Video games and surveys, don’t they seem to go hand in hand these days? If violent video games cause violence or not is still up in the air, but at least now we can prove that violent games can help reduce stress. Which a lot of probably knew already.
In a study conducted by Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson at Texas A&M International University, 103 participants were given a frustrating task followed by a non-violent game, no game, a violent game where the player was evil or a violent game with good vs. evil themes.
According to Dr. Ferguson the results do not support a link between violent games and aggressive behavior.
“It probably won’t come to a surprise to gamers that playing games may reduce stress,” Ferguson said, “although others have been skeptical of this idea. This is the first study that explores this idea, however. It does seem that playing violent games may help reduce stress and make people less depressed and hostile.”
Ferguson did admit the results were correlational and more research is needed, but suggested game therapy with young adults and teenagers, and using more violent games to help people work through their suggestions.
So take some advice from Wil Wheaton and don’t be a dick. Take your frustrations out with video games instead. I for one can’t think of any better stress relief than lopping something’s head off.