Violent video games can spur cooperation.

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Brief article

Violent video games may not make individuals more aggressive if they play cooperatively with other people, maintains research published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. In two studies, researchers found that individuals who teamed up to play violent video games later showed more cooperative behavior and, sometimes less signs of aggression, than those who played the games competitively.

The results suggest that it is too simplistic to say violent video games always are bad for players, indicates David Ewoldsen, coauthor of the study. "Clearly, research has established there are links between playing violent video games and aggression, but that's an incomplete picture. Most of the studies finding links between violent games and aggression were done with people playing alone. The social aspect of today's video games can change things quite a bit"

The new research...