Well, I can finally stop screaming, "Lag!" into my Xbox 360 headset every time I die, as two scientists in Sweden have released new research that explains the impact of in-game lighting on your psychology.

From the Abstract:

Game players perform best and fastest in a computer game world lit with a warm (reddish) as compared to a cool (bluish) lighting. Red Lighting in a Computer Game also induced the highest levels of pleasantness in game users. It was probably the level of pleasantness induced by the warm lighting that enhanced the players' better performance in that digital game world.

These results are important for game designers and developers of online communities and visual worlds. Nevertheless maybe in the future also for indoor lighting and even depression considering the effects on mood. Wouldn't it be nice when suffering from depression and being treated with computer games three times a day?

In experimental psychology there is some evidence that indoor lighting can have an effect on mood. The influence of indoor lighting on psychological mechanisms is complex.This study was designed to investigate the impact of warm (reddish) and cool (bluish) simulated illumination in digital game worlds on game users' affect and play performance.

(Source: Dr. Shock's Research Blog)