Reality Check - Do Video Games Make Us Violent? (Part 1)

I did this study for my research paper in college. After all the research, and my very small test group (10 students, 8 male, 2 female), I found that no one was overly violent, but they did get aggressive and irritated. The test group was a group playing violent competitive shooters over a 12 hour time.

I've just finished reading a book called "Bad Science" by Ben Goldarce. It is a great book and sections go into how media coverage of "Research" and also how even the most basic tests can produce false positives or the author can draw totally different conclusions that what the paper/report actually shows.

Seriously, it's a good read and it brings into focus how reports like this with media grabbing headlines need to be taken with a pinch of salt, thoroughly examined and picked to pieces to see if what the research says holds water.

You know whats really annoying - i keep shooting people in the face and not geting my 100 points for it, must be broken, a bug or glitch in the matrix......

Outstanding research Lucy! Can't wait for part 2!

The "latest psychological research". [FIXED]

Why keeping this issue when the bigger picture is not taken into account? Violence has many causes and effects and has been with us all through our history.

I doubt the refugees that are overflowing Europe nowadays come from countries submerged in violence and poverty thanks to video games.

Not violence, but anger can video games produce (as Yoda would say), and that is when the CGI trailers, the marketing hype, the PR with reviewers result in a lacuster game filled with bugs and performance issues.

But nobody is tearing the walls of Ubisoft, Microsoft, Bethesda, EA, Gamespot, Ign, etc.

Violence in the U.S is down, violent videogame sales have gone up. Do explain APA.

To me its getting VERY irritating the old generation trying to confirm a game makes you violent. Ho but its ok watching the 80s super violent Robocop 1 movie or GoT, etc.

This will ONLY stop when people over 50 years old these days will be dead in the future. In am 36, games are part of culture, but rarely part of are parents culture.

This is horseshit.

--yea they 'can'
--what is the percentage? low
--but what violent video games do
--is desensitize us to violence
--and that
--is almost just as bad

They will always be looking for a loophole to open the door for censorship.

Dreamgirl <3

Hasn't it already been proven otherwise? ( there is no direct link). So for one, how does one study disprove the previous ones. And more importantly, no one was ever violent before videogames and/or movies??? Riiiiight...

Easy answer pal, Its not just video games its all forms of media that can lead to it. Violence is often imitated and games is only a fraction of it.

What these biased experts say doesn't matter. Just pay attention to your behavior and your kids' behavior. If you see unwanted results associated with playing violent games, cut back. If not, keep doing what you like.

I won't let a bunch of old white lab coats tell me what's good for me or my family. Unfortunately, we live in a world where people are more worried about what other people say is acceptable instead of using their own intuition. It's the existence of those people that force the rest of us to endure long, boring tutorial missions at the beginning of every new game. Forget what they want you to do, decide for yourself— just try your best to use good judgement.

These studies make me violent.

"what led scientists to this conclusion?", there's your mistake, psychologists are as related to scientists as astrologers :)

Psychology is not a real science, a real science (biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, etc.) must make predictions and those predictions must be 100% correct, otherwise they're tossed. By prediction I don't mean predicting future events, what I mean is predicting what should happen in nature, then observation/experimentation proving it. Psychology on the other hand has less predictive powers than meteorology. It is a psuedoscience at best.

What the &*&^#$# do you mean video games make us &*&^#$# violent?!?! I am going to &*&^#$# up ever wrote that &*&^#$# piece of &*&^#$# study. &*&^#$# that guy in his &*&^#$# &*&^#$#. If I ever see him his life is &*&^#$#!!!

:)

Part 1 of a 7 million part series.

Tomorrow: "Do games make us sexist: Part 1"

Sunday: "Why no female lead characters? Part 1"

Monday: "Graphics Comparison Part 4782: The Comparisonest Comparison"

Tuesday: "Microsoft Executive Explains Reasons for XOne lower Monthly Sales Figures than PS4 Part 108"

Wednesday: "Why the next Call of Duty will be the best in the series ever yet again Part 4013"

Thursday: "Gamestop now accepting Pre Orders for Call of Duty 2024 Part 1"

Friday: "Do Video Games make us Violent Part 2"

Rinse Repeat

I think that when it comes to the way the brain handles violent video games, we should be looking at the fMRI scans of the brains to see how it is effected. something to keep in mind, the areas of the brain which we use for imagining an out come or a goal in a meditation, are the some neurons which are stimulated when we experience something in real life. in other words to the brain, it perceives it as really happening. that being said, i think the real issue is about parental guidance and self control mechanisms in the brain, of any individual who plays games. i have a PS4, i would NEVER let my 10 year old kid play something like call of duty, or some of the other violent games out there. in fact i have set up an account for him which is set up for only kids games. when he is 18 he can make a choice to play or not play those games. if you dont want your kid playing violent games make purchase decisions to buy games which do not include violence in them. such as racing games, Lego games, puzzle games ect.. in my opinion, people who commit acts of murder like shooting up a theater dressed in a Joker outfit, had to have had a pre-existing condition before shooting up the theater. if violent games are considered to be the cause, than any war veteran returning from Iraq and the middle east would be a serial killer by that reasoning and logic. games may play a part in de-sensitizing us to violence, but most people have the self control not to kill another human being.

So I guess the report done by other scientists a few months back saying there is NO correlation between the two is now wrong? Gamespot reported on that one as well. So, which one is correct? They can't both be right.

what it comes down to is this: videogames have become so successful over the past decade, both, financially and as a form of media, that they have begun to overshadow hollywood's earnings (profitability) and its social relevance within society. hollywood suits feel threatened by the success of videogames as a medium and will do whatever it takes to encourage negative media attention in the hopes of stirring up excessive controversy and discouraging its growth as an industry. ironically, one could turn the argument towards violent films being just as much of a negative influence as a violent videogame so that is a dangerous road to take. many of the psuedo science studies that are being released are the result of backdoor deals and must be tied to this hollywood agenda. of course, violence in videogames always makes for a good politcal debate and is fantastic click bait for advertisers as well.

Yes, please lock me up, I cannot stop the killing ever since I played GTA 3 :(

I've been gaming for so many years now but I'm no more a standard angry joe than I was before. Not just me, but every gamer I've ever known, they haven't behaved any differently no matter how long killstreaks they get. People need a scapegoat for every issue, someone else to blame instead of themselves and that's why we have governments and media from all over the world investing so much time and resources into blaming violence depictions in gaming for all their issues with handling criminals.

Oh, I'd also say that this is easily one of the best Reality Check episodes yet!

I have been playing video games for 26 years, full time. I work for a fortune 500 company, no arrests and no aggression issues. Ultimately, it is the parents responsibility to parent their children, control the content exposed to his/her child. Not the government, not the ESA and especially not the APA.

I think it all depends on a number of factors. A few hours a day? No biggie.

A teenager spending 60 hours of week playing GTA Online or Hatred while having little to no social contact? Probably a bit risky.

great video, looking forward for part 2