RELATIONSHIP OF ROLE-PLAYING GAMES TO SELF-REPORTED CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

Fantasy role-playing games have been portrayed by the media and various social organizations as being linked to, and causing, socially maladaptive behaviour including criminality. Based on this social perception it was hypothesized that role-playing experience should be positively correlated with self-reported criminality. 20 experienced role-playing gamers and 25 nonplayers completed the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, a demographic questionnaire, and a 20-item criminality measure. Regression analysis indicated that role-playing experience did not relate to self-reported criminality; however, Psychoticism, which was higher in the nonplayers, did predict criminality.