Culture Wars and Video Games: Ethnic

Fighting, Competitiveness, and Aggression

in Head-to-Head Fighting Games
DARNELL COLEMAN This study examined the effects of head-to-head, fighting video games on race
relations, competitiveness, and aggression in adolescents. Twenty-five African
Chicago State University American adolescents participated in this pretest–posttest research. Participants
responded to questionnaires designed from previously tested scales before, immedi-
ately after, and 3 days after playing video games to determine if there were any
effects of video game playing, and if so, whether these effects were temporary or
long term. As hypothesized, most participants tended to pick video game charac-
ters whom they identified with respect to sex. However, African American men did
not choose the African American male character as predicted. There was a signifi-
cant widening in distance between how close participants would allow other
ethnic groups to their ethnic group after playing video games as measured by the
Social Distance Scale. Aggression and competitiveness did not significantly
increase for all participants; however, those participants who were less aggressive
and competitive before playing violent video games experienced significant
increases in the suspicion subsection of the aggression scale and increases on the
competitive scale. Results show that Mortal Kombat 3 causes racial divisions in
adolescents and that adolescents who come to such games with low levels of aggres-
sion or competitiveness may be at risk for being adversely effected.

Most characters are not blood-related except by dint of the
blood that they have all spilled. To that end, the Earth Forces
are no more virtuous than the Outworlders and still fight
each other if no worse enemy is around.
— FROM INSTRUCTION MANUAL TO
MORTAL KOMBAT 3
much hoopla and were equally helpless in the first
popular fighting games, Double Dragon and Double
Dragon II. In Double Dragon, Billy Lee, a martial arts
expert, is in search of “sweet” Marian who was being
held captive by the Black Warriors’ Shadow Boss. In
Double Dragon II, sweet Marian is supposedly dead,
and Jimmy Lee, one of Marian’s old boyfriends, joins

A
T FIRST GLANCE, THE RECENT TREND TOWARD
producing more politically correct video
games adopted by many manufacturers is
commendable; not long ago researchers complained
about the games’ sexism and racism (Barmazel, 1993;
Provenzo 1991). In most games, women were por-
trayed as victims—being acted on rather than initiat-
ing action—and many ethnic groups were either
underrepresented or misrepresented. For example,
in Super Mario Brothers, after Mario (or Luigi de-
pending on which character was chosen) had
trounced mushrooms, dodged fireballs, swam
through troubled waters, and endured the stench of
underground sewage systems, he was rewarded by
rescuing the helpless princess who had been kid-
napped earlier in the game by the infamous King
Koopa. The princess rewarded the victorious plumber
with a kiss. Similarly, women also were the focus of
Billy Lee in his fight to avenge her death.
Video games in the past were even less sensitive
to minority groups. Most video games in the 1980s
Author note. Darnell Coleman, Chicago State University, Depart-
ment of Psychology.
This experiment was completed during the summer of 1996
while I was a participant in the Summer Research Opportunities
Program at the University of Chicago. I would like to thank Dr.
Edgar Epps (faculty advisor), Yvette Adeoshun, and Luz Cazares
of the University of Chicago, Julius Jackson of Chicago State
University, Mark King of Howard University, and Diante Gray of
Harper High School for their invaluable help. In addition, Dr.
Stephen Davis and the reviewers were a tremendous help through-
out the editing process. I would also like to thank Darvik Martin
for kindly volunteering the use of his equipment and the Project
FAME/Upward Bound students who kindly volunteered to par-
ticipate in the study.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed
to Darnell Coleman, Department of Sociology, Northwestern
University, 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201. Electronic
mail may be sent to d-coleman@nwu.edu.

70 PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ! Summer 1999

Copyright 1999 by Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology (Vol. 4, No. 2, 70–75 / ISSN 1089-4136). Faculty Supervisor: Edgar Epps

and early 1990s portrayed minorities negatively or
simply failed to include them at all. In Double
Dragon, the only African Americans in the game are
gang members, and in Legal Enforcer the only Asians
in the game are villains. Many Asians in Canada com-
plained about Legal Enforcer, and students in Canada
boycotted the game complaining that it depicted
Chinese as criminals and reinforced stereotypical
views (Barmazel, 1993).
Researchers complained about the possible ill
effects of violent video games long before such game
usage became widespread. For example, Provenzo
(1991) states that children are directed by the con-
tent of video games to construct a social reality based
on the games and concludes that games, through the
process of incorporation, have the potential to am-
plify certain values (e.g., women as victims, Chinese
as criminals). Research on violent video games sup-
ports Provenzo’s claims: Griffiths (1991) suggests that
younger children become more aggressive after ex-
posure to violent video games. In a study of twenty-
eight 4- to 6-year-olds, aggressive behavior increased
following play or observation of violent video games
(Silvern & Williamson, 1987). In another study of 31
comparable children, the participants tended to imi-
tate aggressive and nonaggressive behaviors of main
characters from previously played video games
(Schutte, Malouff, Post-Gorden, & Rodasta, 1988).
According to Huesmann, Lagerspetz, and Eron
(1984), if a game player identifies with the charac-
ters, the modeling effect is increased.
Besides increasing aggression, video games also
create hostile situations by having players compete
against each other, behaving in ways that produce ill
feelings, arguments, and occasional physical conflicts
(Anderson & Morrow, 1995). Frequent exposure to
video games also decreases empathy and strengthens
the general perception that the world is a dangerous
place (Comstock & Strasburger, 1993). Funk and
Buchman (1996) also found that exposure to video
games influences self-concepts. They reported an in-
verse relationship between typical time committed
playing video games and scholastic competence, be-
havioral conduct, social acceptance, athletic compe-
tence, and self-esteem for girls. Griffiths (1991) also
raises concerns that video games may have more ad-
verse effects than television because of the active in-
volvement of the player. Newer versions of old fight-
ing games may be even more detrimental to children’s
development because today’s games are more realis-
tic, graphic, interactive, and have a greater variety of
characters. Some researchers recommend a rating
system to warn parents of the violent content of video
games; others have recommended that manufacturers
PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ! Summer 1999
CULTURE WARS AND VIDEO GAMES ! Coleman
of video game make games less aggressive, less dis-
criminatory, and more educational (Provenzo, 1991).
Manufacturers have responded to at least some of the
researchers’ requests. A rating system was created for
all video games, and many of the video games today
are less discriminatory and more culturally inclusive.
Manufacturers of recent video games have con-
sidered research on sex and racial stereotyping. For
example, manufacturers of some contemporary
games try (a) not to depict women as being helpless
and (b) to incorporate various ethnic and racial
groups. Head-to-head fighting games such as Street
Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, and Tekken
all have women and minority fighters who are pivotal
players in the games’ plots. Nevertheless, it remains
to be answered whether such multi-ethnic, head-to-
head, politically correct video games do more harm
than good. Do players make ethnic and racial identi-
fications? Does head-to-head fighting among people
of different cultures cause racial tensions or racial
problems in the people who play these games?
The potential still exists for continued negative
effects of playing these games. Thus, the primary
purpose of the present study was to determine the
effect, if any, that multi-ethnic, head-to-head, fight-
ing video games have on race relations, competitive-
ness, and aggression. This study tested three hypoth-
eses: (a) that members of particular ethnic or sex
groups will tend to pick players in the game that they
most identify with; (b) that there will be significant
increases in aggression as measured by the aggres-
sion and competitiveness scales after participants have
played the video games; and (c) that playing the game
Mortal Kombat 3 will adversely effect race relations.
With regard to the last hypothesis, it was predicted
that participants will perceive race relations as being
worse on the Community Race Relations Rating, and
that social closeness, as measured by the Social Dis-
tance Scale, will widen after video game playing.
Method
Participants
Twenty-five African American high school stu-
dents (16 girls, 9 boys) who were in a summer pro-
gram at a university in Chicago participated in the
study. Students were selected to participate in the
summer program from various high schools in and
around Chicago with no requirement except recom-
mendations from teachers. Based on the desired age
group needed for this study, four classes consisting
of approximately six students each were selected to
participate in the study. Students were told that if they
completed the experiment they were eligible to par-
ticipate in a drawing to win newly released compact
71
CULTURE WARS AND VIDEO GAMES ! Coleman
discs. Participants ranged in age from 14 to 17 years
old (M = 15.24, SD = .88). All students reported play-
ing video games before. Nine students reported
playing video games twice a week or less, whereas five
girls and five boys reported playing video games three
times a week or more.
Testing Instruments
Social Distance Scale. The Social Distance Scale
(Bogardus, 1959) attempts to measure the social
distance that respondents perceive between them-
selves and members of different racial or ethnic
groups by reference to the type of interaction with
the group members the respondents are willing to
engage. The scale has 9 items scaled from 1 (would
admit to close kinship by marriage) to 7 (would exclude
from country).
Community Race Relations Rating. The Commu-
nity Race Relations Rating (Matthews & Prothro,
1966) was used to determine the respondents’ per-
ception about race relations in their community, city,
state, and country: how race relations were in the past,
and how race relations will be in the future using as
endpoints the respondents’ own conception of the
“best” and “worst’ in race relations. A picture of a 10-
step ladder is shown to participants and they must
mark the number they feel corresponds to how race
relations are in each of the six categories on a scale
from 1 (best race relations possible) to 10 (worst race rela-
tions possible).
Buss-Durkee Aggression Inventory. The Buss-
Durkee Aggression Inventory (Buss & Durkee, 1957)
was designed to assess different forms of aggression
and hostility such as physical assault against human
beings, resentment, suspicion, and verbal aggression.
Two of the subsections (verbal hostility and indirect
hostility) were eliminated from the questionnaire in
an effort to keep the questionnaire from being too
lengthy. The subsections used were physical assault,
irritability, suspicion, resentment, and negativism,
which together should adequately measure any
changes in aggression. Forty-four items from the ag-
gression inventory were included in the question-
naire, and participants stated whether statements
applied to them on a 5-point scale: (5 = always, 4 =
almost always, 3 = sometimes, 2 = almost never, and 1 =
never).
Competitive Preoccupation Scale. The Competi-
tive Preoccupation Scale (CPS; Turner, 1960) consists
of statements ranging from disappointment at doing
less well than one’s friends to sole preoccupation with
trying to beat others competitively. The eight-item
CPS is scaled in the same manner as the Buss-Durkee
Aggression Inventory.
72 PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
Apparatus
A Sony PlayStation with two joysticks was con-
nected to a 13-in. (33-cm) color television set. One
game was used for the experiment: Mortal Kombat 3
(MK3) by Williams Entertainment, Inc. Mortal
Kombat is considered one of the most violent games
on the market and is rated “M,” for people who are
17 or older, because of its graphically violent content.
Players must punch, kick and throw, and shoot
fireballs at each other to avoid being killed by their
opponents. The winners of the match can also per-
form a “fatality” on their opponents, which is differ-
ent for each character. Some characters chop oppo-
nents in pieces, some rip opponents in half, and oth-
ers rip opponents’ skeletons out of their bodies.
Screams are heard and blood is shown gushing from
characters’ mouths and bodies when they are being
hit. MK3 was selected because of its violence and
popularity and because it has a variety of human char-
acters to choose from: there are two White women,
as well as one African American, Native American,
Caucasian, Japanese, and Chinese man each repre-
sented in the game.
Procedure
The experiment employed a pretest–posttest ex-
perimental design and consisted of three parts. One
week before the study, students took consent forms
home and had a parent or guardian sign them. Only
two students out of the four classes did not return
consent forms; they were excluded from participat-
ing in the study. In the first part, participants simply
completed the four questionnaires. A 48-hr interim
separated the first and second parts of the experi-
ment. The waiting period was implemented to pre-
clude participants simply repeating answers on the
questionnaires.
During the second part of the experiment, each
participant played the video game and then com-
pleted the identical questionnaire from 2 days
previous. Participants played three matches each
consisting of three 99-s rounds against a 15-year-old
African American male confederate with previous
experience playing MK3. The person who first wins
two rounds wins the match. The confederate always
won either Round 1 or Round 2 and subtly lost the
other two rounds; thus each participant played exact-
ly three rounds. Participants chose their characters
before playing the game and were instructed that they
must always play with the same character throughout
the three rounds. Selection of characters was limited
to only human characters. Immediately after partici-
pants finished, they were escorted to an adjacent
room to complete questionnaires.
! Summer 1999

The third part of the experiment occurred 72 hr
after the second part. Participants completed ques-
tionnaires to determine whether the effects were
“temporary” or “long term.” Participants were de-
briefed at the end of the third phase.
Results
Hypothesis 1
Characters chosen to play with were as follows:
11 girls and 1 boy chose the woman character; 5 boys
and 1 girl chose “Sub-Zero,” a Japanese man; 2 boys
and 1 girl chose the Chinese man; 1 boy and 1 girl
chose the African American man; 1 girl chose the
Native American man; and 1 girl chose the Cauca-
sian man. Chi-square statistics revealed a significant
difference between observed and expected frequen-
cies for male participants who chose male characters,
"2(1, N = 9) = 5.44, p < .02, but not female partici-
pants who chose female characters, "2(1, N = 16) =
2.25, p < .13. Of the six people who reported playing
Mortal Kombat or Mortal Kombat 3 before, five of
them chose “Sub-Zero” as their character, "2(1, N =
6) = 2.67, p < .10, and for participants who picked
“Sub-Zero” and reported playing video games fre-
quently (three times a week or more), marginally sig-
nificant differences were also found, "2(2, N = 7) =
4.57, p < .10.
Hypothesis 2
Paired t tests were performed on questionnaire
scores to determine if there were any significant dif-
ferences between the first and second, the first and
third, and the second and third questionnaire admin-
istrations. Data were separated by sex, age, and fre-
quency of game play. Age was separated into two cat-
egories: 14- and 15-year-olds and 16- and 17-year-olds.
Frequency of play was also separated into two catego-
ries: those participants who played video games two
times a week or less and those participants who played
video games three times a week or more. No signifi-
cant differences were found in any of these specific
categories that were not also found in the group as a
whole.
Means of scores from the CPS showed an increase
between the first (M = 2.61, SD = .88) and second
administrations (M = 2.84, SD = .82); however, the
difference was not significant, t(24) = 1.63, p < .12.
Difference between means of the second and third
(M = 2.65, SD = 1.07) administrations also were not
significant, t(24) = 1.56, p < .13, as was the compari-
son from the first and third administrations, t(24) =
.262, p < .80.
Scatter plots revealed that participants who re-
ceived low scores on the first CPS experienced an
PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ! Summer 1999
CULTURE WARS AND VIDEO GAMES ! Coleman
increase in scores on the second CPS, and partici-
pants who received relatively high scores tended to
remain the same. Scores were separated into bottom
50% (N = 15) and top 50% (N = 10). Results show
that means of participants who received low scores
on the first CPS (M = 2.03, SD = .61) significantly in-
creased from the mean on the second CPS (M = 2.64,
SD = .77), t(24) = 2.65, p < .04. The means of partici-
pants who received high scores on the first CPS did
not change significantly between the first and second
administrations.
No significant differences (t test) were found
between means on overall scores of aggression or any
subsection for all participants on the Buss-Durkee
Aggression Scale (BDAS). However, when data for the
whole scale and for each subsection were separated
into participants who received low scores (bottom
50%) and participants who received high scores (top
50%) on the first BDAS, significant increases were
found. There was a significant increase, t(7) = 2.59,
p < .04, between the mean on the first suspicion sub-
section (M = 2.72, SD = .30) and the mean on the
second suspicion subsection (M = 3.10, SD = .46).
There were no other significant increases or decreases
in means for participants who received low or high
scores on the total or any subsection of the BDAS.
Hypothesis 3
On the Social Distance Scale (SDS), results re-
vealed a significant increase, t(24) = 2.69, p < .01,
between the mean scores on the first SDS (M = 3.18,
SD = 1.48) and scores on the second SDS (M = 3.64,
SD = 1.46) after participants played video games. SDS
scores decreased slightly from the second question-
naire administration to the third (M = 3.52, SD =
1.67); however, the difference was not significant,
t(24) = .516, p < .61. There was no significant differ-
ence between scores from the first and third admin-
istrations of the SDS, t(24) = 1.53, p < .14.
Scores for each individual racial and ethnic group
rated on the SDS were analyzed separately. Results
indicate that means from the first and second admin-
istrations for each individual racial and ethnic group
increased; however, only the increases for Indians
(from India), t(24) = 3.00, p < .007, was significant
(see Table 1). Means for individual groups also tended
to decrease from the second to the third administra-
tion but none were significant. There were no sig-
nificant differences between means from the first and
third administrations.
There were no significant differences between
means on the first and second, t(24) = 1.19, p < .24,
the second and third, t(24) = .411, p < .69, or the first
and third administrations, t(24) = 1.23, p < .17, on
73
CULTURE WARS AND VIDEO GAMES ! Coleman

TABLE 1
Means of Participants’ Scores Reported for Individual Groups on Social Distance:
Test Administrations 1 (SDS 1), 2 (SDS 2), and 3 (SDS 3)
SDS 1 SDS 2 SDS 3
Groups M SD M SD M SD

Russians 4.04 2.47 4.32 2.41 4.08 2.38

Japanese 3.96 2.25 4.08 2.18 3.60 2.08
Germans 3.84 2.21 4.48 2.10 4.16 2.19
Caucasians 3.60 2.02 4.00 2.30 3.84 2.27
Spanish 3.28 2.30 3.44 2.10 3.64 2.34
Chinese 3.16 2.17 3.92 2.52 3.76 2.35
Mexicans 2.64 2.04 2.96 1.97 3.40 2.35
Indians (India) 2.16 1.57 3.36 2.40 2.80 2.12
Native Americans 1.92 1.44 2.40 1.35 2.32 1.95

the Community Race Relations Rating (CRRR). On
average, participants did not feel good about race
relations. On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being the
best race relations possible and 10 being the worst race
relations possible, participants’ mean scores were 6.09
on the first (SD = 1.64), 5.82 on the second (SD =
1.57), and 5.79 on the third (SD = 1.9).
Discussion
It was predicted that players of video games would
pick players in the game they most identified with.
This prediction was true for sex but not for race. Boys
tended to pick male characters and girls tended to
pick female characters. Although chi-square statistics
did not reveal a significant difference between how
many girls were expected to pick women characters
and how many actually did, this result was probably
due to the small sample size.
There was no Black female on this particular ver-
sion of the game so race could not be analyzed for
girls, but African American boys did not tend to pick
the African American male character. Over 50% of
the African American boys chose “Sub-Zero,” a popu-
lar Japanese character. “Sub-Zero” is one of the most
popular and powerful characters on the game—so
popular that manufacturers put the old “Sub-Zero”
and the new “Sub-Zero” on the sequel to MK3 (Ulti-
mate Mortal Kombat 3). Future research can investi-
gate if male players do not pick action figures they
identify with racially or ethnically but rather pick ac-
tion figures who are the most popular or who they
consider to be the “best” in the game. If this conclu-
sion is true, then boys who report playing video games
more frequently should be more likely to pick “Sub-
Zero.” Out of the six participants who reported play-
ing the game three times a week or more, four of
them picked “Sub-Zero” and one picked the African
American man. Five of the six participants who picked
“Sub-Zero” indicated that they had played Mortal
Kombat or Mortal Kombat 3 before. It seems that play-
ers who are less familiar with the game tend to pick
action figures they identify with in relation to sex,
and players who are more familiar with the game pick
action figures who they identify with in some other
respect such as perceived toughness.
This study also sought to assess the effects of video
games on race relations. The hypothesis that video
games have adverse effects on race relations was par-
tially supported. There was an increase of “closeness”
scores on the SDS; however, there were no adverse
effects on how participants perceived race relations
as measured by the CRRR. When SDS scores were
analyzed individually for each racial or ethnic group,
the mean social distance between the participant and
every other racial and ethnic group increased. Video
games may increase racial and ethnic tensions.
The greatest increases on the competitiveness
and suspicion subsection on the aggression scale came
from participants who had lower scores before play-
ing video games. There was a substantial increase in
how competitive participants were after playing video
games for people who received lower scores on the
first administration of questionnaires versus partici-
pants who received higher scores. Given that the
mean CPS score for participants in Turner’s (1960)
original study with college students was 2.53 (SD =

74 PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ! Summer 1999


.82), the high school students in the present study
(M = 2.61, SD = .88) tended to be slightly more com-
petitive than college students. Competitive scores
further increased for high school students after play-
ing the video game. When separated, there was a sub-
stantial increase in suspicion for participants who
received lower scores on the first BDAS versus par-
ticipants who received higher scores on the first
BDAS. This result is consistent with the hypothesis
that playing video games will contribute to an increase
in aggression. In support of this finding, Scott (1995)
reported that men who were considerably less aggres-
sive before playing games show substantially more
overall aggressiveness afterwards than men who were
highly aggressive before playing games. According to
the BDAS, when people are suspicious they believe
that others are distrustful and plan to harm them.
Increased competitiveness combined with suspicion,
distrust, and a belief that others are trying to harm
you or your particular ethnic group could only result
in an increase in “social distance.”
On three scales (SDS, BDAS, CPS), scores tended
to increase from the first to the second administra-
tions and decrease from the second to third adminis-
trations. It seems that video games tend to increase
scores on scales immediately after game playing; how-
ever, scores tended to return to their initial levels 72
hr after game playing.
More research is needed in this area to assess what
level of aggression players bring with them to deter-
mine if some players are at risk of being adversely
influenced by video games. Because this study was
limited to African American adolescents, future re-
search should also examine whether the effects of
violent, multi-ethnic, fighting games are the same for
PSI CHI JOURNAL OF UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ! Summer 1999
CULTURE WARS AND VIDEO GAMES ! Coleman
children of other ages and ethnic groups. Also, there
is a need to determine whether extended video game
playing produces effects that differ from limited play.
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