new study suggests that virtual killing won't turn into a real life obsession
By: Calin Ciabai, Games Editor
Every now and then some psychologists, scientists or general researchers come up with a study that makes us, the gamers, feel a little bit better
and hope that the general game-hating will drop (at least a little). Of
course, these types of studies are far less than those who prove the
contrary – but at least they do exist!
Miss Jane Barnett and her colleagues at Middlesex University found out
that people who play online violent video games actually feel more
relaxed and less angry after they have played. 292 male and female
World of Warcraft players were recruited and all of them had to play
the game for two hours. Before starting the game they had to complete a
questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality – then, after the
two hours have passed, they completed it again. The psychologists
found out that players, aged between 12 and 83 years, were more likely
to feel calm or tired after playing WoW - but there were differences
depending on sex, age and personality.
Jane Barnett said: "There were actually higher levels of relaxation
before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger but
this did very much depend on personality type. This will help us to
develop an emotion and gaming questionnaire to help distinguish the
type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into
everyday life."
One thing the study didn't reveal is whether those with a different
personality type seemed to be more violent or not. Anyway, as much as
we'd like to believe this study and finally say to the world: "You see?
Video games are not bad!", we can't ignore the fact that the gamers
played WoW for 2 hours only and we have no idea if they were casual or
hardcore gamers. However, it's a start. Hopefully more studies which
tell the truth will appear. Or, even better: maybe no study will be
ever made again on this matter. People don't need studies to decide if
they should or should not play video games.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Violent-Games-Actually-Make-People-Relaxed-and-Less-Angry-82257.shtml
