Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Using content analysis, this research evaluated the accuracy and accountability of the Entertainment Software Review Board’s (ESRB’s) video game rating system. With a sample of the 20 most popular videogames from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft this research compared the content observed in games with content descriptors found on video game packaging. Characters found in the games were also analyzed to determine whether or not their appearance, behavior or experiences were accurately represented in the games. Key findings suggest that the ESRB does not always accurately indicate when there are depictions of violence, sex, substance abuse, or profanity in language or music

Supporting Publications:
Supporting Document

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In this paper, we study the culture of video game workers themselves rather than assuming from the outset that there a distinct corporate culture specific to video game companies. In a context of “liquid work” (Deuze 2007) where the boundaries between private life and work place are blurring, it seems judicious to study the culture of video game workers from their individual point of view. More precisely, we choose to examine the cultural leisure of these workers. Cultural leisure refers to the practices that are linked to the worlds of art and cultural entertainment (both legitimized and popular cultural practices). Our aim is to describe the variety of cultural leisure practiced by these workers and to study the relationships between that cultural leisure and their professional activity. We will see that cultural leisure is often prone to be recycled in a personal professional project or in a working context.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The current study investigated the effects of video game play on aggression. Using the General Aggression Model, as applied to video games by Anderson and Bushman (2002), the current study measured physiological arousal, state hostility, and how aggressively participants would respond to three hypothetical scenarios. In addition, this study measured each of these variables multiple times in order to gauge how aggression would change with increased video game play. Results showed a significant increase over time in hostility and aggression (based on two of the three story stems), which is consistent with the General Aggression Model. This study adds to the existing literature on video games and aggression by showing that increased play of a violent first person shooter video game can significantly increase aggression from baseline.

Publication Type: Scholar to Scholar
Abstract: In his recent article in Critical Studies in Mass Communication, Stahl (2006) examines how contemporary video games cast the player in the role of citizen-soldier, and how war-themed games "represent a nexus for the militarization of cultural space." This presentation, utilizing an interactive format involving both classical and modern video games, will focus on the development of the shooting motif from the very basic video games of the late seventies to the sophisticated models of today. By focusing on the reification of hate discourse in video games, this presentation will enable those visiting the scholar to scholar session to see not only how video games in the United States make the other the target, but also extend Stahl's notion to how the roles can be reversed, and how a user in the United States may become the target in video games elsewhere.

Stahl, R. (2006). Have you played the war on terror? Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 23:2, 112-130.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines the role ‘video girls’ presented in Black urban music videos has on the formation of ideals of Black beauty for the general society. Using data from a content analysis of hip-hop and r & b videos, it was found that the dominant images set forth align with mainstream ideals of beauty, most notably fair skin, long flowing hair, and European features. Black Radical Feminist Thought is presented as a perspective to confront unrealistic ideals of beauty and create greater inclusion.