Why do people play violent video games? Demographic, status-related, and mating-related correlates in men and women

• Most research on video games explores what violent games do to people.
• In this manuscript, we explore why people are drawn to playing these games.
• Men and women who played more violent video games had greater sexual interest.
• Women who played more violent video games felt a greater sense of mate value.
• Our findings highlight the complex motivations underlying violent video game exposure.

The numerous negative and positive consequences of playing violent video games are well-documented. Specifically, violent games improve many aspects of cognition and attention but can also increase aggression. Compared to these established effects of exposure to violent video games, very little is known about who plays violent video games and why they play them. Taking an evolutionary psychological approach to address this gap, in two studies we surveyed 1000 men and women who reported playing video games in the past 30 days. We assessed three classes of predictors of violent video game exposure: demographic, status-related, and mating-related. In both studies, women who played the most violent video games reported feeling a greater sense of mate value than women who played fewer violent video games. Women also reported being motivated to play violent video games because doing so enhanced their sense of attractiveness to romantic partners. In both studies, men reported playing more violent video games than women as did both men and women who reported higher sexual interest. These findings highlight the counterintuitive and complex motivations underlying violent video game exposure. We discuss the need for more research on who plays violent video games and why they play them.