Violence in Games, Once Again, Not That Compelling 191
One of the great arguments of the digital age has been over the effects of video games on aggression — especially if you have ever heard the name Jack Thompson. A recent study suggest the counterpoint once again, that violent video games really don't have that much impact. "The authors performed six studies in total, but they were in broad agreement, so we'll only discuss the more compelling ones here. For the experimental portion, these involved playing an essentially identical game with different degrees of violent content. One group of participants was randomly assigned to play the game House of the Dead 3 on the different extremes of its gore settings, while a second was split between those who played the normal version of Half-Life 2, and a those who played a modified version that turned the adventure into an elaborate game of tag. In both cases, the primary influences on enjoyment were the sense of competence and satisfaction, along with the immersive nature of the game. Generally, females rated immersion as more important, while males went for competence (and consistently rated their own expertise very highly). Violence didn't register when it came to enjoyment, even for those with pre-existing violent tendencies."
Re:Not enough data (Score:2, Informative)
Just to emphasize, in the US from 1995 to 2007:
- the US Population increased 14% (263 Million to 301 Million)
- video game sales increased 560% (3.2 Billion to 17.9 Billion)
Yet during this same time, violent crimes committed by those under the age of 18 decreased by 50% (2169 vs 1063)
I realize this does not control for any other factors that could also account for a decrease in violence. Also, correlation... causation... yada yada.
300 Million people, 72 Million under 18 (24% *1), lets say only 24 Million of them are of age to consider (12-18) of which 97% (*2) play video games, leaving us with 23 Million teens. That means that 0.000046% of video game playing teens commit a violent crime.
That is a lower incidence rate than Bi-polar disorder and Schizophrenia. Pure conjecture here, but, perhaps there is something wrong with these teens before they even start playing video games?
*1:http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
*2:http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2008/09/new_research_nearly_all_kids_p.html