New Study: Violent games make people relaxed

A new study shows that players are

more relaxed after playing violent video games

, such as World of Warcraft.

Most gamers I know would probably concur with this, although I personally do not consider WoW a violent game. Combat-oriented maybe. But since the combat is stats-based and there is virtually zero representation of gore, e.g., pretty much no blood whatsoever, I don't tend to think of WoW as violent. Doom, Halo, Counter-Strike I consider more violent because of the graphic representation and also because they are more "twitch" games where killing is more closely mapped to real-world killing.

Comments

[michael arteaga]

Wow may be "violent" in a sense, but not really... you're right. This labeling of "violent" just doesn't fit sometimes. To me something like Mario Kart N64 is far more violent-inducing, but I suppose it would be labeled as a more nonviolent than violent experience, perhaps simply as an aesthetic judgment. But if you've ever been repeatedly hit by turtle shells you may be inclined to disagree.

Then again I suppose such papers - arguing for, against, or simply showing results - of violent videogame studies are reflective of most writings from the field of videogame studies, craptacular. ... (i think it's a funny word)