Do videogame rewards influence players' subsequent prosocial engagement? A preregistered partial replication study on the role of reward and reasoning

Prosocial behaviours are actions that have a positive impact on others. Those who act prosocially in videogames are more likely to be prosocial after the game. In-game rewards may impact this prosocial transfer to real life but there are mixed findings. The aim of this research was to determine the impact that in-game rewards for helping have on post-game prosocial behaviour. We partially replicated and extended a prior study that showed an impact of in-game rewards on a post-game charitable donation. While playing a videogame, players voluntarily chose to help a non-player character or not and were rewarded or not based on their experimental condition. Pre-and post-gameplay questionnaires were used to measure trait empathy, prosocial self-concept, and reasoning for in-game helping. Participants were then offered a bonus compensation and given the opportunity to donate some amount of it to charity. Moral Reasoning was positively associated with donation behaviour, successfully replicating some prior findings. However, in-game rewards did not affect reasoning or donation behaviour. The outcomes of this research help both researchers and developers better understand how rewards affect players' reasoning and how to better utilise games as a method to increase prosocial behaviour in people.