NEWS: Video Games: Not Bad For You

CULTURE: Video Games: Not Bad For You

This is a sad day for self-righteous politicians, religious tight-asses and conservative cultural monitors. A new study calls bullshit on the connection between video game violence and real violence. Christopher Ferguson, a professor in the Department of Behavioral, Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice at Texas A&M International University, looked at 22 years of clinical studies on the effects of video games and found them seriously flawed.

The reasoning is so obvious it’s almost dumb. Gaming is a 30-year-old, multi-billion dollar industry, and has survived for so long and accumulated so much money because video games are so popular that they're ubiquitous. Yeah, a couple of school shooters played video games. They probably watched television and ate at McDonald’s too.

The supposed proof that video games cause violence is sourced in a year 2000 study by Iowa State University researchers Karen Dill and Craig Anderson. It was the first behavioral study of the correlation between video games — Anderson referenced it as a cornerstone in the 2007 study that seems to now be the Bible for anti-video game crusaders.

The study was strikingly weird. Two hundred or so college-age students, who either identified themselves as veteran violent game players or not, were split into two groups,. One played the snooze fest, puzzle game Myst while the other group played the ancient, first person shooter Castle Wolfenstein. Afterwards, members of the two groups competed in a timed contest where the winner could hit the opponent with “noise blasts.”

The Wolfenstein crowd rocked the noise blasts longer and louder, and the researchers concluded that they were therefore more prone to violence, ignoring how, violence aside, the games require vastly different modes of thinking. Myst requires players to think carefully and analytically. A fast, first person shooter game like Wolfenstein requires much quicker, more reactive thinking.

Anyway, Ferguson says, the whole noise blast thing didn’t prove anything about video games leading to violence.

In an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"-worthy twist for the family values crowd, families themselves were found more likely to cause violence than video games.

Despite the study, video games are likely to continue getting blamed for youth violence. This week Douglas Gentile, an Iowa state researcher who’s worked extensively with Craig Anderson, released a study that asserts a correlation between video games and violence.

But more importantly, video games are a deliciously easy target. There’s no NRA for Halo players — actually, a truly valuable study of video gamers would investigate whether or not they vote. But it’s unlikely that a gamer bloc could put numbers that match old people, the demographic most and large scared of technology and young people.

Currently, Washington politicians are riled up about the ESRB rating system. The video game rating system, Democratic and Republican legislators say, is too vague to protect our nation’s innocent little children. Not to be too much of a wise ass, but there’s still a massively unpopular, costly war going on, right?

The uproar revolves around Manhunt 2, a game that features gruesome decapitations, rape, dismemberment, and encourages violent homophobia and fratricide.

Oh, no, wait, sorry. It doesn’t. The first three things in that list are from a Shakespeare play. The last two were from the Bible.

yea...I wish I were God of War

No shit, next they're gonna find out listening to metal doesn't set you up for gruesome horrible murder and the ritual sacrifice of babies any more than playing the GTA series makes you go on a car theft rampage and killing spree through a major city.

So, we're talking about a disagreement between the Iowa State Cyclones and the Texas A&M Aggies? I had a close friend go to Iowa State, so I recuse myself from that sort of comment.


But I would be interested to hear if, historically or presently, there was every any activity which was not violent which was an accurate predictor or cause of violent behavior.

That last sentance made me laugh good and proper... I've been playing Call of Duty 4 so now I'm going to join the army and kill some terrorists, wait, that's what the government wants me to do... bugger.

*cough* *cough* *cough*

I forgot to mention that Hitler killed about 6 million Jews and never played computer games, neither did a few others come to think of, I doubt Genghis Khan, Lenin, Mao Zedong or Pol Pot came home from school or work and played a few hours of violent games.

Then how can I explain the rampage I went on after playing Pac-man?

Seriously, let's put an end to all these ignorant assertions. I'm so skeptical of studies; so many of them have critical flaws that make their findings questionable, but the findings are still released. Though, we can't ignore the ignorance of people, the world would be a better place if people listened a little more and actually did their research.

they should do a study about the influence of high school and how going to high school drives kids to violence

You can find em all in the Bible, actually. Let's outlaw Christianity.

Like this even matters. Most parents are rather ignorant to it. Or at least they were when I was younger. The ESRB, I do believe, has the same amount of ratings as the MPAA does anyway, as well as descriptions of the type of gameplay that can be expected.

People do this to everything. It's downright hillarious that people once thought comic books were destroying our youth when you go back and look at the majority of those books that were effected.

Ownage.

I'm glad this news has been discovered. Sadly, it'll go completely ignored by the anti-gaming crowd, just like most facts.

That was a great article about Titus Andronicus that you linked. The comparison to Pulp Fiction was gratifying. Nice!

I hate to play the role of grammar-nazi, therefore,
I won't point out the flaws in the article... but many of the stories over the past few weeks have been almost unreadable. This article is just yet another example of why you should proof read before you post. IMO this sort of muddy text ruins perfectly good stories

P.S. aside from my complaints, it was a fascinating article.

Right. I don't mean to be mean or anything, mate, but the fact that you have "Tuarus" listed as your sign and the word "without" split in two parts on your profile pretty much disqualifies you to criticize anybody's grammar.

Don't worry, I'm sure Jack Thompson has his fingers stuck in his ears right now.

They've got it all wrong damnit! It was Myst that drove them fucking insane and Wolfenstein that was the only outlet capable of neutralising their violent urges.

Seriously, I have an I.Q of 148 (at last testing) with critical thinking and spatial reasoning as my strongest faculties and I still only got about half way through Myst before I had to buy the official walkthrough (since one wasn't available online at the time because NO ONE ELSE HAD FINISHED IT EITHER).

Does anyone know anyone that finished that game without a walkthrough? If so, I reckon you could win an election campaign based solely on that merit because clearly, anyone who did finish it by themselves, is a lot smarter than the monkeys we have leading our countries these days.

HAPPY VOTING DAY AUSTRALIA!

He the moron who tried to ban the GTA series? Or is he another idiot with too much time on his hands?

You were most likely delirious from the fever.

The only bad thing about this is that I have to agree with something that came out of Texas A&M even as I'm trying to ignore the TV showing their football team beat the shit out of my Texas Longhorns.

Did you run around eating many baseballs and upon eating some softballs attack some ghosts? If so, then I might buy the video game-violence connection. And in that case, it might not be a bad thing. Ghosts are such assholes.

Do you hear that? It's someone at the ESRB cutting their own throats as they dive out a window after realizing that their little agenda has one less argument with any credibility (no matter how illogically interpreted in the first place).

I have to agree with Gillionaire though, sadly, this will be completely ignored by those anti-gaming lobbyists. However, hope is on the horizon, over the last few years the gaming industry needs influence on old Capitol Hill and has a few lobbying groups of theri own like the American Gaming Association. With all the money wrapped into this maybe in another 10 years games won't be the target of this witch hunt for the perfect excuse for kids growing up fucked up instead of, "Your child killed all those people and ate their flesh because you were a fucked up parent."

i didn't finish it, but that's because i got bored.