Games & Violence
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The Video Game Voters Network has compiled research about games and youth violence, as well as studies on the benefits of video games. For years, politicians have sought to blame video games for the violent behavior of children and young adults; however, over the past fifteen years, as video games have increased in popularity, youth violence has decreased drastically. If you would like to stay informed of actions and research about video games please join the Network.
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH FINDINGS
"Action-Video-Game Experience Alters the Spatial Resolution of Vision," Green, C.S. and Bavelier, D., Psychological Science, February, 2007. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester.
Key Finding: Action video games may sharpen vision by helping players to ignore visual distractions. Playing fast-paced, action-filled video games significantly sharpens vision, enabling gamers to see tiny, tightly packed letters more clearly.
Rosser, J., et al. "The Impact of Video Games on Training Surgeons in the 21st Century," Archives of Surgery, February, 2007, 181-186.
Key Finding: Video games may be a practical teaching tool to help surgeons.
"Video games have become extensively integrated into popular culture. Anecdotal observations of young surgeons suggest that video game play contributes to performance excellence in laparoscopic surgery. Training benefits for surgeons who play video games should be quantifiable."
Lanningham-Foster, L. et al. "Energy Expenditure of Sedentary Screen Time Compared With Active Screen Time For Children," Pediatrics 2006; 118;1831-1835.
Key Finding: Activity-promoting video games have the potential to increase energy expenditure in children to a degree similar to that of traditional playtime. When there is this active screen time, it could help with obesity prevention and treatment.
Sternheimer, K. "Do Video Games Kill?" Contexts, Vol. 6, Issue 1, pp. 13-17, Winter, 2007.
Key Finding: Politicians and other moral crusaders frequently identify individuals or groups they define as evil and immoral so society can channel blame and fear. Video games, those who play them, and those who create them have become targets because they seem to pose a threat to children. But, in a time when video games became a major part of many young people's lives and were enjoyed in record numbers, homicide arrest rates fell by 77 percent among juveniles, school shootings remained extremely rare, and students had less than a 7 in 10 million chance of being killed at school. So why are politicians blaming video games?
Ferguson, C. J. "Evidence for Publication Bias in Video Game Violence Effects Literature: A Meta-analytic Review," Aggression and Violent Behavior, February, 2007. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2007.01.001
Key Finding: Researchers cannot let themselves be side-tracked by prior hypotheses that may distract the scientific community and the general public from the real biological, social and family influences on violent behavior. Results of current studies raise the concern that video game researchers are more concerned with "proving" the presence of effects, rather than testing theory in a methodologically precise manner.
Calvert, C. and Richards, R. "Precedent Be Damned -- It's All About Good Politics and Sensational Soundbites: The Video Game Censorship Saga of 2005." Texas Review of Entertainment and Sports Law, September, 2006.
Key Finding: When states and governmental entities impose and mandate their own ratings on video games and determine what is appropriate entertainment for minors, they have plunged deeply and headlong into the quicksand of culture wars and interfered with decisions affecting the First Amendment freedom of speech. We should trust parents to make their own decisions about what games their children should or shouldn't be allowed to play.
Williams, D. & Skoric, M. "Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Games." 2005.
Key Finding: Williams and Skoric set out to determine the effects, if any, of engaging in a violent massive multiplayer online role-playing game. They found that there was no effect on levels of aggressiveness or in belief and behaviors of the gamers.
Olson, C. "Media Violence Research and Youth Violence Data: Why Do TheyConflict?" Academic Psychiatry, 28:2. 2004.
Key Finding: Cheryl K. Olson, professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School's Center for Mental Health and Media, examines statements about the relation between violent video games and real-life violence in a 2004 article in the journal Academic Psychiatry. First, Dr. Olson notes that "...there is no evidence that targeted violence has increased in America's schools. While such attacks have occurred in the past, they were and are extremely rare events." She goes on to write that, "There's no indication that violence rose in lockstep with the spread of violent games."
Bensley, L. & Van Eeenwyk, J. "Video Games and Real-Life Aggression: Review of the Literature." Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Health. 2002.
Key Finding: In a 2002 presentation that updated their earlier comprehensive review of the literature on games and violence, Dr. Van Eeenwyk from the Washington State Department of Health presented information indicating that "after controlling for psychosocial factors, association between aggression and playing video games was not statistically significant." This review was based on available objective research and was conducted by the State of Washington at the request of the state legislature.
Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., et al. "Playing With Fire: How Do Computer Games Influence the Player?" Commissioned by the Danish Government and published by the Unesco Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media. 2004.
Key Finding: In their review of the existing body of research commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Culture, the authors determined that the results of research into the effects of violent games have "often pointed in different directions." The authors state: "...the studies that purport to show (a connection from violent games to violent behavior) have been exposed to serious and continuing criticism."
Baldaro, B., et al. "Aggressive and Non-Violent Videogames: Short-Term Psychological and Cardiovascular Effects on Habitual Players." Stress and Health, Vol. 20, pp. 203-208. 2004.
Key Finding: Researchers set out to evaluate the short-term effects of playing violent and non-violent videogames among young adults. The results of the study determined that there were no increases in the participants' hostility measurements.
Vastag, B. "Does Video Game Violence Sow Aggression?" Journal of the American Medical Association. 2004.
Key Finding: In a summary of research, researcher, Brian Vastag, details the results of major studies and their findings. His conclusion is that:
- Consensus is lacking on whether video games with violent content fuel aggressive behavior in children and adolescents...
- If video games do increase violent tendencies outside the laboratory, the explosion of gaming over the past decade from $3.2 billion in sales in 1995 to $7 billion in 2003, according to industry figures would suggest a parallel trend in youth violence. Instead, youth violence has been decreasing.
Tremblay, R. "Physical Aggression During Early Childhood: Trajectories and Predictors." Pediatrics. 2004.
Key Finding: Dr. Richard Tremblay, professor of Pediatrics, Psychiatry and Psychology, Canada Research Chair in Child Development, and Director of the Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and widely considered one of the world's leaders in aggression studies, has conducted research on thousands of subjects to determine that:
- Most children have initiated the use of physical aggression during infancy, and most will learn to use alternatives in the following years before they enter primary school. Humans seem to learn to regulate the use of physical aggression during the preschool years. Those who do not appear to be at highest risk of serious violent behavior during adolescence and adulthood.
- Results from the present study indicate that children at highest risk of not learning to regulate physical aggression in early childhood have mothers with a history of antisocial behavior during their school years, mothers who start childbearing early and who smoke during pregnancy; parents who have low income, and have serious problems living together.
Sternheimer, K. "It's Not the Media: The Truth About Pop Culture's Influence on Children." 2003.
Key Finding: In her book, Dr. Sternheimer researches why the media is a constant target of attack and focal point of blame for society's ills. She looks deeper into our societal dilemmas to see what other common factors could be affecting children. Blaming media for changes in childhood and social problems has shifted our public conversation away from addressing the real problems that impact children's lives.
Office of the Surgeon General. "Youth Violence: A Report of the Surgeon General." U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2001.
Key Finding: After examining the science on violence in video games, the Surgeon General concluded:
The overall effect size for both randomized and correlational studies was small for physical aggression and moderate for aggressive thinking... The impact of video games on violent behavior remains to be determined. (p.92)
