COMPETENCE IMPEDANCE AND AGGRESSION 443 .Ci 10R6 tronic game developer Given th ve dcba of dueling meta-analyse t but do not always s Like the selves thes cases (s Anders ctal,201 eror leaming and sustained effort on the players'part are relevant for a motivation- the c the mules and halance o or example in rev h oy a new game ter son (200 reported that some of the rovidemore n-depth int ing balanc n the g rea have emerged fro ever,this investment even aggre players with impo tant gratif ication h as ver amount of expenence.may differen ally inf indicat they do not strike this balance.Games that get this bala ed the desc ribed by critics as providing "a steep learning null i in tence-impeding g he h nto gam hat th Like 200120 scaled to a ific plaver's abiliti and the by the elings and behaviors.Fo exa arc appl vers ed p ult from sud n,high-in mpetitors. Given these pote ial pitfall same de signe from an SD of de or studying the c ioral market se ation,targeting out sponta Hard b gh SDT-bae skille cha ing games in this way. de opti ing in e3mi ssary for dit ms that hav em s of the to ed sing on its effects or be ne's control inter ce t out a in virtua from foc y on violent g ent as a predicto e in eno in eu Ma a have no of pla mportant role in game motivation as a necessary.but not suffiAnderson & Murphy, 2003), whereas others have not found these effects (e.g., Cicchirillo & Chory-Assad, 2005; Kirsh, 1998; Mc￾Clure & Mears, 1986; Williams & Skoric, 2005). Given this active debate, a number of dueling meta-analyses have recently been published on the growing number of contra￾dicting experiments. Like the experiments themselves, these meta￾analyses directly conflict in some cases (see Anderson et al., 2010, and Ferguson & Kilburn, 2010). That said, some findings from these summaries are relevant for a motivation-focused analysis of gaming-related aggression. For example, in reviewing a decade of experiments assessing links between aggression and computer games, Ferguson (2007) reported that some of the conflicting results in the gaming-related aggression area have emerged from intervening variables specific to interactive gaming contexts and unstandardized aggression measures. Similarly, Sherry’s 2001 and 2007 meta-analyses reported evidence that a number of experi￾mental factors present in the experimental literature, such as player arousal and the amount of experience, may differentially influence the relations between violent-game exposure and player aggres￾sion. Sherry’s findings indicated that participants assigned to short periods of exposure showed the strongest link between gaming and aggression outcomes, whereas medium and longer-term periods of experimental exposure showed null and in some cases, reverse effects. Sherry speculated that the initial minutes of playing a video game may be highly stimulating— explaining larger effects for brief game exposure— but that this arousal might plateau and regress to the mean under conditions where play continues for longer time periods. Like Ferguson (2007), Sherry (2001, 2007) argued that the patterns of results demonstrated by their meta￾analyses indicated the need to use new theoretical perspectives to study the gaming-aggression link. A primary objective of the present research was to apply SDT to investigate gaming-related aggression through a motivation-based lens, extending this complex literature. As reviewed previously, SDT research examining acute and chronic impedance of the basic psychological needs for autonomy and relatedness showed that deprivation of these supports result in increased aggression. In contrast, the effects of competence need deprivation on aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior have not been as extensively explored from an SDT viewpoint. Computer gaming, a domain where human competence is of paramount importance, provides an excellent context for studying the effects of competence-thwarting experiences. Further, as past SDT-based gaming research indi￾cates, competence is central to the interactive experiences that make games appealing. Competence thwarting would thus seem to serve as an ideal candidate for evaluation as a source of gaming￾related aggression. Importantly, although SDT-based gaming re￾search has focused on how virtual contexts can support needs and bolster well-being, no empirical work has examined the negative consequences of need thwarting in gaming. Indeed, many of the positive motivational mechanisms that have been studied in terms of supporting experiences of competence also can be reviewed in terms of their potential to impede com￾petence. For example, Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski (2006) demon￾strated that mastery-of-controls—the learned ability to effortlessly use a game’s control interface to carry out actions in virtual environments—was essential to building an overall sense of com￾petence in engaging in game play. Mastery-of-controls played an important role in game motivation as a necessary, but not suffi￾cient, condition for achieving psychological need satisfying play. Electronic game developers aim to minimize the complexity of game controls in an attempt to hook players’ interest and excite￾ment but do not always succeed. Despite the best efforts of game creators, the controls and rules of computer games are often quite elaborate and require significant trial and error learning and sustained effort on the players’ part. Often this means that players require a number of gaming sessions to master the controls and understand the rules, and balance of challenges presented by a new game. This is especially the case with games intended for more experienced players because they provide more in-depth interactive experiences. Regarding balance, however, this investment eventually pays off in the players’ favor. For example, complex games can offer more immersive experi￾ences and provide players with important gratifications such as stress reduction (Reinecke, 2009) and opportunities to explore ideal self-aspects (Przybylski, Weinstein, Murayama, Lynch, & Ryan, 2012). Games succeed commercially when they strike the balance between complexity and competence support and fail when they do not strike this balance. Games that get this balance wrong are described by critics as providing “a steep learning curve.” Competence-impeding gaming experiences have the potential to aggravate and demotivate players. SDT-based research into gam￾ing provides evidence that the skill-graded challenges of games are potential motivators because they can provide optimal challenges. However, challenges provided by computer-controlled algorithms can also be poorly scaled to a specific player’s abilities, and they may present overly difficult challenges that result in repeated failures. This competence frustration anecdotally can lead to ag￾gressive feelings and behaviors. For example, in multiplayer con￾texts where players vary widely in their skills, there is a phenom￾enon known to gamers as rage-quitting (Brook, 2009). Defined as the act of disconnecting gaming equipment, sometimes violently, rage-quitting is thought to result from sudden, high-intensity neg￾ative emotional experiences in response to feeling overwhelmed by competitors. Given these potential pitfalls, game designers strive to create games that attract and match players of similar skill levels and try to create algorithms that provide incremental chal￾lenges. Game developers also make extensive use of demographic and behavioral market segmentation, targeting games primarily to one of two main audiences. The first category, known as casual games, tends to offer simple challenges that cater to desires of players seeking out spontaneous gaming sessions. Hard-core games, by contrast, provide much more difficult challenges tailored to the preferences and abilities of highly skilled and invested players. By dividing games in this way, game developers aim to create opti￾mally engaging experiences that appeal to different kinds of game players. Given the different levels of skill necessary for different games, it is possible that players will at times encounter challenges beyond their capacities, so the present research examines the competence dimensions of gaming, focusing on its effects on postgame aggressive ideation and behaviors. This approach, concerned with need thwarting, represents a shift away from focusing mainly on violent game content as a predictor of aggression. To date, the structural and motivational aspects of gaming have not been explored as a source of player aggression. Psychologically need satisfying play has been robustly linked to game This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. COMPETENCE IMPEDANCE AND AGGRESSION 443