A lot of anti-gaming activists are out there looking for any study linking videogames to violence, but a British study revealed today that the truth may be the exact opposite.
The study, conducted by Jane Barnett and her colleagues at Middlesex University, found out that playing violent videogames has a relaxing effect and makes players less angry.
For the study, 292 male and female players, aging between 12 and 83 years old, answered a "questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality" before and after a violent session of World Of Warcraft. 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 an emotion and gaming questionnaire to help distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life," Barnett concluded.