A researcher at Texas A&M International University has concluded that there is "no significant relationship" between school shootings and playing violent video games.
Writing for the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, Prof. Christopher Ferguson criticizes the methodology used in earlier research linking games to violence and aggression. He also points out that no evidence of violent game play was found in recent high-profile incidents such as the Virginia Tech massacre, the Utah Trolley Stop mall shooting and the February, 2008 shooting on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
Ferguson examines the notion of "moral panic" as it relates to the supposed relationship between violent video games and school shootings:
QUOTE Moral panics may emerge from ‘culture wars’ occurring in a society... politicians, news media and social scientists, arguably [have] motives for promoting hysterical beliefs about media violence, and video games specifically. Actual causes of violent crime, such as family environment, genetics, poverty, and inequality, are oftentimes difficult, controversial, and intractable problems. By contrast, video games present something of a ‘straw man’ by which politicians can create an appearance of taking action against crime...
As for the news media, it has long been recognised that negative news... ‘sell’ better than do positive news... As for social scientists, it has been observed that a small group of researchers have been most vocal in promoting the anti-game message... oftentimes ignoring research from other researchers, or failing to disclose problems with their own research...
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Writing for the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, Prof. Christopher Ferguson criticizes the methodology used in earlier research linking games to violence and aggression. He also points out that no evidence of violent game play was found in recent high-profile incidents such as the Virginia Tech massacre, the Utah Trolley Stop mall shooting and the February, 2008 shooting on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
Ferguson examines the notion of "moral panic" as it relates to the supposed relationship between violent video games and school shootings:
QUOTE Moral panics may emerge from ‘culture wars’ occurring in a society... politicians, news media and social scientists, arguably [have] motives for promoting hysterical beliefs about media violence, and video games specifically. Actual causes of violent crime, such as family environment, genetics, poverty, and inequality, are oftentimes difficult, controversial, and intractable problems. By contrast, video games present something of a ‘straw man’ by which politicians can create an appearance of taking action against crime...
As for the news media, it has long been recognised that negative news... ‘sell’ better than do positive news... As for social scientists, it has been observed that a small group of researchers have been most vocal in promoting the anti-game message... oftentimes ignoring research from other researchers, or failing to disclose problems with their own research...
more here
finally!
