Violent video games provide quick stress relief, but at a price

Players who highly enjoyed the violent game "Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage" showed a tendency to perceive the world in a more hostile way than those who played a nonviolent game. A study authored by two University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students indicates that while playing video games can improve mood, violent games may increase aggressive outcomes. The study, authored by James Alex Bonus and Alanna Peebles, graduate students in Communication Arts , and Karyn Riddle , assistant professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication , was published in June in the journal Computers in Human Behavior. The researchers looked at how video games may be used to manage emotions - specifically, whether playing the games can improve mood. The participants included 82 undergraduate communication students. Most had little experience with violent video games. For the experiment, half of the subjects were asked to play a frustrating video game called, appropriately, "Maximum Frustration." The game is designed to be nearly impossible to complete, although the subjects were led to believe they should be able to go through all the levels in 10 minutes.