Playing violent computer games chills you out
Research reverses popular belief
IN WHAT MAY WELL provoke a violent reaction from sanctimonious law enforcers and parental watchdog groups everywhere, a new study has added to the ongoing controversy over whether violent video games make people blood crazed and psychotic in real life, by saying that they don’t. They even make people calmer apparently.
The research, published in Develop magazine, says that psychologists recruited 292 male and female online gamers, to play the game World of Warcraft. The players, aged between 12 and 83 years old, were first asked to complete a questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality and then allowed to play the game for two hours.
After the two hours were up, they were asked to complete the questionnaire again. The results seemed to point to the fact that players were actually much more likely to feel calm or tired after playing a round of the blood splattered online game, although it did also depend on their personality types. Basically, the not-exactly-groundbreaking report doesn’t really prove anything, except that if a person was violent to start with, games won’t make much difference to that, and if a person is a calm and easy going person, all that blood and gore is likely to just send them off to sleep.
But Jane Barnett, who headed the Middlesex study, was impressed with her irrelevant findings anyway and noted that it would help future development of an emotion and gaming questionnaire which could possibly identify which types of gamers were most likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life. The ones stomping on their consoles after losing, perhaps? µ
L’Inq
Develop
Magazine
Comments
What about desensitization?
Does the study do any checking as to whether or not players become less sensitive (i.e. more apathetic) to the various plights of humans? I think studies like these are often too narrow in focus and miss too many potential side effects and lack enough controls to really prove anything, much less qualify as science. I don’t think much work done like this would be considered real science by scientists at the turn of the twentieth century. These studies try to narrow things down to simple relationships that real thinking would say are far too complex to make such assumptions. It’s fine to do such studies, but then to make sweeping statements as to it’s meaning like this is far from being scientific or reasonable.
Violent?
Since when was World of Warcraft considered a violent game?Absolutely right.
I'm definitely one of the people who gets mellowed out.If I have a stressful day at work, the first thing I want to do when I get home is blow some heads off. Then I feel much more relaxed.
My girlfriend has also remarked that I get cranky if I go too long without playing games (ie busy month, no time).
@desensitisation.
Not quite, they're doing this funny thing called a 'fair experiment', where they change a single factor, have a control result and look for a change.Other types of experiments are commonly referred to as 'biased bullshit', due to the fact that you can interpret them in many different ways.
Right, but not so obvious
Linuz, you probably get cranky not because you don't play games (unless you are addicted) but simply because you have no time to relax. i.e. to be cranky when you are busy has nothing to do with games.how about side-effects?
Well, that's not completely accurate. When I play my games for too long my wife becomes violent.Studies Focus On The Wrong Causation
The argument can be made that in our increasingly technology obsessed cultures that violence and antipathy are increasing. Perhaps.Is this the result of people playing Counterstrike or Crysis?
Or is it because we're in this ideological dichotomy where 21st century technology enables Iron Age theism to drive much of our discourse?
I'd wager money that the latter is a more causative explanation.
it goes both ways
it depends more on the mood and the game. for example, had a long day at work, play some unreal tournament, now feal better. but then no matter how peacefull your weekend was, the license tests in gran turismo can make the most relaxed of people bust a controller or 3.re:What about desensitization?
well i'd think most gamers are more sensative towards thier surroundings. Mainly due to the fact that multiplayer games involve interaction, often teamplay where team members look out for one another. This can help people learn to communicate better, which in turn means they can vent any frustration through their improved communication skills...my 2p ;)Re: Desensitization
@ Mark Natale's comment,The mainstream media itself contributes more heavily than videogames, by showing images of war and violence to viewers of any age, every day, every hour. Censored or twisted as it is, I still see our soldiers bleeding to death, and our humvees turned to smouldering wreckages, that gets me more angry/aggresive than a computer game ever will.
But even then, the juxtapositioning of human thinking has been round heavily for a good 50 years, we give to animal charities, yet people starve accross the planet, is this Desensitization? Should we attack animal charities?
No, let things stay free as they are, I'm not sure what the bandwagon is with attacking the Videogame outlet, it's not as weak as the media seems to think.
As they've found out.
Crap!
The kids who haven't developed a consciencein Africa who kill adults are calm. Sure they're
violent but calm, it doesn't bother them anymore. Who pays these pscychologists off
the game industry? Companies spend billions on commercials and then they say it doesn't influence you? People want violence, even the top industry people have admitted they love it.
WoW?!?!
They couldn't pick GTA or Halo? had to be something corny like WoW?Violence?
Read the article about the Saudi man who killed his daughter for using facebook. I doubt hes playing violent video games, but I would say hes violent. I would say that the news media has done far more to desensatize people than video games ever will. When in a society that says everyone has the right to do anything that they feel like, when ever they feel like it, has a lot to do with it.Missing the point...
...so what if violent games make people more violent? So what if they make them apathetic?The point here, which everybody forgets, is that regardless of an *idea's* effect, we have a right as human beings to have the idea. We have the right to read what we choose, see what we choose, listen to what we choose, play what we choose.
If someone determines a conclusive link between games and violent behavior, and this is used as a reason for banning these games, what happens when people find that link with movies? With books?
Who decides what books we can read, what music we can listen to, what movies we can watch?
Whether violent games have a negative effect in any way is completely and totally irrelevant. And by insisting on disproving this link, we (that is, people who don't want games to be banned) are preparing for a huge disaster. This has nothing to do with violence and everything to do with freedom of thought.
Control?
What about a control group...one that sits and stares at a computer screen for two hours?i hate idiots
"Read the article about the Saudi man who killed his daughter for using facebook.""When in a society that says everyone has the right to do anything that they feel like, when ever they feel like it, has a lot to do with it."
Thanks Jeff, you just reinforced my theory that most people with the name "Jeff" are idiots.
2 Hours of wow
Well that would send basicly anyone off to sleep ;)News Flash!
Studies of men and women exiting a gym show conclusive evidence that exercise causes fatigue and reduced strength!