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+--- Thread: News - Study examines how the top 100 bestselling games portray drug use (/thread-84154.html)
News - Study examines how the top 100 bestselling games portray drug use - xSicKxBot - 01-28-2018
Study examines how the top 100 bestselling games portray drug use
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="https://www.sickgamedev.win/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/study-examines-how-the-top-100-bestselling-games-portray-drug-use.png" width="646" height="369" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Addiction awareness organization Archstone <a href="http://www.archstonerecovery.com/game-overdose/">published a study</a> examining the top 100 bestselling games per console (including <em>Grand Theft Auto</em> and <em>BioShock</em>) and analyzing each ESRB rating for substance use in order to further investigate the types of drug use present per game.</p>
<p>This information could prove useful for devs curious about how in-game drug use affects gameplay, and how its portrayed to the player. </p>
<p>The study explores how in-game drugs are referenced, <a href="http://www.archstonerecovery.com/game-overdose/">and the findings include</a> what types of substances are featured, which genres included the most games with drug references (and whether those drugs were real or fictionalized) and how they affected gameplay. </p>
<p>61 percent of games which featured drug use used real-world names, or fictional names for what were obvious replicas of real drugs. Around 38 percent of the games featured fictional drugs found in-game only, while fewer than 1 percent featured a mix of real and fictional substance.</p>
<p>The study also found that whether real or fictional, 40 percent of games featured drugs that caused the user to become disoriented in some way. Another 32 percent boost a character’s power while ingested, while 28 percent increase a character’s health.</p>
<p>Be sure to check out the entire study at <a href="http://www.archstonerecovery.com/game-overdose/">Archstone’s website.</a> </p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://www.sickgamedev.win/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/study-examines-how-the-top-100-bestselling-games-portray-drug-use.png" /></p>
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