examined to determine
whether or not playing video games can yield an income penalty
or premium. (The General Social Survey focused on how Canadian’s
used their free time.)
More Summer of 2009 Student Research
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