Violent Online Gaming Relaxes People

[Spunky]

Need to relax? Play some World of Warcraft. A new study in the U.K. has found that playing online violent games actually reduces anger and relaxes gamers.

While some anti-gaming activists would love nothing more than to find new research that definitively links real life violence with violence in video games, one recent study in Britain found that playing violent video games online actually has a tendency to make people less angry. Miss Jane Barnett and her colleagues at Middlesex University are presenting their results at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Dublin today (April 2).

For the study, 292 male and female World of Warcraft players, aged between 12 and 83, were given a questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality. The participants then played the game for two hours and then completed the survey yet again. Ultimately, the results showed that "the gamers were more likely to feel calm or tired after playing – but there were differences depending on sex, age and personality."

"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 a emotion and gaming questionnaire to help distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life," explained Barnett.

Intresting to say the least. I totally agree with the premise of playing games relaxes you, Many a time i've been pissed off with someone, Then made them a CAW on SVR, And beat the living fuck outta them. Makes me alot less angry, But studies like this where made because of people going crazy, And taking a knife/gun to a public place and letting rip, Then the twat turns around and says he saw it in a game.

Hell after a normal day at work, I'll pop in GTA4, And do a few missions to let off some steam, After a few hours im ready for bed. Gaming is a great stress reliever, And anyone who does translate gaming violence into real life is obviously a complete fucking moron.

 

[Skullz Crack'Em]

Haha, you sound just like my best friend, he would always make a CAW of his mother in every wrestling game he had and beat the crap out of her when she was being a bitch(which was usually every day). It was his stress reliever and he can thank video games for that. The same goes for me, I am a very nice laid back guy that never causes a problem for anybody, I only let my anger out on video games. I may curse and get frustrated sometimes, but I am not going to go hurt somebody or put my foot through the TV just because I got my ass kicked in Street Fighter 4, that's going too far.