Defending the Doomed: Implicit Strategies concerning Protection of First Person Shooter Games

Abstract
Censorship of violent digital games, especially first-person shooter (FPS) games, is broadly discussed between
generations. While older people are concerned about possible negative influences of these games, not only
players but also nonplayers of the younger net-generation seem to deny any association with real aggressive
behavior. Our study aimed at investigating defense mechanisms players and nonplayers use to defend FPS and
peers with playing habits. By using a lexical decision task, we found that aggressive concepts are activated by
priming the content of FPS but suppressed afterward. Only if participants were instructed to actively suppress
aggressive concepts after priming, thought suppression was no longer necessary. Young people still do have
negative associations with violent video games. These associations are neglected by implicitly applying defense
strategies—independent of own playing habits—to protect this specific hobby, which is common for the netgeneration.