Peggle soothes the savage beast

A study conducted by East Carolina University's Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, and involving 134 test subjects, has found that playing casual games can have a positive effect on the health of players by relieving stress and imparting other "mood-lifting" effects.

According to highbrow video game site The Escapist, the study ran for six months, and employed "state-of-the-art technology to measure heart-rate variability (HRV), electroencephalography (EEG) and pre- and post-activity mood states (POMS) in the test subjects."

Somewhat suspiciously, the study was underwritten by casual games publisher PopCap, which also supplied three of the games that were studied: Bejeweled 2, Bookworm Adventures, and Peggle.

Inevitably, user comments following the piece identified this queer relationship of mutual interest, with one arguing "the fact that PopCap helped foot this study makes it suspect. You know, like all of those Phillip Morris surveys that said "meh, smoking isn't too bad for you"." Well put.

Still, let's hear them out. The study coordinator Dr. Carmen Russoniello states "[t]he results of this study are impressive and intriguing, given the extent of the effects of the games on subjects' stress levels and overall mood.

"When coupled with the very high degree of confidence we have in those results based on the methodology and technologies used," he continues, "I believe there is a wide range of therapeutic applications of casual games in mood-related disorders such as depression and in stress-related disorders including diabetes and cardiovascular disease."

In case you want to know, Bejeweled works best for stress-relief, having reduced physical stress by up to 54 per cent in the test subjects compared to a control group, while Peggle improved "mood" by 573 per cent.

According to The Escapist, "[a]ll three games were found to have significant impacts across a number of tested factors, including a reduction in psychological tension, anger and mental fatigue, as well as depression and confusion."

PopCap's credibility-smashing involvement aside, it seems like an interesting study. You can read all about it on the East Carolina University website.