Research Finds Negative Effects in Violent Videogames

[McFazzer]

I am a firm believer that if violent people ARE playing these games then at least they are being violent to digital people and not their neighbor or someone they happen to pass on the street.

 

[CommanderL]

Is it really because the specific games in the study were violent games, or because they were just games that use The Computer is a Cheating Bastard [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheComputerIsACheatingBastard] mechanics?

Those games are pretty much guaranteed to create an increase in my homicidal tendencies, regardless of the actual genre of game.

you asshole You linked to tv tropes have you no soul Its like rick rolling but your trapped all day
-just teasing-


The study looks dodgy the sample size seems to small

 

[Erttheking]

Seems like pretty valid research. I guess the big issue though has never been "do games make people aggressive" but "do video games make people violent", two very different things, the latter of which is a lot harder to test because of human ethic laws and such silliness (kidding, of course).

But a lot of this research does seem to be pointing to the possibility that someone with pre-existing violent behaviors could, theoretically, become more prone to releasing that violence on people, with an increase in aggression caused by violent video games. Should be interesting to see where this research leads in a few years, and if we'll ever actually see a noticeable decline in violent games in the future.

Yeah in a nutshell. Yeah games can make us aggressive, but they don't make us KILL people.

 

[Longstreet]

There are more holes in this so-called research than there were in the first ME3 ending.

 

[Elate]

Yeah sorry this isn't a serious piece of research, I read 20 minutes and just stopped bothering. 20 minutes is not going to effect shit, and having them write a little story after playing a blood pumping game is pretty much dumb logic anyway, they're going to be more pent up because, y'know, stimuli. Come on science, you used to be cool.

 

[Olrod]

Is it really because the specific games in the study were violent games, or because they were just games that use The Computer is a Cheating Bastard [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheComputerIsACheatingBastard] mechanics?

Those games are pretty much guaranteed to create an increase in my homicidal tendencies, regardless of the actual genre of game.

you asshole You linked to tv tropes have you no soul Its like rick rolling but your trapped all day
-just teasing-


The study looks dodgy the sample size seems to small

I know, I fell into my own trap. I just spent two hours on there after making that comment...

 

[Lovesfool]

Not this again...

Seriously? We are still discussing this?

BTW, I get a lot more angry, stressed and frustrated when playing DiRT 2, compared to MW4. The game is HARD and I hate it every time I crash (or when the stupid AI crashes into me...), whereas MW4 is linear, straight forward and much more predictable (hence less stressful).

Now forgive me, but I need to stop typing and go clean my butcher knife from all the human blood it has. You see, I've played violent video games for over two decades now (Wolfenstein 3D, the original one, included), so I tend to be violent with other people...

 

[Daveman]

It does seem obvious that somebody who has been playing violent games, or exposing themselves to any sort of violent media, is more likely to think about violent things. Equally if you read fifty shades of grey maybe you'd pick some kinky things to happen in the story. The blast of noise stuff sounds pretty interesting though. I wonder if frustration with games mechanics might be more to do with it. I mean comparing COD4 to a racing game like Dirt, 3 shots and your dead is pretty frustrating whereas in a racing game you always have a chance to catch up.

I'm definitely thinking about this with a defensive mindset but there must be some better way to measure this sort of thing.

 

[rob_simple]

Well, that certainly explains all the dead hookers I keep finding in my house.

 

[Daveman]

Is it really because the specific games in the study were violent games, or because they were just games that use The Computer is a Cheating Bastard [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheComputerIsACheatingBastard] mechanics?

Those games are pretty much guaranteed to create an increase in my homicidal tendencies, regardless of the actual genre of game.

you asshole You linked to tv tropes have you no soul Its like rick rolling but your trapped all day
-just teasing-


The study looks dodgy the sample size seems to small

As somebody doing a study this year involving participants, YOU try finding a bigger sample size. It is bloody hard to recruit people. It's not like other subjects where you can just do more. You have to get your study past the university ethics board, you need to find recruits, you need to make sure it's clear that it is totally fine for them to drop out of the study at any time if they want... It's a major hassle.

 

[TheCinnamonBun]

Hmm i have a couple of hundred hours on Skyrim and New Vegas, guess that means im gonna go on a shooting rampage now because i cant hold down the aggressive psychopathic monster that has built its self into existance because i play violent video games...

 

[m19]

Seems like common sense. If you watch a dark and depressing movie your state of mind is going to be dark and depressive afterwards. If you watch a warm and fuzzy movie you will feel warm and fuzzy. If violent video games is all you have to stimulate your mind and affect your thoughts than obviously that's not healthy.

Thing is most normal people know they've had enough when they've had enough. You can feel it when your craving for certain emotions has been satisfied.

 

[Slash2x]

Oh look another study that wanted to prove a point so they did research to prove that only. Did they compare the results of playing games against reading a violent book for the same time every day, or watching a violent movie, or having a angry conversation, or going through traffic with idiots all around you? NOPE! Why those results might show the same thing... That people who have ANY interaction that creates adrenaline and is not all warm and fuzzy will make you interact with your world different. ANYTHING that has any effect on you, elevated blood pressure or heart rate, will at least for a period of time change how you interact with the world around you.

Want to stop people from being violent? Put everyone in sensory deprivation tanks and lock all of us in. Or go waste time on something else and leave the damn gamers alone.

All this study wants to do is say that "oh well you are a bad person? Video games did that to you it is not your fault... You are not to blame..." Guess what dude you do something dumb? It is your fault. Get over it.

 

[UltraXan]

I've been playing violent games since I was 4, starting with Unreal Tournament. Now it's things like... *looks at steam game list* TF2, L4D(2), Saints row the third, UT3, Dawn of War, Vindictus, Skyrim... Am I aggressive? No, quite the opposite, actually. If someone acts aggressively towards me, I'm not gonna "get all up in his face." I'm gonna talk to him, like an intelligent person. Granted, I have a care-bear of a mother, so maybe that could've offset things, but regardless. The brain tends to hold on to things it just experienced for a bit. So if you ask someone who just played something "violent" to come up with a scenario to a story, then it wouldn't surprise me at all if what they come up with is also violent.

I'll be honest, I don't have much of an imagination! When I think up imaginary scenarios, it's mostly just constructed from bits of games I've played in the past. Maybe not the scenarios themselves, but things like locations and characters will look VERY similar to certain games, ijs. You want me to come up with something from scratch? Give me a blank page and a metric fuckton of time.

 

[chiefohara]

I've played violent video games for 20 years.

Haven't killed anyone yet.

 

[Chadling]

Well, let's take a look at that supposedly peer-reviewed scientific journal that they published their results in: the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology....

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-experimental-social-psychology/

Wow. Look at that Impact Factor: 2.3 for this year.

Terrible, half-assed research gets published in a terrible, half-assed journal. That's how things are and how they should be in science.... but sadly, I just know it's going to be added to be personal arsenal of any prejudiced trial lawyer looking to become infamous a videogame-related case.

 

[crazy_coug99]

I did a paper on this and I keep going back to a quote that I frequently use, "IF VIDEO GAMES MADE PEOPLE VIOLENT, THEN JAPAN WOULD BE IN CHAOS." Besides this isn't even long term. Get me the research team that spend years on this and have them give their results.

 

[faefrost]

This one doesn't even seem to pass the smell test. I mean honestly most soft science "behavioral science" studies don't. All they do is regurgitate the "scientists" intended outcomes. But this one seems even a tad more blatant than most.

 

[Rule Britannia]

They were probably aggressive because they were made to play bad games

 

[zelatoth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. "Video Games can cause aggression, aggression can mean violence."

The same way football players are more likely to use steroids than a lazy teenager, a person who drives everyday is more likely to get in a car accident, and a surfer is more likely to be eaten by a shark. Theres bad in everything, but i dont see them banning bulk tubs of "Scooperman" because to much "Frozen Dairy Desert" can lead to heart failure.

In the end, studies like this get us nowhere, and never will. Just because people are more angry after a few thousand rounds of CoD, doesnt mean they will go out and 360 noscope the neighbors cat.

That's pretty much how i feel about this, well said.