How many violent video games do you play a week? Do you play games that are over your age restriction? These are the sort of things that psychologists from Iowa State University's Center for the Study of Violence, ( yes XPG there is such a thing ) have found out that games like Halo, amongst others may have an adverse affect on players ability to suppress aggressive behavior. However, the same games simultaneously fine-tune their ability to make quick decisions. The three studies tested the correlation between violent video games and what's known as "executive control," which is a person's ability to control his or her aggressive impulses. In one study, participants played either the fast-paced, violent game "Unreal Tournament," the slow-paced and non-violent game "Sims 2," or nothing at all over the course of ten weekly 50-minute gaming sessions. Before and after each session participants were given a test that measured their executive control. Researchers found that gamers who played the more action-packed "Unreal Tournament" experienced decreases in their ability to control impulsive behavior after each session, whereas the "Sims" players and those that didn't play any games at all experienced no such reduction in executive control. The researchers also tested each participant's visual attention skills before and after each session and found that those who played the more violent, action-packed games increased their attention skills after each session. Neither playing "The Sims" nor playing no games during the sessions affected the other participants' attention skills. This led researchers to conclude that those who played violent games were better able to make quick decisions, but these decisions were more likely to result in impulsive behaviors. Source: http://www.technewsdaily.com
The thing I disagree upon is, those players were "forced" to play a certain genre over another. What about people who "choose" to play violent video games? There is a possibility that it is an outlet for those of us that need to make intelligent decisions all day. Then again, I find myself playing less action-packed FPS games now that I am in a professional setting. This begs the question, is it the game that controls the lifestyle or is it the lifestyle that impressions the game type? Either way, it seems hard to argue that the two are linked.
