Call of Duty – the Tobacco Wars Opposing Effects of Tobacco Glorifying and Prevention Messages in Entertainment Video Games

• Published in: Applications of Social Psychology Vol. 1; pp. 107 - 123
• Main Authors: Blanton, Hart, Burrows, Christopher N., Regan, Timothy
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2020
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Group Psychodynamic Interpersonal Psychotherapy; Narrative Transportation; Grand Theft Auto; Immersive Games; Alliance Outcome Association; Intrapersonal Risk Factors; Commercial Video Games; Secure Base Script; Anti-tobacco Messages; Vice Versa; Gaming Content; Game Developers; ESRB Rating; Mature Themed Games; Sequential Lineups; Smoking E-cigarettes; Security Enhancing Attachment Figures; Commercial Gaming; Video Games; IAT Score; Virtual Transportation; DUI; Anti-smoking Messages; Adolescent Gaming
• ISBN: 9780367418328; 0367418339; 9780367418335; 0367418320
• DOI: 10.4324/9780367816407-6

We explore competing effects of video gaming content on adolescent health attitudes and beliefs, with a particular focus on effects that potentially impact nicotine and tobacco use. We posit that, through “Virtual Transportation,” players suspend critical analysis of information they encounter. We first draw attention to vivid tobacco imagery found in commercial video games that adolescents play, considering whether the ability of video games to transport players into a compelling, fictional reality might cause these images to exert consequential influence on their health cognitions. In a laboratory investigation, we find that by having a game avatar “vape” during play, we can reduce the perceived riskiness of smoking e-cigarettes as a function of the self-reported transportation into the game. We next introduce ways health communicators might use the same processes to discourage smoking and other risky behaviors. In a second set of laboratory studies, we placed health messages adapted from actual health campaigns into the background of first-person video games, finding that we can reduce willingness to engage in the associated health risks, also as a function of transportation into the game. Our discussion focuses on the ways that the transporting, fantasy elements of video games might be harnessed by health communicators to promote public health. This chapter explores competing effects of video gaming content on adolescent health attitudes and beliefs, with a particular focus on effects that potentially impact nicotine and tobacco use. It introduces ways health communicators might use the same processes to discourage smoking and other risky behaviors. The chapter proposes that by immersing players in compelling, life-like simulations, video games can exert powerful and consequential influence on the players’ own attitudes and beliefs. Education game designers have begun creating video games that educate players on everything from Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math to world history, through game play. Much of this work focuses on the role of “gamification” and simulation. Video games, by their nature, generate cognitive load, and players often persist in playing commercial games long past the point of fatigue — factors that can further reduce resistance and increase influence.