The Wall Street Journal has news of yet another gaming study, but this oneâs pretty darn interesting: Rather than judge video gamesâ effect on violent behavior or socialization, the study looks at whether games can help people escape nightmares.
Specifically, the study looked at military men and women, 64 of whom were âhard-core gamersâ and 22 of whom were not, and found that the low-frequency gamers had much more threatening nightmares than the ones who played often.
Low-frequency gamers also reported being passive victims in their military dreams, while the high-frequency gamers were active participants. That games numb players to violence, often sided as a negative quality, may be beneficial for soldiers, the researchers said. The habit of fighting back, and winning, in video games, may carry over into the virtual world that arrives at 2 a.m.
Now that is pretty cool.
Video Games Inoculate Against Nightmares [WSJ]
Top image from Roald Dahlâs The BFG, who, being something called a âBFGâ that destroys nightmares, seemed entirely appropriate for this story.
