By Emma Boyle
It may be surprising, considering social media and comments sections can make it seem like it doesn’t take much for humanity to collectively lose its mind, but according to a recent study when the world actually does come to an end, we’re all likely to remain fairly calm.
The study, conducted by a team of computer scientists from the State University of New York at Buffalo, followed the actions of more than 80,000 players of the role-playing video game ArcheAge in a virtual apocalypse scenario.
What they found was that despite some instances of violent and antisocial behavior, the majority of players took actions that were largely helpful and good-willed towards others.
The end is nigh
The researchers analyzed 275 million records of player behavior that were recorded during a trial of ArcheAge before its public release in 2013.
They then split 75 different in-game actions into 11 categories which included combat, partying and building houses. Players knew that their actions were being monitored and that the gameplay experience would only last for a period of 11 weeks.
As the 11 weeks came to an end, the researchers found that instances of anti-social behavior (including murder) did rise. However, this kind of …read more
Source:: techradar.com – Gaming
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