New Study Finds No Connection Between Video Game Violence And Its Real-World Equivalent

This is not a new result, study after study confirms the same thing. Violent video games do not create violence.

However, all you need is a single crazy person to murder, and say they were inspired by video games to make the media freak out. They don't think that maybe, if video games didn't exist, the crazy person would have simply been inspired by something else. Someone who wants to murder will find inspiration, one way or another.

I think the correlation they should be looking for is Video games vs laziness.

Irony at its finest.

Hmm, why aren't there articles on all the studies that say they do? Not that it would matter. On these kinds of topics, gamers are going believe what they want to believe, no matter what some study shows.

I was watching the "Video Games: The Movie" document and on the topic about 'video games cause violence', they basically said violence is human nature. Look at Hitler as one example, he killed all those Jews and he didn't play "Call of Duty" (video game didn't even exist then).

Point is, other stuff influence violence, but it is about controlling your actions. Playing a violence game won't suddenly make me go and grab a gun an repeat the same action as I did in the game.

Can you possibly put up a link to the Study reports?

@Joalro

Well said, well said.

While I don't necessarily believe there is a link between violence in the entertainment industry and real world violence, I've always been skeptical of these types of studies. We don't know anything about Mr. Ferguson... for all we know, he's a CoD addict who just wanted his mom to get off his back about all the violent video games he plays. The author of any study can make it say absolutely whatever he wants. The saying "the numbers don't lie" is complete bs. The numbers say whatever you want them to. I have a hard time imagining that anyone who would care enough to undertake such a study is anyone other than a gamer looking to defend his hobby, or an anti-gamer looking to see them all banned. In either case, they WILL reach the conclusion they want to reach.

Great news for gamers, although this isn't the first study to say so. Yes, there's been few odd ones that claim the contrary, but the "they don't cause violence" -camp seems overwhelming – and for a good reason. Say if I watch or read A Clockwork Orange, I don't feel slightest need to start dressing like a goofball and doing a bit of the old ultraviolence.

That being said, the conclusion that violent games outright curb real world violence sounds like simple correlation error to me, as there are surely many more meaningful reasons for the trend.

Video games existed from long time ago,video games resulted in so many wars in the past WW1,WW2 all the civil wars from times like before christ was even alive.They had tekken triple tournament 10 at those times and after all those wars we started from 1 again not long ago.STUPID VIDEO GAMES U RUIN EVERYTHING!!!!

I thought this was obvious, but then again the media likes to overreact over small events.

If this study said the opposite, I bet more mainstream, non-gaming sites would be reporting this story by now.

@platoonleaderg I don't know if you're a troll, or just an utter idiot.

B-b-b-b-but the Columbine kids played Doom!

It has been noted that a significant percentage of Finnish people have a genetic mutation that makes them prone to violence, especially when intoxicated. Nonetheless, only a fraction minority of people with the genes carry out violent acts (almost all serial killers and repeated offenders on the other hand carry these genes). The largest effect on actually getting violent found in the study of these genes is your upbringing and background. Learning to live and cope with people in other ways than violence when growing up is the key factor.
You can google this up, sorry I'm typing on the phone and won't be bothered to link ;9
If you ask me, it's very different neurons that flare up when you feel like punching a person in front of you versus when you want to press the button to whip Dracula in the face to rid the fictional world of evil.

@steamtrain I agree, and it bothers me, as well.
I'm among those who are very convinced that video games don't serve as the initiator of violence, but as an inspiration to call for attention.
Many people (especially young ones) whose violent behaviour or crimes were prematurely connected to violent games lived in social isolation, were dependant on heavy medication (especiall antidepressants), or at least experienced heavy neglection, causing them to seek a vent to bring their emotional disorder to the outside, in a place where everyone's actions matter to an extend and it's hard to ignore someone - video games, especially those with heavy focus on competitive multiplayer in realistic settings (makes actions more relatable), are a very good place for those situations.
As such people play more, they find comfort and satisfaction, although the hardships in real life are likely continuing. And at some point (often provoked by an escalation, like bullies beating the person up, family issues becoming worse, or being yelled at/abused for things the person wasn't involved), these people threaten to break under the pressure and emotional stress.
That's when some of them, due to having lost a realistic perspective, get the idea that since the accomplishments in the game brought attention to them, the same would apply in real life. And this bsituation becomes worse if any of the preferred tools from the game are stored at home (guns, knives, anything). They take what they consider useful, and everything else is then brought to you by all media stations non-stop, for at least a week.

But the media keep it easy. Game developers have no logical reason to make games violent - they exist because there's enough demand nowadays. And since media folks know that, these developers cannot defend themselves very well against accusations.

Nice. A link would be nice, too. I'm sure plenty of people have figured as such, though. There's quite a bit to say revolving around the whole "video games cause violence" topic. All in all, I've been tired of 'em focusing on something so insignificant compared to bigger problems.
@Prime "tekken triple tournament 10"
Is it really that hard to figure out that he's kidding?

Breaking news! World figures out the obvious! I wish people would figure out these things faster.

I am so glad that when I have a bad day at work I can go virtually break somebody's face. Otherwise I'd get fired verrrrry quickly. So thanks Capcom and Sega!

You really should take most studies that have polarizing viewpoints with a grain of salt. I think this is especially true for topics that politicians are "passionate" about. It's interesting how, one study will show the exact opposite of another. Often, studies can be set up so that you can get the results you want or already believed. The politician in CA who wanted to fine video game stores for the selling M rated games to minors had a study that confirmed that violent video games begat real world violence. This brought a lot of parents on board. I think it is a giant heap of malarkey, of course.

Unrelated, but full of karma, he got arrested for fraud. I guess he played a lot of EVE Online.

@StaticWind There are genuine idiots in the world. You can never know.

@Prime I guarantee it was just a joke.

Yeah, this doesn't seem like a very good way to conduct the research. I've prefer to see an actual experiment done, or maybe anonymous survey of people who have a violent history and those who don't, and the % of people playing violent video games in each of those categories. I don't know if anything like that has been done, but I'm sure there's a reliable way.

Most likely, violent video games don't cause violent behavior, it just curbs violent behavior in the few that are actually violent. I still didn't think that there is anything to gain from letting children who are way too young to play it like it's just another game, though.

"No time for fightin', dood. I have to steal that game."

I think it's very difficult to correlate videogame violence with real world violence. However, I'm sure it has a powerful effect in shaping thoughts and actions. So, the kid playing GTA or COD is not being affected at all. No way. It promotes violence, and some of these folks have difficulty distinguishing real world from the digital world. They should do a study on the amount of parents buying these games for their under 18 kid, and saying its ok.

I think this study simplifies a very complex topic. I believe that the media has a direct influence on us, even if we do not realize it or wish to admit it. But I don't think that means we can't have violent games or films... It's a very complex issue, and not one I'm qualified to comment on, but there is no definitive answer.

It didn't matter because no one was stopping this violence.

I think a big point to be made here is that, although on a wider scale it is harmless, the fact can also be stated that a tiny minority of people will always exist who may be influenced in a negative way by violence in the media, and on very rare occasions this will result in a crime being committed. However, the thing to take from that is that without fail these will always be very vulnerable, likely isolated people, who almost certainly are already ill with some sort of psychiatric condition.

Yes, it is possible that they may be influenced by media such as violent films or games, but removing one source of influence does not remove the source of a problem on the whole, that person remains mentally unwell and still poses some form of risk to themselves or others, with or without violent games. The takeaway from any of these studies should always be that, in the cases where violent crime has occurred, the only truly effective way it could have been avoided would be to improve awareness of mental illness and availability of appropriate care for the people who need it.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuut the debate will continue to rage forever and ever, simply because the press know they can always have a field day with it when a new study comes out, and the researchers will keep looking into it just to keep themselves in work...

Whichever way you look at it though, while there will always be a point to be made about the minority, I would be surprised if I ever saw a study that genuinely claimed there was a widespread increase in crime due to violent media. That would just be ludicrous.

@Prime I m both I guess.I was just mad at this, like we needed a study for the obvious.War/violence existed before video games so the whole blame the videogames instead of the goverment lack of policies and management is stupid.

Should take no Sherlock to work this one out.

Now, if only the media would give these sorts of studies some attention. Unfortunately, sensationalist stories of how a game/movie/artist caused a massacre make a lot more money than presenting sober and rational evidence to the contrary.

I have a couple of friends that are addicted to FIFA. They've never been inspired to go out and play football because of it though!

@SteveButler2210 - well said.

Doing a paper saying it does cause violence. Last year, did a paper saying it doesn't cause violence. I'M SO CONFLICTED!

I'm taking this study with a grain of salt for now. There isn't enough information from this article to reach any conclusions for or against it.

Should have been playing since i was 5 then

Don't believe everything you see on TV... or on the internet. Just use common sense and make wise choices for yourself. My two cents is that violence in video games doesn't necessarily spawn violent behavior. Instead I think it contributes to a numbness and complacency when faced with real-world violence that should otherwise be met with a sense of injustice and a desire to see peace. In other words, our generation may be less likely to be horrified when we see brutal acts of violence, and that would be tragic.

This study is deeply flawed on how it is looking at correlation. The reason for the drops in those rates is people not interacting as much. Living in a digital world also has decreased marriage rates, birth rates, and the ability for many to carry on a real-life conversation with someone in the same room w/o using Twitter. (or did gaming cause all that? )
I don't know that the results are wrong, and I think they may be right, but this study is terrible correlation focused, headline grabbing garbage. We can do better.

I always knew this to be the case, people are always looking for a reason for the bad things some people do. I wonder what will be the next target?

@platoonleaderg You're completley right. Sorry dude, I'm not very good at seeing that.

@steamtrain
Its just typical reductionist science. They eliminate all variables in order to study just that one thing, as if it exists within a vacuum. Its a very 2-dimensional view of the world, they took the question as literal as humanly possible.

Do video games by themselves cause violence? No, not for a 'perfectly' healthy person, it can even reduce it. But what about someone predisposed to violence? Someone who has trouble distinguishing reality from fiction? Thats a variable nobody bothers to test, and for all we know the affects could be the opposite.

@TheWindWaker Don't believe everything you see on the internet? Since when is the internet used to disseminate inaccurate information? That's just crazy talk.