Click to enlarge

Although this news isn't quite Mac-related, we thought we might ease everyone's fears by bringing this article to your attention.

Australian News website Australian IT posted an article on Thursday reporting on the results of a recent study conducted by Queensland University PhD student Sue Morris.

Ms Morris' study focused on the social aspects of playing online computer games, and her results fly in the face of current popular opinion about online gaming:

"The moral panic is based on this idea that people playing these types of games are just sitting at their computers for hours on end ... a really anti-social thing," Ms Morris said.

"But it's actually a very social world ... it's about challenge because people are playing these games like sport. These games are a very social realm rather than pure aggression or pure catharsis. The focus isn't about the violence, it's about challenge, it's about competition, it's about cooperation... A lot of people describe the pleasure of being part of a community or being part of a clan and working together just the same way as team sports has always been recognised as encouraging cooperation."

Thanks to IMG Forum participant monkeyphonix for the heads up on this article.

Multiplayer Game Study Results

IMG Forums

Search for other Mac games news stories or browse our Mac Games News Archive.