Virtually compliant: Immersive video gaming increases conformity to false computer judgments

Real-life encounters with face-to-face contact are on the decline in a world in which many routine tasks are

delegated to virtual characters—a development that bears both opportunities and risks. Interacting with such virtual-reality

beings is particularly common during role-playing videogames, in which we incarnate into the virtual reality of

an avatar. Video gaming is known to lead to the training and development of real-life skills and behaviors; hence, in the

present study we sought to explore whether role-playing video gaming primes individuals’ identification with a computer

enough to increase computer-related social conformity. Following immersive video gaming, individuals were indeed

more likely to give up their own best judgment and to follow the vote of computers, especially when the stimulus context

was ambiguous. Implications for human–computer interactions and for our understanding of the formation of identity

and self-concept are discussed.