There's always a lot of talk thrown around about the negative effects of video games, with everything from violent crime to bullying to obsessive stacking of different coloured boxes being laid at the feet of exposure to a volatile media. A recent study by Dr John Charlton and Ian Danforth (University of Bolton and Whitman College respectively) has taken a refreshing approach to the subject, rather than just going down the path of "You play games? You monster!"

The full results will be presented at a conference in Dublin today, but a press release explains that the study found a correlation between addiction and certain personality traits, namely neuroticism, introversion and a lack of agreeableness.

Before you start getting offended, ask yourself whether this really is controversial enough to concern you; all the study seems to be saying is that those people who are most seriously addicted to games can be a bit cranky and anti-social. I feel perfectly comfortable confessing to a few "anti-social" tendencies myself; staying in of a Saturday night to beat up endless minions is not the accepted, conventional behaviour of someone my age, but that doesn't mean the GTA IV weekend won't see me ensconced firmly on the couch.

Although the personality traits mentioned above are linked with Aspergers Syndrome, Dr Charlton explains that there's a scale of severity involved:

"The thinking in the field is that there is a scale along which people, even those considered to be 'normal', can be placed upon. And that people such as engineers, mathematicians and computer scientists are nearer to the non-empathising, systemising, end of the spectrum, with people with Aspergers syndrome even further along again.

The mad scientist is the original right-brain thinker taking things slightly too far.

"Our research supports the idea that people who are heavily involved in game playing may be nearer to autistic spectrum disorders than people who have no interest in gaming."

That's not to say "you play video games, you've got a condition" or even "you play video games and that puts you at the risk end of the scale"; although you could interpret this unfavourably, a more charitable view of the results is "that's just a statement about variation in personality type; gamers often fall on one side of centre, at the very far end of which is Aspergers."

We all know people's skills and talents vary wildly; some people are musical genii and others can't play the comb-and-paper, fact of life. Is it such a big claim to suggest that personality traits can sometimes go along with that? If someone down the pub said "as a general rule, with exceptions, I believe people who are good with technology can be quite shy" you wouldn't smack him with your Coopers, would you? And if that does worry you, isn't it time to ask yourself... is there anything wrong with being introverted, or am I just pandering to a social convention here?

I'm going to rebel against the you-must-be-bright-and-bubbly paradigm by staying in all next week, enjoying myself in my own home and also ancient China. And there's nothing wrong with that.