Electronic games make people aggressive, but new study finds that the reason is not linked with violent content.

Researchers from the University of Oxford in the UK and the University of Rochester in the US carried out lab tests in which volunteers played both violent and non-violent games. They found that the deciding factor was how the volunteers were able to master the electronic game after 20 minutes of play, reports ox.ac.uk. 

Games that were too difficult or where players had trouble mastering controls that were too complicated were the most likely to leave players feeling aggressive afterwards. There was little difference in the aggression levels of players on games with violent content as compared with those playing non-violent games, says the research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

This is believed to be the first academic study to explore how the structure and motives behind gaming lead to feelings of aggression among players. The findings are chiefly based on a series of six lab tests involving university students. The volunteers played electronic games that the researchers manipulated to make the game's challenges or hand controls harder to play. Overly difficult games, counter-intuitive hand controls and a lack of practice were significant predictors of aggression among players, and this effect had little to do with whether the game contained violent material or not.