Jason Andrei C. Temelo (March 2012)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to determine the influence of first- person shooter video games on the hand-eye coordination of high school students. Two sub-genres of the First-Person Shooter video game genre were used. The objectives were to (a) measure the average reaction times of three groups of high school students (Tactical, Survival Horror, and Control) before and after a one-week treatment (1. tactical shooter, 2. survival horror shooter, and 3. no video games) and (b) to compare the average reaction times of the three groups. Eleven subjects were selected by using a survey about their video game familiarity and gaming habits. The video games Counter-Strike 1.6 and Left 4 Dead 2 were used in this study. During the one-week treatment, the subject were restricted from engaging in some activities that might affect their hand-eye coordination, and the Human Benchmark online reaction time test was used for measure the subjects’ reaction times (in milliseconds). The online test showed that the Tactical group had the least decrease in their reaction times while the Survival Horror group had the greatest decrease in their reaction times. A paired-samples t-test was run on the average initial and final reaction times of each of the groups. The t-test results showed that there was no significant improvement on the reaction times of all the three subject groups. The effect of the tactical shooter was not determined because the subjects assigned to this sub-genre did not follow the restrictions.