Comprehensive study shows that playing video games does not make you violent

[midian182]

What just happened? No matter how many studies show no link between the two, some people are quick to blame video games for acts of violence. But a new report will hopefully put the debate to rest. It re-examined 28 previous studies that included over 21,000 participants and concluded that video games do not lead to violence or aggression.

The study was led by Aaron Drummond, a researcher from New Zealand’s Massey University. The meta-analysis—a design used to systematically assess the results of previous research—involved re-examining 28 studies going back to 2008 that looked for links between video games and acts of real-life violence.

The report, published in the Royal Society Open Science today, found that “playing violent video games does not appear to meaningfully increase the aggressiveness of players over time.” The previous studies did show an extremely small positive correlation between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior, but it was “too small to be practically meaningful.”

The meta-analysis also found that some poor-quality studies exaggerated the impact of games on aggression, with better-quality studies confirming that the effects are negligible. It also found that playing games over the long term does not result in users becoming slowly more aggressive. According to the study, “there’s no evidence to show a long-term link between aggressive video games and youth aggression.”

“We call on both individual scholars as well as professional guilds such as the American Psychological Association to be more forthcoming about the extremely small observed relationship in longitudinal studies between violent games and youth aggression,” wrote the authors.

Back in January, former US vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden referred to game developers he met while VP as “creeps” and “arrogant” who make games that teach people how to kill.

Following several shootings in 2018, video games found themselves under the kind of scrutiny not seen since the Columbine massacre. It led to the subject being discussed in the White House—and a video games montage being created to illustrate the violence in certain titles (above). We even saw a judge ban a boy from playing violent titles following a shooting threat.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/86090-comprehensive-study-shows-playing-video-games-does-not.html

 

[ClintL]

This won't matter to a lot of parents.
It is to easy to blame an outside source than say "it was my fault as a parent"

 

[ET3D]

Would be interesting to compare the number of crimes committed by professional athletes vs. professional gamers.

 

[Ben1978]

Small typo: "The study was led by Aaron Drummond, a GAMer from New Zealand’s Massey University."

 

[ET3D]

This won't matter to a lot of parents.
It is to easy to blame an outside source than say "it was my fault as a parent"

Just for my statistics, are you a parent? My guess is that most people who fault parents haven't experienced parenting.

 

[Nobina]

Just for my statistics, are you a parent? My guess is that most people who fault parents haven't experienced parenting.

I'm not a parent and I can only imagine how hard it must be since people work so many hours it's impossible to keep an eye on kids. My parents could never figure out what I was up to. But just a simple eye test tells you gaming and violence are not connected. No studies needed there.

 

[derncricket]

I did a science fair project on violence in games in 1993. Us middle schoolers could find no connection in violent games to violent behavior. I would like to think that the research done by 3 middle-schoolers should be enough.

 

[EClyde]

As many times as we are lied to about this I know they are wrong.

 

[EClyde]

I did a science fair project on violence in games in 1993. Us middle schoolers could find no connection in violent games to violent behavior. I would like to think that the research done by 3 middle-schoolers should be enough.

Middle schoolers don't know anything and their testimonials mean nothing.

 

[pit1209]

As many times as we are lied to about this I know they are wrong.

So are you implying the contrary? Where it's the data to prove it or we have to believe you just because?

 

[brucek]

I'm glad there's one more study to point to, but this has long been obvious to me.

In the past 40 years, video games have gone from not existing at all to being played by hundreds of millions (billions?). This is a massive increase yet there is no corresponding increase in real world violence (in fact, in the US at least, murders per capita declined steeply during parts of this period.)

Or requiring even less knowledge of history - a quick mental comparison of the number of people who play video games vs. the number of people committing violence shows a massive imbalance from the get-go.

 

[EClyde]

So are you implying the contrary? Where it's the data to prove it or we have to believe you just because?

They are asking the wrong questions and the wrong people. I won't spend anymore of my time on it because like politics there is no convincing those with their closed minds made up

 

[Uncle Al]

Damn straight and I'll kill the person that disagree's!!!!!!!!

 

[grvalderrama]

Playing games doesn't make you violent. Lag does.

 

[ilovetohateyou]

Would be interesting to compare the number of crimes committed by professional athletes vs. professional gamers.

Not many opportunities to commit crimes whilst congealing in a racing chair.

 

[PEnnn]

Darn!!

Who will the Republicans and their NRA masters blame now for mass shootings???

 

[pit1209]

They are asking the wrong questions and the wrong people. I won't spend anymore of my time on it because like politics there is no convincing those with their closed minds made up

So... no data

 

[Ben1978]

They are asking the wrong questions and the wrong people. I won't spend anymore of my time on it because like politics there is no convincing those with their closed minds made up

That seems like a lot of studies doing the same thing and coming to the same wrong conclusions. From my own experience the only two forms of entertainment that influenced me to commit violence in the real world were WWE and UFC. The former encourages kids play fighting to tombstone each other, while the latter encourages ground and pound. I guess that in countries where access to guns is relatively easy, however, that kids might imitate the shooting they have seen; but movies would be a source of imitation as much as games.

 

[EClyde]

That seems like a lot of studies doing the same thing and coming to the same wrong conclusions. From my own experience the only two forms of entertainment that influenced me to commit violence in the real world were WWE and UFC. The former encourages kids play fighting to tombstone each other, while the latter encourages ground and pound. I guess that in countries where access to guns is relatively easy, however, that kids might imitate the shooting they have seen; but movies would be a source of imitation as much as games.

Thanks for the quote. My word deserves to get out. I like your post for your honesty about wrestling but include movies

 

[EClyde]

So... no data

Thanks for the quote. My word deserves to get out. I am the data. I have lived long and prospered all the while paying attention. Star Trek sucks BTW

 

[cliffordcooley]

And a single drop of rain is not to blame for anyone getting soaked in a rain storm.

Games are not 100% to blame. Games are however a contributor. Nearly everything in our lifestyle has potential to be a contributor. Just look at this BLM movement. BLM thinks there is a racist problem while no one else does.

No matter how many studies are made. No one will ever find a single cause. The reason for that is there being so many causes. And no, parenthood is not the all-in-one cure. It never will be.

 

[MaxSmarties]

I’m not surprised at all. The correlation is silly. When I was young, playing with soldier toys, tanks and planes was exactly the same thing that a game at Call of Duty. A normal human being is capable to discern between fantasy and reality.
Video games are much more interactive than just watching TV shows , therefore they are a good entertainment if you don’t abuse (this rule applies to everything).

 

[Mister_K]

I mean not surprised, obviously.

However. If you have a predisposition to being violent then certainly it could be.

 

[MaxSmarties]

I mean not surprised, obviously.

However. If you have a predisposition to being violent then certainly it could be.

No one has a “predisposition”. It is a cultural/education result.

 

[Mister_K]

No one has a “predisposition”. It is a cultural/education result.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar...ransmission, in,predisposition to violence (6

.

Predispositions exist (still a hypothesis however Genetic Predispositions occur often) and anything can be a trigger. It's how some people who smoke weed might go down a darker path and weed being that trigger point. This applies to pretty much anything.