MMS Games and Player Perceptions
The purpose of this research is to study the impact of playing modern military shooter (MMS) video games, and how they influence the perceptions of players. This is specifically in terms of how patriotic they consider themselves to be and what they think of American foreign policy. The literature review explores the media framing theory as it relates to video games, as well as the connection between video games and the military as both a recruiting and training method. The methodology sections describes how the participants were involved in the study through a survey inquiring about their political views, how patriotic they believed themselves to be, and the amount of time per week spent playing MMS video games. The data that was gathered from this survey was then processed through an ANOVA test to find the results. The researchers created three hypotheses: 1) as the hours of play increase within MMS games, so will an individual's perception of American patriotism, 2) conservative gamers will identify more with pro-American points of view in MMS games than liberal gamers, 3) a gamer's age will determine how they perceive American patriotism and imperialism in MMS games. Finally, the researchers discuss the data and its implications, what limitations inhibited the study, and what future research projects can improve on.