The DOI matches its Crossref record; 96 of the 96 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
It's Okay to Shoot a Character: Moral Disengagement in Violent Video Games
Open accessAbstract
What makes virtual violence enjoyable rather than aversive? Two 2×2 experiments tested the assumption that moral disengagement cues provided by a violent video game's narrative and game play lessen users' guilt and negative affect, which would otherwise undermine players' enjoyment of the game. Experiment 1 found that users' familiarity with the violent game reduced guilt and negative affect, and enhanced enjoyment, whereas opponents' nonhuman outer appearance and blameworthiness had no effect. Experiment 2 found that fighting for a just purpose, perceiving less mayhem, and framing the overall situation as “just a game” or “just an experiment” reduced guilt and negative affect, whereas the distorted portrayal of consequences did not. Effects on game enjoyment were mixed and suggest that moral disengagement cues may both foster and diminish game enjoyment.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“This is evidenced by the research of Heberlein and Adolphs [22], Morrison and Ziemke [34], Yee et al. [48] pointing to the fact that players would perceive game characters not as objects but as social entities with morality.”
From “I Don’t Want To Shoot The Android”: Players Translate Real-Life Moral Intuitions to In-Game Decisions in Detroit: Become Human (2022) · cites this paper as [22]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales.
Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063 · Cited by 32,433
Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach.
Davis, M. H. (1983) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113 · Cited by 10,272
The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment.
Haidt, J. (2001) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.108.4.814 · Cited by 8,048
(1997) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.34-3702 · Cited by 4,872
On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism
Epley, N., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.114.4.864 · Cited by 4,069
Machines and Mindlessness: Social Responses to Computers
Nass, C., & Moon, Y. (2000) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00153 · Cited by 4,022 · cited 1×
“Also, according to Mar and Macrae (2006), ‘‘[Humans] routinely view quite abstract nonliving representations as if they were intentional agents’’ (p. 110, see also ‘‘Ethopoeia’’ in Nass & Moon, 2000).”
BackgroundAn Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior
Heider, F., & Simmel, M. (1944) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1416950 · Cited by 3,340
Moral Emotions and Moral Behavior
Tangney, J. P., Stuewig, J., & Mashek, D. J. (2007) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.56.091103.070145 · Cited by 3,222
Dehumanization: An integrative review
Haslam, N. (2006) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_4 · Cited by 2,919 · cited 8×
“…15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 868 Journal of Communication 59 (2009) 865–890 © 2009 International Communication Association T. Hartmann & P. Vorderer Moral Disengagement neglect of a character’s moral status and human essence (Haslam, 2006).”
BackgroundInfluentialIzard, C. E. (1977) · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-2209-0 · Cited by 2,825
Research works printed but not linked: 10
- Baron, 1994, Human aggression
- Cantor, 2002, Media effects, 287
- Green, 2004, Blurring the lines: The psychology of entertainment media, 161
- Klimmt, 2008, Games without frontiers-wars without tears
- Ladas, 2002, Wirkung und Nutzung von Gewalt in Computerspielen [Brutal players? Uses and effects of violent video games]
- Morrison, 2005, Proceedings of the Joint Symposium on Virtual Social Agents, 73
- Raney, 2006, Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences, 165
- Shapiro, 2006, Playing computer games: Motives, responses, and consequences, 275
- Skalski, 2006, Proceedings of the Ninth Annual International Workshop on Presence
- Smith, 2006, Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences, 43
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 201–252 of 252
Triberti, S. (2016) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-0159-6.ch012 · Cited by 1
Dam, L. (2022) · Health & New Media Research · doi:10.22720/hnmr.2022.6.2.222 · Cited by 1
Ahn, C., & Noh, G.-Y. (2023) · Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies · doi:10.20879/kjjcs.2023.67.3.001 · Cited by 1
Towery, N. A., Billings, A. C., Zengaro, E., & Sadri, S. R. (2023) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2023.1152519 · Cited by 1
Motazedian, T.-A., Changizi, M., Kaveh, M. H., & Ghahremani, L. (2024) · Journal of Research and Health · doi:10.32598/jrh.14.3.770.4 · Cited by 1
Chang, C. (2024) · Mass Communication & Society · doi:10.1080/15205436.2024.2347333 · Cited by 2
Game Violence and Moral Distress
Wagener, G. L., & Melzer, A. (2024) · Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications · doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000428 · Cited by 1
Impact of Video-games on Social Intuition among Teenagers
Chandrashekhar D.M.1, R. P. N. 2. (2020) · International Journal of Physiology · doi:10.37506/ijop.v8i2.1237 · Cited by 1
Selective Exposure to Violent Media
Krcmar, M. (2012) · The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies · doi:10.1002/9781444361506.wbiems113 · Cited by 1
The Process Model of Gameplay to Understand Digital Gaming Outcomes
Kaye, L. K. (2017) · Advances in multimedia and interactive technologies book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch289 · Cited by 1
Kempton, A. (2015) · QSpace (Queen's University Library) · Cited by 1
Henosis Experience in Gaming: A Metric for Adjustments to Global Schema and Appraised Meaning
Watts, E. R. (2019) · doi:10.33915/etd.4087 · Cited by 1
“…mediated experiences violate a person’s global schema, they should result in either assimilation (e.g., rationalizing the actions, as sometimes happens with moral disengagement; Hartmann & Vorderer, 2010) or accommodation (changing one’s ideas about the general goodness or morality of humans).”
BackgroundMoral Disengagement and Antisocial Behavior
Kiriakidis, S. P. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32132-5_390-2 · Cited by 1
Victim and non-victim perceptions and experiences of cyber-harassing and cyberstalking behaviours
O’Neill, C. (2011) · Nottingham Trent University's Institutional Repository (Nottingham Trent Repository) · Cited by 1
Paciello, M., Corbelli, G., Sportelli, C., Cicirelli, P. G., & D’Errico, F. (2026) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-026-08382-7 · Cited by 1
Plante, C. N. (2014) · UWSpace (University of Waterloo)
Hudelot, A. (2015) · Politique et Sociétés · doi:10.7202/1032505ar
Christensen, M. R. (2014) · OpenCommons - UConn (University of Connecticut)
Do Players Respond Similarly to All Video Violence?
Gunter, B. (2016) · Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks · doi:10.1057/978-1-137-57985-0_9
Videogames and the Brain: An Investigation into Psychopathy and Empathy
Fishlock, J. (2016) · OpenCommons - UConn (University of Connecticut)
Young, G. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-46595-1_5
The vision we share: Identification of Call of Duty's militaristic messages
Potter, A. C. (2014) · ThinkTech (Texas Tech University)
Examining Gender Bias in Children's Video Games
Roach, L. N. (2014) · OhioLink ETD Center (Ohio Library and Information Network)
Traumatic, Spectacular Prologues: AAA Players as Ethical Witnesses
Cuttell, J. (2018) · Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association · doi:10.26503/todigra.v3i3.80
Interactive Narratives for Profiling Ethics Orientation
Santos, C. P., Khan, V.-J., & Markopoulos, P. (2018) · European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics · doi:10.1145/3232078.3232081
“loyalty, companionship and compassion [10,23,24,27].”
Background‘It’s Not Fair!’: Game and Affective Communities of Entrepreneurship
Mitchell, L., & Taalas, S. L. (2020) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-47933-6_5
Serious Violence: The Effects of Violent Elements in Serious Games
Sararit, N., & Malaka, R. (2020) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-65736-9_1
Morality, Technology, and Enjoyment: Meta Analyzing the Enjoyment of Mediated Violence
Rasul, A., & Shin, D. (2021) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2021.1927035
Exploring viewers' experiences of parasocial interaction with videogame streamers on TwitchPreprint
Wulf, T., Schneider, F. M., & Queck, J. (2021) · doi:10.31235/osf.io/cfds9
Violent Video Games and Attitudes Towards Victims of Crime
McLean, L., & Griffiths, M. D. (2016) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-0988-2.ch038
The Role of Moral Reasoning & Personality in Explaining Lyrical PreferencesPreprint
Messick, K. J., & Aranda, B. E. (2019) · doi:10.31219/osf.io/ephb8
Illger, D. (2020) · De Gruyter eBooks · doi:10.1515/9783110695380-009
Moral Disengagement and Antisocial Behavior
Kiriakidis, S. P. (2018) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33228-4_390
Sperry, L. A. (2017) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102139-1
Aggression and VR Violent Gaming: The Power of Moral Disengagement and Immersion
Olivia, F. X. (2023) · doi:10.33422/6th.socialsciencesconf.2023.08.100 · Cited by 1
As The Boundaries Blur Between Games and Reality
Kaufman, C. (2023) · Writing across the University of Alberta · doi:10.29173/writingacrossuofa59
Velez, J. A., Yu, I. H., Smith, X., Lee, S. H., Chae, S. W., & Lin, Y. (2025) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/00936502251334420
“Indeed, most video games offer other situational forces such as narratives that represent players’ antisocial behaviors as a moral necessity to save and protect others (Hartmann & Vorderer, 2010).”
Ellithorpe, M. E., & Devlin, M. M. (2025) · Media Psychology · doi:10.1080/15213269.2025.2573470
“The moral disengagement perspective has been used to study responses related to guilt and behavior in games across multiple cultures and contexts (Gabbiadini et al., 2012, 2014; Hartmann & Vorderer, 2010; Teng, Nie, Guo, et al., 2017; Teng, Nie, Pan, et al., 2017; Yao et al., 2019).”
InfluentialBlaming Halo: The Effects of Violent Video Games and What Should Be Done about Them
Kirk, J. F. (2014) · Digital Commons (Liberty University)
Terrific or terrible : examining attitudes towards video games and gamers
Fecher, A. E. (2012) · Cardinal Scholar (Ball State University)
DİJİTAL OYUN ANLATILARINDA BOSS KARAKTERLERİN OYUNCU DENEYİMİ ÜZERİNDEKİ PSİKOLOJİK ROLÜ
Eken, İ. (2026) · The Turkish Online Journal of Design Art and Communication · doi:10.7456/tojdac.1929094
Zhang, X., Wei, Y., & Wang, X. J. (2026) · Journalism Studies · doi:10.1080/1461670x.2026.2699772
“The negative association for textual objectifying is consistent with the idea that agent-less or privacy-intruding language lacks the immediacy of images and can provoke moral reactance or ambiguity that discourages interaction (Hartmann and Vorderer 2010; Oliver et al. 2012).”
Zhou, H., Tian, T., Wei, K., Wu, J., Shi, M., & Li, J. (2026) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.7235130
Ntokouzis, I. D., & Alepis, E. (2026) · International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems & Applications (IISA) · doi:10.1109/iisa71656.2026.11705514
“Hartmann and Vorderer [15] show that violent game enjoyment can be shaped by cues that reduce guilt and negative affect, including justifying the violent situation or framing events as merely part of the game.”
The Ludology of Protest and Cognitive Transformation of Adolescents
Ahmadvand, V. M. (2026) · IGI Global eBooks · doi:10.4018/979-8-2600-0318-3.ch014
Quansah, J. E., & Gagnon, J. (2026) · Deviant Behavior · doi:10.1080/01639625.2026.2746543
Metadata
- Authors
- Hartmann, T., & Vorderer, P.
- Affiliations
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- ORCID
- Hartmann, Tilo
- Venue
- Journal of Communication
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2010-03
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 94-119
- ISSN
- 0021-9916 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2466
- OpenAlex
- W2131583517
- Semantic Scholar
- da821a39ea4bbbb7a2206d8bf3f24f6f49c80b94
- Cited by
- 251
- References
- 96
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 49.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Communication (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- MADOC (University of Mannheim) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Games and Media
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media Influence and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Keywords
- moral disengagement, violent video games, game enjoyment, guilt, negative affect, game narrative, culpability, perceived consequences
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
