Gamers Violent Psychopaths? New Study Says... no?

Ozbrat · May 25, 2008

Gamers Violent Psychopaths? New Study Says... no?

http://games.internode.on.net/content.php?mode=news&id=3129

Since the recent release of GTA IV and the subsequent media furore, I've found myself more and more frequently dragged into discussions on violence in video games and the effect it has on gamers, especially children and young adults. I'm often surprised by how vehement and vocal non-gamers can be on this topic, despite knowing next to nothing about the titles they're flaming. It doesn't help that often those of us most likely to dive into the debate have difficulty expressing our arguments clearly; we're gamers, and I suspect that too much time in front of the keyboard causes linguistic degradation. Luckily, a new piece of research has come along that champions our cause.

University of Essex's Patrick Kierkegaard's research has searched for cold, hard evidence damning video games, and arrived at the conclusion that there isn't anything substantial to back the claim that games are anything but harmless. Kierkegaard's research included casting a critical eye over previous studies, which he concluded were often lacking in concrete evidence and possible biased. These studies relied on scans of gamers' brains apparently triggering "violent" areas into activity, and spurious statistical correlations. Kierkegaard noted that the rise of violence and realism in video games has accompanied a decline in violent acts and crimes in children and young adults. If your skepticism warning lights are flashing here, good on you - the link between the decrease in crime and video games is probably just as tenuous as any evidence in the other direction, although it does make for a useful piece of rebuttal. Indeed, the study's own conclusion is not that "video games equal less violence" but rather, "video games do not necessarily equal more violence and the evidence demonstrating this link is in need of examination".

I think the following quote from Richard Wilson, CEO of Tiga, the trade association for developers in Europe and the UK, sums it up very nicely:

"Kierkegaard's argument that there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and video games is an important contribution to the debate on video games and violence. Too often video games are blamed for all manner of society's ills. Kierkegaard's research helps to redress the balance.

No single piece of research will settle the issue concerning the influence of video games conclusively. The crucial points are that children and young people should be protected from viewing inappropriate content, while adult gamers should typically be free to play mature games."
Try whipping out that lovely piece of prose next time you're bailed up by an angry parent at a party.

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Gamers Violent Psychopaths? New Study Says... no?

Ozbrat Retired GC

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