Study Reveals CS:GO Reduces Most Stress in Comparison to Warzone, PUBG, Apex Legends

A recent study was conducted by the University of Leeds, UK, involving multiple PC FPS (first-person shooter) titles to understand the effects they had on players from a physiological and psychological viewpoint.

The investigation involved four games - CS:GO, Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and PUBG. It was aimed at finding the impact these games have on the stress levels, heart rate, and blood pressure of players in general.

While all the games observed slightly increased heart rates for the 32 players that took part in this research, it also resulted in reduced stress levels with CS:GO being the frontrunner.

The Valve shooter noted the maximum reduction in stress level when compared to the other titles, following measurement and analysis conducted by human biology and psychology researchers from the University of Leeds.

Study: CS:GO reduces more stress when compared to Apex Legends, Warzone, PUBG

A study conducted by the University of Leeds in partnership with BetVictor shows that one of the most popular tactical shooters in the world, CS:GO, reduces more stress for players when compared to battle royales like Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and PUBG.

The experiment involved the four PC FPS titles mentioned above along with 32 gamers with the following constraints:

• Some were categorised as ‘good’ players while others were labelled as ‘expert’, in their chosen game depending on their play time.

• All participants were aged between 20-26 years old, with the average age being 23.3 years.

• Most participants played just one game, but some even played two.

• For each game, the participant's heart rate, stress level, and blood pressure were recorded on a minimum of three occasions while playing.

Heart Rate comparison between FPS titles

Out of the four titles, CS:GO was the only game which observed a decrease in heart rate after playing. The researchers pointed out that this may have been "due to the duration of the game and the fact that participants were more experienced at playing this game".

All the battle royale titles witnessed an increase in heart rates for players post-game, with Apex Legends registering the biggest increase from 80.6 to 83.1 due to the faster pace of the game.

On the other hand, CS:GO produced standout results with players post-game heart rates dropping from 79.5 to 77. This was attributed to the game's longer timespans and breaks between round resets, which gives players time to settle into a natural rhythm.

Stress Level comparison between FPS titles

Talking about stress levels, a State Anxiety (STAI) test was used to measure the pre-game stress being faced by the players. As evident from the results below, the post-game stress across all titles was lower.

While all the games prove to be relaxing in nature, CS:GO is the game that provides the maximum amount of stress relief among the four while Apex Legends proves to be the least effective in relieving a players stress.

The study might not be the most detailed and the sample size used is also not ideal to pass the results off as a sound verdict. However, they do give us an idea of how PC FPS games affect players physiologically and psychologically.

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