Safer with a partner: Exploring the emotional consequences of multiplayer video gaming

This study expanded upon the extant research regarding the link between video game violence and aggressive affect, and investigated the effects on 60 participants who played a violent video game in one of three conditions: single player, cooperative multiplayer, and competitive multiplayer. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) with measures of aggression and Internet addiction as co-variates revealed gaming conditions to significantly lessen hostility difference scores of two subscales: lacking positive feelings and aggravation. These results supported the hypothesis that playing violent video games in multiplayer conditions is less detrimental to the gamer's affective state than when games are played alone.