AUTHOR=Ahn Changhyun , Grizzard Matthew , Lee Seyoung 

TITLE=How Do Video Games Elicit Guilt in Players? Linking Character Morality to Guilt Through a Mediation Analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666518

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666518

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Research has consistently found that committing immoral actions in video games is capable of eliciting feelings of guilt in players. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of theoretically-relevant psychological mechanisms: Perceived morality of the player-controlled character and self-attribution of virtual behavior. Based in psychological and communication theory, we derived a mediation model that links these mediating variables to character biography and guilt: Controlling an immoral character should decrease perceived morality of character, which reduce self-attribution of virtual behavior, which in turn, predict guilt. A between-subjects experiment manipulated the biography of the player-controlled character (immoral versus moral) and measured the mediating variables and self-reported guilt. The hypothesized model was tested using PROCESS macro on SPSS. Data were generally consistent with hypotheses. Perceived morality of character and self-attribution of virtual behavior mediated the impact of character biography on guilt. Implications of the findings, contributions of our method, and directions for future research are discussed.