U.K. Tabloid Plays the Videogames Cause Violence Card - Again

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
12,070
0
0
U.K. Tabloid Plays the Videogames Cause Violence Card - Again



The Daily Mail uses a small sample experiment to "prove" videogames alters behavior.

We should be above such flame-baiting, but it's difficult to ignore headlines like "Violent videogames DO make people more aggressive" in today's edition of the Daily Mail. The article cites a study from the Indiana University School of Medicine which will be published in full at the meeting of the Radiological Society of North America next week. The study compared MRI scans on 11 men from 18 to 29 years of age playing "violent" games ten hours a day for two weeks and those who didn't. The study reported that there was a difference in the brain activity of the group that played games, and the Daily Mail jumped on those results with inflammatory language and the obligatory photo of a kid playing GTA: San Andreas.

"Violent videogames can alter the brain in just one week and make players more aggressive," read the Daily Mail article. The study, it must be noted, never mentions aggressive behavior. "A study has found that key areas in the brain suffer reduced activity, and leave it physically altered. The findings will fuel the debate over the impact that violent games have on regular players and links to anti-social behavior."

The full research paper hasn't been released to the public, but the abstract currently available on the Radiological Society of North America website (RSNA.org [http://rsna2011.rsna.org/index.cfm]) provides some conclusions. "After one week of violent game play, the videogame group showed less activation in the left inferior frontal lobe during ES task and less activation in anterior cingulate cortex during the CS task, in comparison to the control group and also related to their own baseline scan. Moreover, the videogame group gained more prefrontal activation after the second week without game play," writes lead researcher Yang Wang, MD.

The experiment doesn't seem like it was meant to vilify games, only to test how the brain works when playing videogames. The only thing that bugs me about the language in the abstract is the researchers specifically refer to the games the subjects played as "violent" without stating which game was played or why that title was more violent than others.

To me, the experiment only proves that gamers just use their brains differently. The altered brain activity does not necessarily translate into violent or aggressive behavior, and the jump to hammer home that link by the Daily Mail is what pisses me off. Terms like "anti-social behavior" and "aggressive" were never used by the study abstract and only fans the flames of the anti-gaming crowd. Come on, Daily Mail, I know you are just a tabloid, but you can do better than that.

Also, please update your stock photography. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is 7 years old already.

Source: RSNA.org [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066803/Violent-video-games-DO-make-people-aggressive.html#ixzz1f0p98cEi]

Permalink
 

kayisking

New member
Sep 14, 2010
676
0
0
Alright, let's derail the comment section. Everybody post what you think should be the next stock photo for violent videogames. I would post one myself but I forgot how to embed images.
 

Zagzag

New member
Sep 11, 2009
449
0
0
This is the Mail, normal logic or factual accuracy doesn't necesarrily apply here.
 

SonOfVoorhees

New member
Aug 3, 2011
3,509
0
0
Until a group of gamers go on a rampage because their game is late, then this is bullshit. Look at sports, team loses, the fans go on a rampage and smash up a city. Plus its old news. They quote GTA but Skyrim was violent, as is AC....both involve random violence and killing of innocents. No one has proven games cause violence. Just that games, like sports etc, can cause a rise in hormones or whatever than can make you lash out out of frustration from being stuck on a game and dying. All gamers have had moments where they have almost thrown the joypad at a wall out of frustration. But none, to my knowledge, have smashed up a city because Duke Nukem Forever had its release date pushed back again.
 

vrbtny

Elite Member
Sep 16, 2009
1,959
0
41
The Daily Mail making a totally stupid statement and publishing a bull-shit article?

 

ph0b0s123

New member
Jul 7, 2010
1,689
0
0
Violent crimes rates are at a record low, a trend that started in 92, the same year doom was released.

The daily mail can do as many brain scans as they like, it does not change the fact that there has been no statistical demonstrations of these supposed violent tendencies in the 20 or more years we have been exposed to violent video games. All we have had is a few deranged individuals who's defence team have tried to blame their actions on videogames. The amount of these individuals though has not even been statistically important.
 

teqrevisited

New member
Mar 17, 2010
2,343
0
0
If anything causes violence it is the Daily Mail. Tabloids lie just as much if not more than politicians.
 

Sassafrass

This is a placeholder
Legacy
Aug 24, 2009
51,250
1
3
Country
United Kingdom
Oh, the Daily Mail, you say? Making another outrageous claim? They've never done that before(!)

I'll just leave this here to show how stupid they are. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1064547/Black-men-times-likely-prostate-cancer.html]
And this.
This as well. [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1132814/Salty-soups-increase-cancer-risk-says-expert.html]
And just this list in general of all the things they've claimed over the years that can cause cancer. [http://hellokinsella.posterous.com/the-daily-mail-list-of-things-that-give-you-c]


So, my point? They're the masters of spinning bull-shit.
 

JuliusMagnus

New member
Mar 23, 2008
49
0
0
@kayisking

Angry Birds is pretty violent with explosions and kamikazi actions. And Animal on Animal Cruelty to booth.
 

Wolfram23

New member
Mar 23, 2004
4,095
0
0
10 hours a day for two weeks? Do any mental activity that much and I'm sure there will be changes in brain activity! The brain is just optimizing itself for the gaming... I'd bet doing sudokus that much would have very similar effects. Hell, Tetris would too I'd bet!

The problem with this study is they don't seem to have a proper control group of gamers playing non-violent games. I mean really, it needs 3 groups: non gamer, violent gamer, non-violent gamer. Otherwise the results are meaningless when trying to correlate to "violent games".
 

putowtin

I'd like to purchase an alcohol!
Jul 7, 2010
3,452
0
0
Dear Daily Mail, please get back to giving away Jamie Oliver recipies and stop talking about stuff you know nothing about!
 

Blunderboy

New member
Apr 26, 2011
2,224
0
0
Ah the good old Daily Mail.
I'm sure they actually use this [http://www.qwghlm.co.uk/toys/dailymail/] nowadays.
 

Louzerman102

New member
Mar 12, 2011
191
0
0
I'm sorry I just can't deal with this now. I'm to busy avoiding steam trains, making sure my wife isn't riding bicycles, making sure women can't vote, and not letting my kids watch MTV; you know, all the things that will ruin society as we know it.
Oh wait.... they didn't.
(being snide is fun)
 

ChildofGallifrey

New member
May 26, 2008
1,095
0
0
kayisking said:
Alright, let's derail the comment section. Everybody post what you think should be the next stock photo for violent videogames. I would post one myself but I forgot how to embed images.
Alrighty.


Just look at this senseless depravity! The building is exploding, sending all those adorable critters flying in every direction! Just look at that white one, he looks like he's going to cry! And that one at the forefront is wearing an expression that just screams "I am going to brutally murder everything in my path"!! It's MADNESS!

 

besnick

New member
Nov 20, 2011
6
0
0
Another shallow study from so-called 'scientists'. I mean: Who wouldn't be more aggressive if he had to change his daily rythm in such radical ways and if he had to play this much without any diversion, sports, social contacts(?) etc.
Would be 'slightly' more convincing, if another control group had to play peaceful games for two weeks, 10 hours a day...
 

Comando96

New member
May 26, 2009
637
0
0
Sorry I read the words daily mail and just though.............................. hey my prediction was right >.>

Anyway why the GTA hate?

What about Saints Row you dumb shits? That not only allows you to commit violence but specifically encourages it above and beyond the call of... duty...

Oh wait... its because GTA is the instantly recognizable brand everyone of your readers has heard about. Kinda proving... you know not what your criticizing.