The non-profit MacArthur Foundation has released a study suggesting that online gaming is a valuable way for youths to learn social skills in the digital age.

A write-up of the study in the San Francisco Chronicle reflects that online games are integral to children's social development in the same manner as social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace.

"There is this generational gap in thinking about the value that social networking brings," said Mizuko Ito, a University of California Irvine informatics professor who conducted the study.

The researchers argued that restricting kids from social networking "eliminates an important social and recreational activity and could leave them ignorant of how to interact, not only in their youth, but also potentially in their professional lives," according to

The report, which was noticed by Blue's News, also mentioned some auxiliary benefits of time spent online. Many youths who got deeply involved in their online activities--a phenomenon the study called "geeking out"--learned to program computers, edit videos, or fix computer hardware as a result of their dedication.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental non-profit group, has studied the energy consumption patterns of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii, and released a report showing each system's impact on the environment.

The study, noticed by Slashdot, found that American console players consume 16 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, on par with the entire consumption of the city of San Diego, California.

The Wii is far and away the most frugal of the three current-generation consoles by consuming an average of only 16 watts while active. The next best, the Xbox 360, leaps up 119 watts on average, and the PlayStation 3 steps up further to an average 150 watts.

The NRDC argues that the use of power-saving features in consoles could cut up to 11 billion of that 16 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, saving $1 billion on electric bills and cutting CO2 emissions by 7 million tons--as much as all the cars in San Jose, California.

The group pointed out that the 360 and PS3's power-saving auto-shutdown features are turned off by default. Shacknews readers are encouraged to visit the NRDC's guides for enabling power-saving features to save a few bucks.

A trio of Swedish research institutions have measured heart rates in adolescent, game-playing males and found that those who play violent games show more physiological responses resembling those of high levels of activity, negative emotions or stress.

ScienceDaily summarizes the collaborative research of Stockholm University, Uppsala University and the Karolinska Institute thusly:

In the study boys (12-15 [years old]) were asked to play two different video games at home in the evening. The boys' heart rate was registered, among other parameters. It turned out that the heart rate variability was affected to a higher degree when the boys were playing games focusing on violence compared with games without violent features. Differences in heart rate variability were registered both while the boys were playing the games and when they were sleeping that night.

Heart rate variability is a medical term for the regularity of a heartbeat, meaning that a low variability signals the heart is working smoothly and things are generally well. Meanwhile, a high variability is a precursor to irregular heartbeats, which are symptomatic of certain medical problems, high levels of stress, or strongly negative emotions, according to the research firm Institute of HeartMath.

In recent research, heart rate variability has been linked to the nervous system, which is why mental activities like stress or violence can contribute to increasing that variability.

The researchers aim to continue studying the effects of video games on the body and hope that their findings will contribute to determining whether video game violence causes real-life violence.

The Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) today responded to a recent study connecting violent video games to violent behavior, saying that the authors of the report are deliberately focusing on video games in order to sensationalize the issue.

The study, performed by Iowa State University and published in the journal Pediatrics, claims that children became more aggressive after playing violent video games.

ECA president Hal Halpin responded in this release to the media:

For the better part of the past decade we--game consumers, makers, sellers and creators--have been waiting for the results of an unbiased, longitudinal and comprehensive study to be done which will inform us about the potential harmful effects of entertainment products on our children. Unfortunately, with the report published in the latest issue of Pediatrics, we remain wanting.

One of the ways in which our stance is likely very different from others in the discussion on the subject is that the ECA would encourage more and better research on the matter. The problem has been, and apparently continues to be, that the agenda of the researchers supersedes our want and need for inclusiveness of all media--not just games--for the overtly sensationalistic spin that will inevitably be employed--to the exclusion of music and movies. We remain optimistic that longitudinal research that is truly comprehensive, objective and inclusive will be performed and shared, but sadly that day has not yet come.

A new study from Iowa State University suggests that playing violent video games leads to more aggressive behavior in children, CNN reports.

While the effect of violent video games has been an oft-debated subject--some argue that violent games merely draw the attention of those prone to violent behavior--the study found that players were more aggressive than before the research began.

Furthermore, the more they played violent games, the more aggressive the players were in real life. Meanwhile, those that had less exposure to violent games did not see as much of a growth in aggressive behavior.

The study is "pretty good evidence" that violent games lead to violent behavior, commented University of Michigan research director Dr. L. Rowell Huesman.

The research was conduced across three groups: 181 Japanese students ages 12 to 15, 1,050 Japanese students aged 13 to 18, and 364 US kids ages 9 to 12. The Japanese children rated their own aggressive behavior, as did the US group, though additional data on the US group came from peers and teachers.

A packaging-focused study from the NPD Group has found that the average number of games in a frequent gamer's collection totals a staggering 48 titles, according to Gamasutra.

The study also found that in that same polling group of 562 gamers, 11 percent owned a game that was still sealed in its packaging.

The poll was commissioned by the Content Delivery and Storage Association and the Entertainment Merchants Association, explaining the otherwise odd survey questions.

Other packaging statistics? 88 percent of game owners store their games in the original cases, with 8 percent putting them in plastic sleeves and only 5 percent actually tossing out the original case.

After having their way with a game, 54 percent of gamers surveyed will trade or sell it, 24 percent will give it away, 17 percent will store it, and 2 percent will just throw it in the trash.

The numbers now show that gamers are generally more social than non-gamers--according to a survey commissioned by IGN, anyway.

Gamasutra spotted the report from a 3,000-respondent survey conducted by researchers at Ipsos, in which single gamers were twice as likely as non-gamers to go out on a date. Gamers were also by a slight margin more likely to be non-romantically social by going out or playing sports.

Gaming households on average had substantially more money than non-gaming households: $79,000 in annual income against $54,000. Within those households, gamers tended to be the cultural influence: 37% of gamers reported informing their family and friends on pop culture and technology, whereas only 22% of... Read more

Men that excel in the virtual worlds of video games may be more prone to premature ejaculation, sexual psychotherapist Paula Hall tells the BBC.

A third of men are thought to suffer from the condition, which was recently linked to low serotonin levels after an Utrecht University study of 200 Dutch men. The lower serotonin levels were caused by a certain gene that regulates the body's supply of the hormone.

"Premature ejaculation is definitely not purely psychological," Hall explained. "These men [with non-psychological premature ejaculation] have very quick reflexes. They may be excellent at playing tennis or computer games."

The recent study has given researchers hope in their efforts to create specialized drugs that reduce the likelihood of premature ejaculation. Thanks to Kotaku for the tip.

Steve's Take:  :(

A survey of over 7,000 EverQuest II players suggests that online gamers are in better physical condition than the average American, though they are more likely to suffer from depression and substance abuse.

"They may be drawn to use the game to help deal with emotional distress," research team member Scott Caplan explained to New Scientist Tech.

However, UK researcher Mark Griffiths, who was not involved in the study, warns that the results may not be indicative of the entire gaming community, as the research only focused on one massively multiplayer PC game. Online games and single-player games "involve very different psychologies," he cautioned.

Overall, those polled were found to have an average body mass index of... Read more

Confirming what online gamers who use voice chat already know, a study at Northwestern University concluded that racial bias affects interactions in online worlds.

Paul W. Eastwick, a graduate student at the University, conducted the study by going into the virtual world There and making requests of strangers. There was no evidence of racial bias in small favors. But when asking very large favors afterwards, Eastwick found that white avatars were more likely to be obliged than black avatars.

The results resemble those of similar studies done in the real world. "This study suggests that interactions among strangers within the virtual world are very similar to interactions between strangers in the real world," Eastwick told iTnews.

Gold farming in games like World of Warcraft is now an industry worth an annual $500 million, according to a study from Manchester University reported by BBC News.

Gold farming, which allows users to use real money to purchase in-game currency in massively multiplayer games, has become a controversial issue in the genre.

Professor Richard Heeks, himself a gamer, turned his academic eye to gold farming and found that the industry currently employs an estimated 400,000 people --80% of which are in China-- making an average of $145 per month.

"I initially became aware of gold farming through my own games-playing but assumed it was just a cottage industry," said Heeks. "In a way that is still true. It's just that instead of a few dozen cottages, there turn out to be tens of thousands." ... Read more

The Entertainment Software Association has released the results of a study that shows 70 percent of major US employers use interactive software to train their employees.

The study also notes that the usage of game-like training is set to increase rapidly in the coming years, with 78 percent of companies not utilizing software for training likely to do so in the next five years.

The national poll, conducted by KRC Research, surveyed the management of 150 large US companies and non-profits between March 17 and April 2 of this year.

Among the ESA's exciting examples of companies using game-based training is Canon USA, which uses a drag-and-drop game to train employees in the use of... Read more

82% of PC gamers feel that games are "just as enjoyable with ads as without," according to a new study from research group Nielsen. After viewing an in-game ad, an average of 61% of consumer opinions regarding the brand were favorably increased.

Commissioned by in-game advertising firm IGA Worldwide, which just recently partnered with Sony for in-game PlayStation 3 ads, the study was performed across 1,300 PC gamers. Surprisingly, those "most opinionated about in-game ads" reported that the ads had a higher-than-average positive effect on brand opinion.

Those 1,300 were provided with games from Electronic Arts and Activision. While specifics were not revealed, it is likely that these games included Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Battlefield 2142, both first-person shooters that feature in-game ads. Advertisers included Taco Bell, Jeep and Wrigley.

"The consumer insights we've gleaned from this data will help drive the industry's first research-based in-game advertising measurement standards as well as strengthen IGA's position as an effective in-game ad network brands can trust to efficiently deliver their message to target audiences," noted IGA CEO Justin Townsend.

Other bullet points from the accompanying press release follow... Read more

A new study published in the journal Cyberpsychology and Behavior found that red teams triumph over blue teams more than half of the time in online multiplayer shooters, reports the Associated Press.

Researchers studied the outcomes of 1,347 matches in Epic Games' Unreal Tournament 2004 (PC), in which players were allowed to choose between joining the red or blue team. The study found that the red team won 55% of the time.

University of Copenhagen neuroscientist Mihai Moldovan suggested that one possible explanation for the skew in results could be the color red's role as a psychological distractor for men. Results were collected by Moldovan from public ... Read more

More than 20% of those that play casual games like Peggle and Bejeweled have some sort of "physical, mental or developmental disability," according to an Information Solutions Group survey commissioned by casual game developer PopCap Games.

The survey encompassed a total of 13,296 casual gamers--a market that, mostly driven by web-based applications, is estimated to have between 300 and 400 million players worldwide. The latest U.S. Census states 15.1% of the American population is disabled.

Depression, ADD / ADHA and Rheumatoid Arthritis / Osteoarthritis respectively ranked as the most common types of mental, developmental and physical conditions. Only 26% of disabled casual gamers were said to play traditional video games.

The study notes that those with disabilities typically play casual games more frequently and longer than the non-disabled, and find the benefits to include stress... Read more

Data compiled by consumer research group Nielsen and discovered by IGN found that both younger and older console gamers spent most of their time playing the Xbox 360, followed by the Wii, with the PlayStation 3 coming in third.

The data reflects console play time between April, 2007 and February, 2008. In that time, gamers aged 10 to 26 spent almost 63% of their game time with the Xbox 360, followed by the Wii at nearly 25% and the PlayStation 3 at 12.3%. Gamers aged 27 and above played the Xbox 360 for roughly 52% of their time, followed by 28.4% and roughly 20% for the Wii and PS3, respectively.

Nielsen also found that while older gamers played shorter session lengths than their younger counterparts, they tended to play more sessions in a given day. Also of note is the average usage days per month: younger gamers played their Xbox ... Read more

More than $2 million in grants will be awarded to 12 research teams across the United States to research the health benefits of gaming.

Awarded from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's health games research program, the grants are aimed at strengthening the evidence base that supports the use of gaming as a means of improving players' health behaviors and outcomes.

The studies will explore topics such as how motion-based gaming can hasten the progress of recovering stroke patients, as well as how substance abuse patients can practice skills and behaviors in virtual worlds to prevent real-world relapses.

The foundation intends to announce the recipients of the grants at a press conference this coming Thursday.

Game Developer Magazine has released the results of its seventh annual Game Developer Salary Survey, which figures the average American game industry salary in 2007 as $73,600.

The data, which was partially posted by Gamasutra, notes that the average salary was slightly up from 2006 figure of $73,316.

Business and marketing positions remained top of the heap, with average salaries figured at $101,848. Programmers, which were among the most educated of the groups surveyed, raked in an average of $83,383.

Art and animation employees were compensated an average of $66,594 in 2007, with 66% reporting at least a bachelor's degree. Game designers clocked in at $63,649, while producers claimed an average of $78,716. Sound designers reported $73,409.

As expected, quality assurance brought up the rear, averaging $39,063, though QA leads with more than six years experience averaged $70,658. The report noted that testers with less than three years experience made up the largest percentage of the group.

A study presented at last week's MI6 game marketing conference indicates that games promoted by advance trailers sold better than those prefaced by playable demos, MTV Multiplayer reports.

The study, conducted by the Electronic Entertainment Design and Research Group, found that a majority of the highest selling titles on Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 were promoted by trailers alone. Games accompanied with trailers as well as playable demos sold significantly less on average.

The findings of the study are consistent across both platforms with one exception: games without trailers or demos available sold better on PlayStation 3 than Xbox 360, indicating that games on Microsoft's console are better off with some sort of promotional material on Xbox Live.

In light of the research, EEDAR heads Gregory Short and Geoffery Zatkin recommended that publishers make playable demos available only after release of a game.

A study commissioned by organizers at the MI6 game marketing conference has found that of the 75 million people who buy games in the United States, some 49 million also purchase used games.

The study, performed by consultancy firm OTX and reported on by Gamasutra, showed that only 28% of gamers exclusively buy new games, with 60% buying both new and used.

OTX also found that of the 26 million who sell games, 16 million are what they call "New Game Gluttons." These "gluttons" are gamers who finish their games as quickly as possible, with the goal of selling a title at its highest possible value in order to better fund new game purchases.

The firm has projected an increase in used games sales due to the ailing economy, with one in four gamers polled reporting that they will purchase a used game for the first time in the next 12 months.

GameStop is by far the most popular used game hub, pulling in two out of three of every used game purchase. Many analysts have pointed to GameStop's hold on the used game market as an indicator of its resiliency in the face of a US economic recession.