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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

Video games are more and more realistic. So realistic, in fact, that research has consistently found that gamers feel guilty committing unjustified acts of violence within the game.

Now, a study suggests the moral response produced by the initial exposure to a video game decreases as experience with the game develops [futurity.org].

The findings provide the first experimental evidence that repeatedly playing the same violent game reduces emotional responses—like guilt—not only to the original game, but also to other violent video games as well.

Yet why this is happening remains a mystery, according to Matthew Grizzard, assistant professor of communication and principal investigator of the study published in the journal Media Psychology [doi.org] .

From: "Repeated Play Reduces Video Games’ Ability to Elicit Guilt: Evidence from a Longitudinal Experiment" [tandfonline.com]

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