Mario Kart 8
A new study has been taking the pulse of the gaming community, quite literally. BonusFinder commissioned a study to survey gamers playing a number of different games in order to measure how “stressful” they were by the amount their heart rate increased while playing.
The results? The number one game may be a little bit surprising, though once you really think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. Here are the top 5 by how much they increased player BPM:
The list
So, let’s go through them:
Mario Kart – I know this sounds like a weird number one but I mean, think back to your most intense Mario Kart races. There’s the stress of being behind and trying to catch up, but even if you’re in the front of the pack, Mario Kart is designed to give players behind you countless tools to blast you out of first place, so you’re really never safe. And as a battle racer, you’re not just fighting the track, but other players full of shells and bananas they’re throwing at you. I totally get why this is number one.
FIFA – I can understand why a sports game would be on here, though FIFA isn’t exactly a mile a minute game, so I’m a little surprised to see it this high. Certainly dedicated FIFA players have played some intense matches but also it’s…soccer, and I’d be surprised if other sports games wouldn’t be higher. From what I can tell, there were no other sports games tested at all.
Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty – One of the most intense shooters on the market with extremely fast time-to-kill and constant bursts of adrenaline as you round a corner and shoot or are shot by your rivals. Fully understand why it’s here.
Dark Souls – The only single player game on the list here, and I mean, given the intensity of a Dark Souls fight against even low level enemies most of the time, where death means being set way, way back most of the time, I absolutely get why BPM might start flying here.
Fortnite – A lot of Fortnite matches, at least the early part, involves roaming around simply trying to find people to kill, but once you get into an actual firefight/build battle? Yeah, it’s about as intense as shooters gets.
There were limits on how many games could be tested for this study, and it’s interesting to look at the full list to see what did not make the top 5:
- Mario Kart
- FIFA 20
- Call of Duty (Modern Warfare)
- Dark Souls III
- Fortnite
- DOOM
- Fall Guys
- Battlefield V
- Street Fighter
- Among Us
- Grand Theft Auto
- UNO!
- The Sims
- Animal Crossing
- Minecraft
- Skyrim
Skyrim is pure relaxation in video game form, so that makes sense. Animal Crossing must be getting used as some sort of basline. A bit surprising that games like Street Fighter, Fall Guys and Battlefield V did not make the top list. Among Us also feels like something that will have your pulse racing during a particularly intense match. The Sims and Minecraft…less so.
In any case, the top 5 do make a lot of sense to me, though I’d be curious to see even more games tested. Maybe a follow-up study is in order.
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