A recent study indicates that while violent video games can indeed result in more aggressive real-life behavior, they only do so in those with a pre-existing conditions towards such behavior, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

Performed by Australia's Swinburne University of Technology across schools in Melbourne, the project analyzed behavior of 120 children aged 11 to 15 before and after a 20 minute session of id Software's Quake II. Following their time with the violent first person shooter, a majority of the test subjects displayed no evidence of the game affecting their mood or behavior. However, those with a tendency for worry, neurotic behavior and or violence did show an increase in aggressive behavior.

The children that experienced a shift in behavior "were a little bit more aggressive anyway in their interaction with life," noted Swinburne professor Grant Devilly. "For the rest of kids, the vast majority, it [violent game play] makes no difference at all in their general aggression rate."

Devilly's statements and findings challenge a 2006 study from the Radiological Society of North America, which found that violent video games cause more "emotional arousal" than nonviolent interactive experiences.

A team of students and staff at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have released their results for the second wave of study in their Project Massive. The project takes a look at how gamers communicate and organize themselves within massively multiplayer online games. They also take a look at the games' impact on their real life activities, perceptions, and experiences.

Some of the more interesting results (to me) are the fact that over 40% said they would retain their account with an old MMO as they migrate to another. Roughly 57% surveyed play between 9 and 23 hours a week. And about 25% of the respondents said they are at least occasionally using mood/mind altering substances while playing.