Violence in Video Games Debate Continues to Rage

ubermiester writes "The Washington Post is reporting on a newly released study by the American Psychological Association, claiming that 'exposure to violence in video games increases aggressive thoughts, aggressive behavior and angry feelings among youth.' This partly contradicts another study released a week before by a University of Illinois Professor claiming that 'game violence does not prompt players to project violent tendencies into real life.'"

Yes, they keep saying this.

[ucblockhead]

And it make sense, because it explains why the rise of videogames correlates with a drop in violence among teens.

Er...wait a minute...

Re:How about a study on the parents?

[bigmouth_strikes]

> kids who commit crimes that are supposedly caused by video games

I guess you were in such a hurry for an early post that you forgot to read the article... It doesn't have anything to say about crimes "supposedly" caused by video games. It deals with how violent video games make players more violent. Regardless of their parents.

Re:How about a study on the parents?

[neo]

Freakonomics [amazon.com] does a pretty interesting job of explaining crime rates and a direct connection to parental investment.

Basically if you wanted the kid and care about them, they commit less crime than if you didn't want them or care about them.

Re:Yes, they keep saying this.

[Shky]

Does the U.S. Department of Justice count? Because it appears that youth crime has been declining since 1993 [usdoj.gov]. But I suppose I'm an amateur without knowledge of statistics...

Original Articles

[drphil]

For those with a brain who like to read the original sources instead of the popular media's hack job of the summaries here are (I think) the two opposing studies.
Dmitri Williams (University of Illinois, Urbana)
"Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Game" Communication Monographs Vol. 72, No. 2, June 2005, pp.217-233, (this is a pdf) which says there's no link [uiuc.edu]

AND in the other Corner

Well, no one paper, actually. The APA "Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media" appearently did a metastudy of several papers on the topic and come up with a resolution (pdf) [apa.org] and press release. [apa.org] At the end of the resolution is a bib of the papers taken into consideration. I certainly don't care enough to plow through all those - but William's paper isn't in the bib. I suspect there was lots of group thought going in that committee -lots of the papers were written by members of the committee.

I suspect that you can't make a blanket statement on video games. Folks with a predisposition for violence might be pushed over the edge to real life violent acts from habitual video play; whereas there are, I'm sure, many more level-headed people who understand this is all fantasy and escapism and can easily dissociate the video playing with real life. At least I hope so. Otherwise you all better run away from me. Fast.

Re:Make Love, not War!

[Ironsides]

Heh, well, maybe if they put more sex into video games, all those kids would instead decide they want to make love, not war :)

It's called a Dating Sim. [wikipedia.org] They are from Japan. See also H Games. [wikipedia.org]

Excellent counter-analysis

[Anonymous Coward]

This opinion piece [boychat.org] applies the term "object oriented parenting" to denounce many of the points in the study. Everything may not be as agreeable, but it was a fun and enticing read.

Re:What can they do?

[westlake]

Okay, but what can they do? With the first admendment in place all they can seemingly do is pressure retailers? I'm sorry, but with the most violent games getting the best sales can this really effect the market long term?

You bet it can.

The Hays Production Code (ca 1930) was adopted by all the major studios and rigidly enforced for twenty years. Production Code [wikipedia.org].

Pre-Code films played on infatuation with the gangster culture of Prohibition and the sexual license of the 'twenties, but tended to spin out of control, like Hollywood's real-life scandals of the era.

The Great Depression made the past decade look not only frivolous but malign and the studios had to respond, and respond quickly, to the change in atmosphere.

Re:More on AA

[Anonymous Coward]

Playing the OPFOR is a bonus level that you can only get to if you sign up for the (real) Army.

Not original research.

[bigbigbison]

I took about five minutes and went to the APA's website and found that this great new study isn't based on original research, but, according to the APA's press release is simply a review of the research [apa.org]. So this "news" isn't anything new at all. And, if you bother to read the subtitle of the press release, it says, "Boys Play Games Longer and May Be More Vulnerable to Increases in Aggressive Behavior." Note the use of the word "may."

If you read through the press release, we find that the lit review is presented by "Jessica Nicoll, B.A., and Kevin M. Kieffer, Ph.D., of Saint Leo University." Those in academia know that it is kind of unusual for a prof to collaborate on a paper with an undergrad. Looking at his webpage [earthlink.net] I didn't see any paper that seem remotely close to violence or media effects stuff. THe press release says they are from St. Leo, so a search of their website finds that on April 21, 2005 Jessica Nicoll gave a paper called "Violence in Video Games: A Review of the Empirical Literature" [saintleo.edu] (page looks like ass in Firefox). That panel was chaired by Dr. Kevin Kieffer. So, unless the paper underwent serious revision between then and when it was given at the APA, this is really Jessica Nicoll's paper.

That's right, this paper that is getting a press release and all sorts of media attention is the work of an undergrad. While it is wrong to judge the quality of the paper without having read it, it seems safe to say that *gasp* just maybe this is being blown out of porportion a little bit...

This seems especially true when WebMD quotes Kieffer as saying [webmd.com]

"The bottom line is we see three things," Kieffer tells WebMD. One is short-term change toward more aggressive behavior. Two, there are gender differences: Boys play more often and they are more likely to be at risk of behavior changes. And three, some more vulnerable kids are drawn to these games -- kids who are already more violent, and those with low self-esteem."

...none of which sounds all that groundbreaking to me and pretty tame.

Furthermore, this post [slashdot.org] links to the APA's "Resolution on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media." If you look [apa.org]at the press release about that resolution [apa.org] you will see that at the bottom is states:

Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media: Elizabeth Carll, PhD, and Dorothy Singer, EdD co-chairs; Craig Anderson, PhD, Brad Bushman, PhD, Karen Dill, PhD and Lilli Friedland, PhD.

As this post points out [slashdot.org], If you look at the resolution's references we see 3 papers authors by Elizabeth Carll, 4 by Dorothy Singer, 6 by Craig Anderson, 5 by Brad Bushman, and 2 by Karen Dill. OF all the people on the committee, Lilli Friedland is the only one that has not listed as a reference for the ill effects of videogames. One more cynical than I might think that these people have an agenda or something... (And this doesn't even mention that they start the resolution stating, "...decades of social science research reveals the strong influence of televised violence on the aggressive behavior of children and youth.." as if were a given fact that too much tv makes you violent.)

Re:All thoses studies, journals, etc, have in comm

[soft_guy]

Most Child "Psychologists" never even meet real children.

This is totally untrue. I am not a child psychologist, but I do have an advanced degree in Psychology and I know many child therapists and researchers in the field and they have all met children before.

Re:More Post Hoc BS

[learn fast]

Studies such as these forget to examine other factors, such as "are violent kids more likely to play violent games?", and "are there violent kids who get their aggressions out through video games?", and "what in the kids upbringing or social situation could contribute to their violent behaviour?", and "do calm and non violent kids get violent or aggressive after playing the games?", and most importantly "what is the responsibility of the parents in each situation?"

RTFA and you won't have to make up straw men like this.

In this case, it's not your fault because the summary doesn't actually link to a description of the study. I found it here [apa.org].

According to researchers Jessica Nicoll, B.A., and Kevin M. Kieffer, Ph.D., of Saint Leo University, youth who played violent video games for a short time experienced an increase in aggressive behavior following the video game. One study showed participants who played a violent game for less than 10 minutes rate themselves with aggressive traits and aggressive actions shortly after playing. In another study of over 600 8th and 9th graders, the children who spent more time playing violent video games were rated by their teachers as more hostile than other children in the study. The children who played more violent video games had more arguments with authority figures and were more likely to be involved in physical altercations with other students. They also performed more poorly on academic tasks.

Furthermore, violent video game players "tend to imitate the moves that they just 'acted out' in the game they played," said Dr. Kieffer. For example, children who played violent karate games duplicated this type of behavior while playing with friends. These findings demonstrate the possible dangers associated with playing this type of video game over and over again.

Your objections might apply to a survey correlational study. This was not the design of this experiment.

If you like, you can criticize the study based on the generizability of the findings. So, you could question whether or not this experimental result would extrapolate into the real world. There, there's a valid objection you could have and it would actually be based on the study in question and not on how you imagined it would be. FYI