The body of game violence research gets a bit more cluttered and confusing with today’s release of a new study which holds that violent gaming can actually be relaxing and invent players less angry.

As reported by Game Daily, Researcher Jane Barnett and a team from Middlesex University will present their findings at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society. From Game Daily:

For the study, 292 male and female World of Warcraft players, aged amidst 12 and 83, were given a questionnaire on anger, aggression and personality. The participants next played the game for two hours and next completed the survey yet again. 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.”

Said Barnett:

There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger but that did very much depend on personality type. that will help us to develop a emotion and gaming questionnaire to help distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life.

GP: While it’s always welcome to see a study which shines some positive light on gaming, we’re not so certain the T-rated WoW is the game by which to form that signal. It’s rather a different playing experience than, say GTA or COD4.

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