Swedish research team questions link between violent video game play and aggressive behavior
New research sugggests you’re better off being cooperative than aggressive to succeed when playing violent video games.
Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, say their findings raise questions about the common perception of there being a link between violent computer games and aggressive behavior. They’ve published their study on How Gamers Manage Aggression in the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning.
‘The situations gamers encounter in these games call for sophisticated and well-coordinated collaboration. We analysed what characteristics and knowledge the gamers need to have in order to be successful,’ says Jonas Ivarsson, one of the study’s authors.
The research group spent hundreds of hours playing online games filled with violence and aggressive action, and watching other gamers, including via video recordings.
‘In a nutshell, we’re questioning the whole gaming and violence debate, since it’s not based on a real problem but rather on some hypothetical reasoning,’ Ivarsson says.
From what I’ve seen over the years, university researchers are violent video game defenders’ best friends, also conducting research that has concluded violent video games can be good for your eyesight and can deliver skills to players that could help them perform delicate acts such as surgery.
Bob Brown tracks network research in his Alpha Doggs blog and Facebook page, as well on Twitter and Google +.
