A study commissioned by PopCap Games and performed by North Dakota State University found that cheating in gaming can result in being 3.5 times more likely to cheat at everyday things in the real world. Polling a total of over 1,200 adults in the US and UK, researchers were able to find that just under half of all cheaters in social gaming admit to cheating at things in the real world.
The survey broke the details down between men and women, as well as where they were located geographically. All in all, women under the age of 40 were the most likely to play games, while men under 40 were the most likely culprits of breaking the rules.
“How we behave in virtual space and interact with others in social games often mirrors how we act in the real world,” said Professor Clay Routledge of North Dakota State University’s Department of Psychology. “With more than 100 million people playing social games regularly, we can expect to see the full range of psychological characteristics represented in the social gaming population – even cheating.”
The study goes on to break down specific incidents of cheating, but what is perhaps most surprising was that almost half (49%) of those that admitted to cheating in a game admitted to cheating in a relationship. Other breaches in life included 51% admitting to parking in a handicap space without proper tags, 53% admitting to cheating on tests in school and 43% admitting to taking magazines from waiting rooms.
“It’s not surprising that online cheating parallels real-world cheating, even if people are just experimenting with the possibilities,” said Dr. Mia Consalvo of Concordia University. “With more of our daily systems and processes moving online, and being divorced from human contact (downloading music, filing taxes online) the risks either appear to be lesser, or they don't feel like crimes.”
For those wondering, US gamers in the Midwest are the most likely to cheat versus any other region polled, sitting at 29% overall.
