Says new study

Jan 26, 2009 10:09 GMT  ·  By

We all know how it goes. Some kid, with obvious issues, marches into the nearest education institution and shoots up the place and the media quickly discovers that he played the “murder simulator” Grand Theft Auto or that he was led to do it by excessive play time with Condemned 2. The social medium, the circle of friends or his upbringing are always ignored but videogames (like heavy metal in the old days) are always a reliable cause to mention.

Now, a researcher working for the A&M International University has concluded in a study that there is “no significant relationship” between playing violent videogames and high school shootings.

A study published in the Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling by Prof. Christopher Ferguson is mainly a tough rebuttal of the various earlier studies that have linked videogames to increased aggression and a more violent attitude. The study emphasizes that there is no clear evidence that videogames had anything to do with incidents at the Virginia Tech massacre, the Utah Trolley Stop mall shooting and the February, 2008 shooting on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

Christopher says that “Actual causes of violent crime, such as family environment, genetics, poverty, and inequality, are oftentimes difficult, controversial, and intractable problems. By contrast, video games present something of a ‘straw man’ by which politicians can create an appearance of taking action against crime.” So, the basic point is that it's way easier to blame videogames than to address the real causes of violence in schools and universities.

The research also points out that the media sells better when it blames videogames because there is a sensationalist angle easy to exploit. He also says that ignorance is a problem with the way media reports work, because “the majority of individuals critical of video games are above the age of 35 (many are elderly) and oftentimes admit to not having directly experienced the games. Some commentators make claims betraying their unfamiliarity, such as that games like Grant Theft Auto ‘award points’ for antisocial behaviour... despite that few games award points for anything anymore, instead focusing on stories.”

As soon as people get over the whole “videogames are training a generation of killers” and investigate their real influence on people, we might also get to the level of wisdom needed to really address issues related to teenage violence.