Cooperative video game play elicits pro-social behavior, research finds

The word cooperation is self-explanatory -- two or more people working together toward a common goal or benefit.

One Texas Tech University researcher wondered about the implications of teaming up with others in video games and how this differs from playing alone, competitively, or not at all. It seems playing video games cooperatively with others can lead to widespread benefits by making players think helpful behaviors are valuable and commonplace.

John Velez, an assistant professor of journalism and electronic media in the College of Media & Communication, studied how cooperating with other players in both violent and non-violent video games extended to social situations after the controllers are put down. The results of one article suggest playing cooperatively with others can eliminate the negative effects of violent video games on players' aggressive behaviors in the real world. Another related study demonstrated playing cooperatively with a helpful teammate in a non-violent video game not only increases pro-social or helping behaviors toward teammates but opposing team members as well.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150508105656.htm

co op games have been around for quite some time now and I guess they could show the benefits of working together, that is the whole idea of them, I can see the benefit of playing with others online but I think the anti social implications are important too.