Computer Games Make Players Less Violent

Stony Stevenson writes "A new study of computer gamers has found that a session in front of World of Warcraft can make players less stressed and more calm. The study questioned 292 male and female online gamers aged between 12 and 83 about anger and stress. They then played the game for two hours and were retested. "There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger, but this very much depended on personality type," said team leader Jane Barnett from Middlesex University."

Finally.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been saying this for ages. With most people video games are a way to vent their anger instead of taking it out on others. If you're crazy enough to go kill 20+ people you really don't need a video game to encourage you.

Re:This just in...

[Mashiki]

Unpossible!

Who'd really thunk it? Most people who play games, do crosswords, go out to their garage for a
few hours and tinker, take up gardening or do other activities surprise are able to relax.

Warcrack/Gaming Addiction

[sonnejw0]

Very often it is the case that acquiring one's next 'fix' results in a dopaminergic neuron activation, resulting in a calming and pleasurable feeling. Did the study discriminate between its subjects who are or are not gamers? I assume using such an advanced game as WoW that they chose players familiar with the game. Perhaps a control group unfamiliar with it and forced to learn it for the same two hour sessions would not have been so at ease afterward... Or changing the gaming activity to bejeweled or card games.

Response to games is personality dependent

[callistra.moonshadow]

On one hand I can agree that gaming IS can be a stress relief. However, if a person is easily agitated and prone to violence it may actually contribute to desensitizing a person to violence. In the past some studies show violent games and tv viewing lead to more aggressive behavior in kids. My daughter, husband, and I play Guild Wars. I can say that I've never witnessed my daughter showing an increase in aggressive behavior, but asking people how they feel is very qualitative and not a good study. It would be better to give some type of test AFTER playing an MMO that measures aggression and/or stress attributes. Otherwise the results are based on opinions of the test subjects. Hmmm...

Re:Cigarettes can too...

[mkettler]

Aye, this is the first thing that came to my mind. Particularly since the test subjects were gamers. The article didn't specify if the gamers were WoW players, non-WoW players, or a mix. If you've got WoW players in there, essentially all you're testing is if addicts have stress level goes down when you give them some of what they're addicted to.

Re:Finally.

[Xelios]

I liken it to visiting a shooting range or taking martial arts lessons. Neither make a person more violent, and both can be great outlets for stress or aggression. I don't see what makes video games any different, aside from the fact that you don't use up much physical energy playing them.

The parents who are campaigning against video game violence are likely the same parents who threaten to sue their school when their kid comes home with a few bruises after a fun game of football in gym class. Not that I was ever any good at sports (this is /. after all), but no-contact football is their handywork.

Flawed Logic

[kwik3mart]

hmmm... Let's think for a second: If you are a violent person with lots of bad stuff in your life that you are pissed at then WOW will allow a cathartic release of those emotions. So the test results are valid. BUT... If there's lots of stuff in your life that you are angry at, playing video games gives you the sense of accomplishment without actually solving any of your real problems. So you have experienced release, but not actually changed anything. So... the study is deeply flawed in that the timeline for the research was too short. Of course people feel better after having a cathartic release of violence. But, what about the long term effects of this cathartic release without actually helping life get better. That's where real violence comes from: a fake world that feels good and a real life that keeps getting worse because you don't deal with it. Not a helpful study.

Re:This just in...

[urbanriot]

Except when it's a daily grind... the original article didn't state whether or not these were new players, casual players or diehard players. I've smashed many keyboards and mice, angry because my mob was stolen, or a raid was blown, or various other reasons. The first month or so of WoW'ing was an enjoyable romp, exploring a new world. After settling in and learning the game, I often became stressed and frustrated and less happier than I was prior to playing.

This just in...leisure reduces stress!

Drug Problem

[Doc Ruby]

Most people's "drug problem" is when they can't get drugs, not when they have or are on them.

This study would mean that "gamers are less violent" overall if it tested their stress levels all the time, including when (if) they're not gaming, but agains their will/preference. And then it would still need to establish a direct correlation between stress levels and violence. What if being physically (not virtually) violent lowers their stress levels? Good for the gamer, bad for their victims.

What this study has probably shown is that gamers have incorporated their gaming "fix" into managing their stress. But it doesn't show whether gamers have become dependent on the games, whether their stress levels would go up without the games, whether they'd go up more than if they'd never played them, whether they've increased their "stressability" by gaming.

Instead, these results are the videogame version of scientific conclusions. Play again? Another score!

Re:From the no shit sherlock school of thought

[Anonymous Coward]

Given what he went on to say, he's probably pretty bright, yes. Ohhh, wait. You took his introductory statement out of context in an attempt to ridicule it. That's clever. Keep it up!

Re:Middlesex University

[gfxguy]

While that may be the case, it's been my anecdotal experience that kids who are allowed to play violent video games, and play with toy guns and other toy weapons, are much more relaxed and better behaved than kids who parents won't let them.

I've even been scolded by people for play-fighting with my son.

But then, I've had people come up to my wife and I out of the blue and tell us what nice, well behaved kids we have - at restaurants, on delayed flights that turned into multiple day ordeals...

Sure, it's not just the games and playing, but if you let the kids let "it" out, it seems obvious to me that they can relieve their own built up tension. Stress isn't limited to adults, kids have a lot of pressures to deal with, too. Maybe not as much as adults, maybe their problems even seem trivial to us, but to a 10 year old they're not.

I'd say it's a great life lesson in constructively dealing with stress.

Re:WoW is fine, but what about shooters?

[ShadowsHawk]

I enjoy a bi-annual LAN party. My heart is normally pumping after an intense session, but I never feel violent.

Re:That may not be true

[Jax Omen]

I think the problem is more that you're playing as Alliance.

misleading headline

[Attila Dimedici]

If the article accurately reflects the study, the study does not support the headline. "Relaxed" is not the opposite of "violent".
The argument for video games making people more violent is that people have an innate resistance to killing others and that playing video games reduces that innate resistance. Whether this theory is valid or not, this study doesn't address the issue at all.