Violent Video Games Might Not Make Violent Kids

[Demon_Skeith]

A new study from Ryerson University in Toronto says that previous studies on video game violence and kids have been flawed, and that in the long run there is little difference in gamers and non-gamers.

"People who play video games didn't differ in memory, and physical arousal wasn't different between gamers and non-gamers. And there was no difference in how each group felt after seeing negative or violent pictures," said the author of the study, Holly Bowen.

We've all heard what the previous studies said, that games could do everything from make you generally irritable and mean to turn you into a rapist. But Bowen says that "Much of the research on video games and violence, however, has tested gamers soon after they played a game, and might not reflect long-term effects." We all get worked up when blowing away zombies, or terrorists, or escaping the cops in our favorite game, but we all calm down after a while.

The study tested emotional memory as an indicator of video games' long term effects on the 122 subjects' brains. "Emotional memory is a really important part of your cognitive functioning. If you don't remember negative or harmful situations, you can't learn from them and avoid them in the future." Which is to say that being desensitized to violent images can keep you from doing the normal human thing and avoid them in real life.

"The premise here is that we think people who are exposed to violent video games might be desensitized to violence, and if they are, they should not remember disturbing, violent pictures as much," explained Tracy Dennis, an associate professor of psychology at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Yet, the study found no differences in recall between gamers and non-gamers, and, both groups reported similar levels of physical reaction from the images.

Do you feel gaming has any long-term effects on people?

source

I spent a whole year playing james bond and perfect dark back on the N64, I am not violent in anyway.

 

[GracefulAssassin]

I play Call of Duty, and I just want to punch douchebags sometimes.

 

[Nexus]

I don't think games make people violent. I think the people that have the problems are already violent.
games just influence and bring it to the surface. Especially in kids.

 

[GracefulAssassin]

People who are influenced by games, or virtual things in general, are usually feeble minded.

 

[gami]

violent games don't make children/adults violent. unless the games are super laggy and have bad controls. i guess we all gamers have experienced that at some point of our life. heh.

 

[comoregion]

I highly doubt that violent video games would even have an effect on a strong willed child. Strong willed being most children.

 

[Zawazuki]

The video game isn't what makes the kid violent. It's obviously the kids guardian.

 

[AzH]

Games provide an outlet for aggression, and prevent that aggression manifesting itself as physical violence. That can't be a bad thing, can it?

 

[gami]

Games provide an outlet for aggression, and prevent that aggression manifesting itself as physical violence. That can't be a bad thing, can it?

Yeah, that's very true.. It's better to play a violent game than go punching people outside, which has real consequences.

 

[gone777]

Despite all these arguments and studies being carried out there is one immutable fact. No matter what is concluded, there will be exceptions to the rule. In my opinion children should not be allowed to play violent video games as they can be very easily influenced by what is presented to them at a young age and if they get desensitized to all these adult themes such as profanity, bloodshed and killing then it will have a negative impact in the long and short term on the child. I use myself as a prime example. I was never allowed games that were more than 2 age ratings above me i.e. I wasn't allowed 12+ games until I was 7, I wasn't allowed 15+ games until I was 12 and I wasn't allowed 18+ games until I turned 17 because I could buy them myself online by that point. Conversly one of my friends at that time had been playing 18 games since he was about 8 to his detriment. He is currently unemployed, failed most of his exams at school, very violent tempered and has no friends because he spent all his time diving into these violent games at such a young age.

Now It can be argued he is a general addict but at the same time as I progessed in high school and watched kids playing Call of Duty at younger and younger ages I noticed a trend in the increase of child delinquency, violence and lack of respect for elders which we had never shown at that age. Video games are not the sole cause of this but it cannot be denied that they have some impact to those at a young age.

However all these studies should still be rendered moot as parents should have the common sense to not let their kids play these games. All shops ID people who look under age, or should anyway. Parents should take some course of action to prevent their kids playing games they are clearly to young to comprehend and appreciate as opposed to buy them Call of Duty as a substitute for spending time with them. My parents did and look at me now. I got straight A's in my exams, have a blooming social life and am preparing to take a University degree in Computer Games Technology and I know for a fact that when I have kids, I am not going to give in to the typical wails of "but all my friends have it" or "It won't affect me" because those excuses are bullshit. All the modern consoles have a parental control option so you can set what age rating is allowed to be played and the instructions on how to set it are very clear so any parent going into buy a console or game for their kids should be aware of these features. To be honest though, just saying "NO" is not that hard.

Anyway that's all I really have on the subject for the moment although I can still join in if someone raises a valid point