Playing online games makes you a better person

While video games are usually blamed for murders, violence and global warming, it’s great to see some positive studies and opinions around gaming being performed.

The latest reveals that playing games online, is not only awesome, but also makes you friendlier and improves your personality.

*Sarcasm alert* And as it turns out, video games aren’t responsible for forest fires.

The research from Texas Tech explains that online cooperative multiplayer games proved to lower aggression and hostile reactions in people.

The study presented a scenario where players who just finished playing games – in this instance, Halo: Reach and Timesplitters – could behave aggressively toward other players by blasting them with a loud noise. While that’s hilarious and also brings back fond memories of playing Taboo, the experiment found that players who just played co-op in both games were much less aggressive than players who played alone.

John Velez, assistant professor of journalism and electronic media, notes that co-op play tends to spur people to focus on interacting with each other rather than focusing on violent or aggressive in-game action.

So there we go, group-tea-bagging IS a healthy activity, apparently.