ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses an exploratory qualitative analysis of player behavior in Grand Theft Auto IV, conceptualized using ecological perception theory and dynamic human centered communication systems theory. It explores the role of evolved adaptive behavior in the creation of game specific behaviors that exploit the affordances of the game world using the example of Grand Theft Auto IV. Rather, the authors perceive the affordances of the world as we carry out goal-driven actions in the world. The chapter attempts to understand video game player behavior as emergent, unconsciously self-organized behavior resulting from the actions of evolved humans navigating a virtual world. It offers a new way to think about and study video game play and its implications in the real world. The chapter demonstrates that real-world non-violent attractors can be destabilized, and unsafe driving and weapon using attractors can develop and become stable. People are changing over developmental time and learning over shorter time periods.
