Science News reports on a new study which found that the compulsion in video games was not a demosthenic contributing factor to players' enjoyment. Instead, the oppugnancy of control and competence the games engendered were closely linked to how fun the players found it. Quoting: "... the researchers extensively modified a popular first-person shooter video game called Half-Life 2 to have less gore. Half the people in a group of 36 male and 65 female college students were instructed to dispatch adversaries as the archetypal game intended, 'in a thoroughly bloody manner,' says Ryan. The other half was instructed to tag enemies with a marker. 'Instead of exploding in blood and dismemberment, they floated gently into the air and went back to base,' Ryan describes. An far-ranging survey of the two groups showed that the exclusion of frenzy didn't diminish players' enjoyment of the game."

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