Dismantling The Research Being Used Against Video Games

from the it's-got-problems dept

Fri, Sep 15th 2006 5:37am — Mike Masnick

Two of the pet peeves we have here are all of the studies that claim to show a link between violent video games and real violence, and the obsession (or, perhaps we should say "addiction") researchers seem to have with calling just about any new technology that people use frequently an addiction. Neither one tends to hold up under scrutiny -- though, the press rarely digs into any of the claims and usually reports them as fact. Of course, it shouldn't be a surprise that the "blame the video game" crowd is now adding the "addiction" element to their case against video games -- which of course could make for typical vapid press coverage. NewScientist apparently had just such an article lately -- with scary graphics and plenty of weak or unsubstantiated claims.

So, kudos to Business Week for ripping apart the NewScientist piece while digging deeper into the research concerning the impact on real world violence as well as the addiction issue. In both cases, the research again comes up lacking. Most of the research concerning video game violence impacting real world violence comes from one source (or is based on his original work). The article notes that the interpretation of the data is often clearly biased, as they leave out perfectly reasonable explanations for the data that have nothing to do with making people more prone to violence. There's a good example of a study that claimed violent video games "desensitizes" people to real violence based on how video game players' brains didn't react as much to violent images -- but a similar study of baseball players showed how good baseball players' brains reacted similarly to seeing a pitch being thrown at them. No one says the batter is "desensitized" to the pitch, but everyone simply recognizes that they need less cognitive power to understand the situation and know how to react. Yet, the video game study makes no similar suggestion. The addiction research has similar issues, as we've seen repeatedly with almost every recent claim of "tech addiction." Coming just as we have another batch of stories trying to link a crime with the video games the deranged killer played, it's nice to finally see the media digging into the research. Of course, we're still wondering why almost no one in the media reports on the fact that, as violent video games have shot up in popularity among kids, incidents of youth violence have continually decreased. If these games are such an influence to violence, wouldn't you expect the opposite to happen?

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40 Comments

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ScytheNoire, 15 Sep 2006 @ 5:47am

BUT...
As a 30 year-old male who has been gaming since the days of black and green monitors, why do I always feel the sudden urge to become violent whenever I hear people who have never even touched a video game talk about them as though they actually have a clue what games and gaming is all about, and declare them to be evil and the root of all of societies problems these days?

I mean, I seriously want to become violent against these people. Now I've never acted out on these, and haven't actually gotten into a physical fight with any one since grade nine, but I still feel the urge to become violent when these people anger me with their ill informed speeches.

Of course I usually resort to simply hopping into Grand Theft Auto (whichever is the latest one) and running over people, but I still feel these violent tendancies.

I guess the world was a much less violent place in the days before video games. I would guess that people who don't play video games just never get angry and have never became violent.

Why, oh why, did we ever create video games? This is the whole reason wars have just started happening since the creation of video games, because before this time, no human had ever violently harmed another human.

F'in' nitwits... :)
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That about sums it up.., 15 Sep 2006 @ 6:23am

Re: BUT...
Man, i wanted to put something exactly like this. You about summed it up for me. congrads!
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Clifford Edward VanMeter, 15 Sep 2006 @ 6:33am

Games
This isn't a new phenomenon. Back in the 80s I was working in the paper and dice game field as an illustrator, game designer and later as a publisher. We saw these same kinds of reports about everything from D&D to BattleTech. Remember that Tom Hanks classic Mazes & Monsters?

I grow increasingly convinced that the whole idea of addiction is simply bullshit. Its about people not being willing to tack responsibility for their actions. "Its not my fault, I'm addicted."
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Nick G., 15 Sep 2006 @ 6:52am

Re: Games
Plus, Cliff, it gives addiction clinic and psychologists something more to charge for. Don't ever forget their ulterior motives.
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Stu, 15 Sep 2006 @ 6:52am

my 2 cents on why
Those who put out bogus issues do it for the publicity. Whether what they say is true doesn't matter. They know that, among their constituents, their stature will be enhanced.

There are votes and/or contributions, or subscriptions (in this case) involved. Look at the publicity that this publication has received, at very low cost.

Those that do this sort of thing know that the laziness of the mainstream media and the dumbing down of the population gets them a free ride, more often than not.

Politicians thrive on that tactic.

It's only notable that the WSJ took them on because it's so rare that anyone does.

Two quotes:

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
An idea known as 'Hanlon's Razor' by Robert J. Hanlon

�Never attribute to stupidity that which is malice.�
An idea known as Howard's Scissors from my brother Howie

Both are indispensable insights.
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Matt Bennett, 15 Sep 2006 @ 7:00am

Dud, I am seriously addicted to video games. It's the primary reason I don't sleep enough.
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drkkgt, 15 Sep 2006 @ 7:02am

vid addiction
Come on, the only time video gamers get violent is when you take away their addicition. Don't mess with their games and everything will be fine.
Please excuse me now, I need to go legobotomize Darth Vader.
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dorpus, 15 Sep 2006 @ 7:26am

Master Race 2
On the other hand, we do not see the video game industry making games like "Master Race 2", where the object is to firebomb Mexican families and watch the children burn alive in anatomically correct detail. There is an invisible line of what kind of games the video game industry does make, to avoid having mass murderers frequently claiming to be inspired by particular games.
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Sanguine Dream, 15 Sep 2006 @ 7:38am

A new scapegoat...
thats all video games are now. Mind you rap, rock, and religion are still commonly used scapegoats for violence. But hardly anyone will go after all the reasons, just the ones that have the most buzzwords (at the time) and will get the most attention. Weren't the Columbine shooters picked on and harrassed by bullies and no one would help them with they tried to seek help?
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2006 @ 7:41am

http://www.wowdetox.com/ says it all.
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Charlie, 15 Sep 2006 @ 8:06am

Video game violence and addiction
I have a LOT to say on this subject..
However my guild is waiting for me to log in so we can kill things and take their stuff.
Violence and addiction? Nonsence!
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sjamiso, 15 Sep 2006 @ 8:44am

Turn about is fair play
We can also turn this about on the news media for showing us graphic images of wars, murders, crime scenes, police chases, shootings, bounty hunters, etc....
The news media is just as culpable as video games based on the addiction and desensitizing effects and they have a much BIGGER audience.
Why isn’t there legislation trying to limit what the news media is showing us……oh I almost forgot that’s called censorship!
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rijit (profile), 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:06am

Good.
It is about time someone in mainstream media researches something. Though a magazine article is not quite mainstream enough, need a major report on CNN. But it is a good start.
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enloco, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:09am

Re: A new scapegoat...
Religion is not, and never was, a scapegoat and it shouldn't be lumped in with the other things you listed. Religion has been the basis for wars, not an excuse for people to want to be violent. When there is a war between Playstation and XBOX camps, then we are comparing apples with apples.
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Ryan, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:14am

correlation is not causation
these stories always leave out the fact that just because 2 things are related one doesn't cause the other.

How do they know that it's not the other way around? Children already capable of commiting a violent crime like to buy violent video games.

That seems way more likely to me than a violent video game causing a child to commit a violent crime.
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Rational Beaver, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:27am

Tech addiction is clearly rampant in our society. Take cars for example. I'm totally addicted to my car. I mean, I use it at least twice a day, sometimes many more times than that. In fact, I have been known to put off eating, sleeping and peeing in order to use my car for excessively extended periods of time. I've even heard of some people living in their vehicles (often near a river). Oh the humanity.
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Stu, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:30am

Yo enloco, help me understand.
"Religion is not, and never was, a scapegoat and it shouldn't be lumped in with the other things you listed. Religion has been the basis for wars, not an excuse for people to want to be violent."
--------------------------------------

Religious war is not violent and is acceptable?

Bombing innocent women and children in restaurants, on trains, at weddings, at funerals, kidnapping, hostage taking, throat slitting on video tapes, bombing mosques, synagogues and churches are acceptable non-violent activities - when done in the name of religion?

I have no idea what religion you follow - nor do I want to know; but you have a very strange definition of violence.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2006 @ 9:59am

What it comes down to is if you were instilled with any kind of basic morals as a young child. I have been exposed to these voilent video games for years. They do not shake my moral foundation. If you have no underlying sense of rightness, or you are just plain screwed up in the head, you are predisposed to follow along with what is presented to you. We need to be shown how to rationalize as children. Even as a child I knew that Roadrunner tricking Coyote into fallin off a cliff does not equal a good idea for real life. I would agree that being exposed to modern games can train you mentally for dealing or reacting in violent situations. Being able to cope does not equal desensitization.
What needs to happen is an overview of cultural trends.. By responsible parents with a mind to raising good children. You go to the source. The upbringing of a child into society with a mind to guiding them past dangers and pitfalls. Unless your child is developmentally disabled, a strong parental presence is really the key.
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®idiculous ©rap, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:01am

I don't know what the @#&! video games are, but
...I can tell you that I am UNABLE TO STOP reading Techdirt.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:02am

Thanks dorpus, you've inspired me to start a spree

just as soon as I finish this level
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:02am

Re: I don't know what the @#&! video games are, bu
yeah, techdirt is way too addicting... Someone needs to pass legislation to reduce the dangers posed by these evil tech news blogs.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:13am

Re: Yo enloco, help me understand.
Yes, clearly you missed his point altogether. Totally WAY OFF. He said nothing to the effect of your whole post.

He said religion is the CAUSE of the war, not JUST a scapegoat.
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Big #1, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:32am

Your so clever!
I just love the way you had me going that you wanted to get violent with people who say video game play correlates to violence. Than WHAM!, you switched it around and made your point.
You must be some kind of genius, because I didn't see that coming at all!
It all really made up for the lack of any evidence contrary to "scientific" opinion.
And to close with the foreign-language thing mixed with an insult...wow...just brilliant! I'll bet you have a 12th grade education at least.
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ForkBoySpam, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:37am

Statistics.....
You know 60% of all statistics are made up right on the spot and 40% of those said statistics are taken as truth. I tell you with all of this manipulation of data to side one way or another I get so mad I want to go all GTA San Andreas style.
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8-bit man, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:46am

Fun and friends
If it weren't for video games I would have spent alot more of my childhood, teens, and tweens getting into trouble.
Thank you Mario, you have prevented yet another mass murderer!
(but our princess in in another castle!)
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Beth, 15 Sep 2006 @ 10:51am

Anonymous coward makes a good point
That wowdetox.com website is amazing. People letting a game take over their lives. I suppose it happens with all kinds of "hobbies." But it seems to seems that video game--I will use the word "obsession"--doesn't seem to leave you with much time to execute violence.

Maybe violent behavior is something they take up after they quit.
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Haggie, 15 Sep 2006 @ 12:26pm

The REAL culprit!
I blame my violent, muderous tendencies on that troublemaker Guttenberg and his infernal printing press! All these books about murder and mayhem! It's only a matter of time until I turn into a cold-blooded killer!

Burn the books and destroy all the presses and the world would be a more peaceful place!

Stop before I read again!
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denizengreen, 15 Sep 2006 @ 4:36pm

video game
There has never been any significant correlation between violence and video games. It’s not the game but the person who refuses to take responsibility for their actions, and blames the game for their bad behavior. But being a gamer myself, I certainly can see people becoming addicted to video gaming. Like drugs, or cheeseburgers, or shopping; video games can take away ones valuable time. For most, it takes an act of will to put down the controller and get some fresh air.
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Larry, 16 Sep 2006 @ 2:16am

the REAL problem
the REAL problem is that so many researchers are doing research on all these violent video games, yet they clearly are not giving the public the whole scoop. researchers are withholding whatever technology it is they are using to keep their own researchers from becoming murderers.

that's right. if a researcher is playing so many violent video games, why are their research labs not breeding ground for psychopaths? Obviously they have some antidote to video games, and they are not telling the general public about it, or else every now and then we'd hear about another researcher who got loose and murdered his neighborhood.

i say that the video-game antidote obviously used by researchers should be made publically available and for free, without any license or royalty given to the research lab, and quickly to prevent any more deaths caused by un-immunized video game players worldwide. it's in society's best interest this be done quickly... for the children.
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ωя�ђ, 17 Sep 2006 @ 6:12pm

An Escape
The primary argument is that youths play these video games, and become addicted to them, effectively withdrawing themselves from the 'real world', and that from submerging themselves in constant violence portrayed in the games, they become homicidal.

Yet the answer, as I believe it, has been stated by all of you - each stating that it made you mad and you wanted to go kill innocents in various games!

The affect that a video game has on a person's psyche is no different than that which going at a punching bag for an hour would be. The number of times that I have gotten upset by something, taken my car out and drove like a complete dumbass is countless!

Question: presumably, a mortician reads books and watches documentries on performing autopsies and such. Is his/her desire to be a mortician derived from watching/reading these texts, or do they read these texts due to their desire to be a mortician?

When I read a book, or watch a movie, or play a game, I immerse myself in the world present to me by it. I imagine that I am one of the characters portrayed by it. Yet, at least last time I checked, I wasn't going around telling everyone that I was Belgarath the Sorcerer, several millenia old, and known as 'the Eternal Man' in the Mrin Codex!
Ref: The Belgariad, David Eddings. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgarath

When I read a book, I do it so I can, at least temporarily, effectively 'leave this world', and all the concerns that bother me, and become someone else, someone not troubled by my own concerns. I may be alone in this, but without that, I probably would have cracked! Am I addicted to books?
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George, 21 Sep 2006 @ 8:05pm

Ok. The idea of violent videogames relating to real life violence is bull. Does playing LOTS of NHL 06 make you, or me any better at playing hockey? No.
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blahblahblah, 7 Nov 2006 @ 10:38am

SCAPEGOAT
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eric, 7 Nov 2006 @ 10:42am

blaming video games is a bunch of bullshit. there were violent video games and wars before video games, and just because a few crazy people play GTA for 3 days straight then go out and steal cars and shoot ppl doesn't mean its the game producers fault. video games are an escape from realiy, and anyone mature enough to play them should know right from wrong
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eric, 7 Nov 2006 @ 10:47am

video games
blaming video games is a bunch of bullshit. there were violent people and wars before video games, and just because a few crazy people play GTA for 3 days straight then go out and steal cars and shoot ppl doesn't mean its the game producers fault. video games are an escape from realiy, and anyone mature enough to play them should know right from wrong
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blackoblivion, 27 Dec 2006 @ 10:04am

i think every one is right video games are not to blalme. i mean with the two kids in the colmbine shootings. these two where making all of that shit in the gargue or however u spell that. i mean if i was there parent and i heard fucking power tools being use at three in the morning i would sure as shit go out there and whoop some one ass. i mean really where were there mothers and fathers. and there right when they said these two where bullied where in there hell where they when they need help.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Feb 2007 @ 8:44am

Re: vid addiction
You're addicted
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bhrett, 3 Feb 2007 @ 9:26am

hello
can i play a free stealing car game
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R.P.G., 15 Apr 2009 @ 3:27pm

load of crap
im sorry but in my opinion games are nothing more then a form of entertainment, how we play and what we do after we play is all dependent on our personalities...which means the game has nothing to do with it, our personalities were determined when sperm hit the egg and no sort of video game can change that, so dont blame a game for the irresponsible actions of the user outside of the game
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Nov 2010 @ 7:42am

Re: An Escape
"Yet the answer, as I believe it, has been stated by all of you - each stating that it made you mad and you wanted to go kill innocents in various games!"

Ever hear of sarcasm? Evidently not.
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DestinyRose, 6 Feb 2013 @ 9:54am

Re: BUT...
Violence is not a new concept. Passion is not a new concept. To imply that your video game use and the aggression you occasionally feel are in direct corrolation with each other isn't quite fair to your body, or evolution.
As a human, which I assume you are, (heh) you are designed to feel emotions. Anger is an emotion, and it's related in a lot of cases to violence; but you made the very important comment toawrds the end of your post. When you're frustrated, you hop onto GTA and run people over. In this way, your gaming can be seen as a way to get out your frustrations, not build them (unless you're lagging hardcore or keep dying.) There are studies to show that playing video games increases your ability to understand emotions like fear and anger, and deal with them more effectivley.
You get frustrated with the people who say that, not because video games have made you violent, but because you hold your own opinion, with information to support it, and they are making irrational claims based only on what they have been told as opposed to what they have experienced.
In the perfect world, no literature would be biased, but not only would that be boring, it would also be too easy. People want to be right. Articles will be lined with false claims and exagerated statistics because people want to be right.
"One day the world will ask you who you are. If you do not know, the world will tell you."
If you think games are going to make you violent, then you're subconciously going to let yourself lean toward violent tendancies.
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