Nice to see science catching up with common sense. Doing things alone can be good but the experience is always richer when interacting with other people, at least if it is with the right people.
Online Multiplayer Video Games Create Greater Negative Consequences, Elicit Greater Enjoyment than Traditional Video Games Among Students
read it hereWhile both multiplayer and traditional single player video games present a double-edged sword, Smyth’s research found that online, socially integrated multiplayer games create greater negative consequences (decreased health, well-being, sleep, socialization and academic work) but also garner far greater positive results (greater enjoyment in playing, increased interest in continuing play and a rise in the acquisition of new friendships) than do single-player games. The study is published in the October 2007 issue of the bimonthly peer-reviewed journal CyberPyschology & Behavior (Vol. 10, No. 5: 717–721).
“The most striking result of this study is that playing online multiplayer games had much greater positive and negative effects on people than playing traditional single-player video games,” says Smyth. “Students in the study who played online multiplayer games did so about three times as much as those playing single-player game types, averaging over 14 hours a week.”
