WOW won't make you violent, says study

By Robert Purchese Published 2 April, 2008

Plus: scientists suggest sun is hot.

Researchers at the Middlesex University have found there is no correlation between playing World of Warcraft and violent behaviour.

The psychologists surveyed 292 male and female WOW players between the ages of 12 and 83. They asked them to play the game for two hour sessions.

The conclusion they came to was that WOW did not cause violent emotions - in fact, players were more likely to feel calm or tired after the session was over.

"There were actually higher levels of relaxation before and after playing the game as opposed to experiencing anger but this did very much depend on personality type," said Jane Barnett, boss of the other psychologists.

Barnett hopes she can cobble together an emotion and gaming questionnaire based on the results of this test "to help distinguish the type of gamer who is likely to transfer their online aggression into everyday life". She will be talking to fellow behavioural boffins at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Dublin this week.

We're quite impressed that someone aged 83 was playing World of Warcraft. [Don't wanna cause a fracas, but B.A. Baracas, have I got a match for you - Dep Ed]

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • syphaa #1 4 years ago

    WOW what a shock.
    Why is it that we should feel surprised by this study?
    I think we have had it drilled into our heads over the past year or so that video games cause violent behaviour...
    But I am sure this study will go largely un-noticed/ignored by the people that matter.

  • paulf #2 4 years ago

    be interesting if they repeated the study using manhunt 2 instead of wow

  • butler` #3 4 years ago

    Jesus f*****g Christ I'm bored of these generic and largely hollow studies. Unfortunately my own Nottingham Trent University leads the way in doing them -.-

  • jonthepymm #4 4 years ago

    How about Ghosts n Goblins or some other infuriating game?

  • InfiniteFury #5 4 years ago

    "They asked them to play the game for two hour sessions."

    Pfffffft, you don't even start getting twitchy legs til you're 10 hours into a WoW session.

  • anomagnus #6 4 years ago

    they're wrong, this game drove me to insane levels of violence, in utter frustration.

    Learn to defend in AV, ARGHHGHGHHGHGHGHH

  • japstersam #7 4 years ago

    videogame violence is the stupidest argument in the world ever
    i played lego star wars yesterday, so i might just go and lightsaber/blaster someone today
    and i also played viking, so i might also go and get an axe and a sword and chop various people in half...?
    there's a difference between getting angry at the TV and angry at a person

  • asphaltcowboy #8 4 years ago

    lol, good ol' Middlesex Uni!

  • viper_h #9 4 years ago

    I dunno, PVP used to make me want to break stuff.

    Stupid game.

  • magicpanda #10 4 years ago

    They obviously didn't do any testing in Warsong Gulch.

    "Wanting to eat your own leg" levels of frustration/anger

  • mexalen #11 4 years ago

    They should have cut the internet-connection at some point of their studies, or tried prying one of those poor souls from the Computer while playing WoW. That would have shown them some good ol' violence...

  • MrChuckles #12 4 years ago

    'She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, She's got more bottle than united dairies...'

  • chicknstu #13 4 years ago

    The worst thing is, they're all probably getting paid a hell of a lot more than any of us.

  • CaptCastle #14 4 years ago

    "'She makes them look like a bunch of fairies, She's got more bottle than united dairies...'"

    I hate you. I'll have that in my head all day now.


    /hums theme tune

  • Krun #15 4 years ago

    That size sample is meaningless.

  • kmittal82 #16 4 years ago

    Now we need scientist to deduce the bleeding fucking obvious!!!!

    Newflash, you fat cocksucking arrogant bald middle-ages sons of bitches MP's, use that fucking head of yours to think for once, rather than just using it as a hat hanger!!

  • Aria #17 4 years ago

    Jane is my friend and we're in the same Uni, she's not a psychologist yet lol but hoping to become one soon. Anyway I didn't know her research was going to be published like this, nice! [grabs phone]

  • mezzomorto #18 4 years ago

    So now all we need is the study on how much of a factor WoW plays in bringing previously stable relationships to a swift end...

  • Benno #19 4 years ago

    Yeah i bet those people were having a nice relaxing quest around Elwynn forest, taking in the sights and sounds of a well designed zone why casually questing and advancing their character

    If, however, they were placed in a pvp environment aqgainst a load of hunters...

    Well, now we would have violence.

  • Miths #20 4 years ago

    "be interesting if they repeated the study using manhunt 2 instead of wow"

    Another group of researchers tried that last month, but they were slaughtered by their test subjects before they could publish anything.

  • Wyrm #21 4 years ago

    They should have made some of the priests spec for lolwell and see how happy they were.

  • MightyMouse #22 4 years ago

    @chicknstu

    I can only guess that was irony. Academics getting paid much? Not likely.

    On topic, I'd agree that the problems wow brings aren't those of violent behaviour, and judging damaging effects of an MMO from a 2 hour session is completely missing the point.

  • Skywise #23 4 years ago

    How irrisponsibe of them to expose children and eldery to this filth!

    (btw they left the most important statistic out: people were less violent before playing WoW and after playing WoW than during the playing. But were they more violent before OR after?)
    Edited by Skywise at 02/04/08 @ 22:21

  • neuroniky #24 4 years ago

    Games that should be used for this test: R-Type (on the Amiga, or even better Super R-Type on the SNES), Ghosts'n'Goblins (almost on any platform, or even better Super Ghouls'n'Ghosts on the SNES :D), Green Beret (on the C=64), Wipeout, Ninja Gaiden...

    I can remember throwing my joypad to the telly more than once with those games. Now unfortunately you simply can't throw the joypad to the telly anymore because:
    1) The joypad would go thru the telly instead of bouncing off it, damned LCDs!
    2) You can't recover the joypad anymore after you've thrown it, damned wireless pads!

    Oh, the ole days of gaming...

  • jimr9999us #25 4 years ago

    Dammit these studies make me want to break a storefront window with my head!