When someone says they’re playing World of Warcraft to relax, better start believing them. A new study by Middlesex University has found two hours playing the game can lower stress levels. 292 online gamers, both male and female and aged between 12 and 83 – yes, 83 – were first given questions to answer regarding stress and anger. After that, they spent two hours in front on the screen playing WoW, after which they were retested. Study team leader Jane Barnett said, "There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger, but this very much depended on personality type. This will help us develop an emotion and gaming questionnaire to distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life." Results of the study were presented to the annual conference of the British Psychological Society in Dublin last Wednesday.
