Correlation Between Violence in Video Games and Violence in Real Life

As the age of gaming continues with the evolution and advancement of technology, gaming continues to become more and more advanced. This advancement is clear, as seen in such items such as consoles, graphics, story, etc. Unfortunately, the gaming industry seems to have taken a hit by the public opposing it due to a certain type of game. There are some people who argue that video games are directly linked to violence, however, that fact is unfounded due to the fact that there is no proof that violent games link to aggression, there is no definitive link between crimes and violent video games, and that violent video games are being mistaken for incompetent gun control and school shootings.

Many people seem to think that violence, as seen in some violent video games, links to aggression mainly in the form of children and young adults. There are many facts denying this claim about aggression, such as a statement by the president of ESA(Entertainment Software Association) in 2010, “The myth that video games cause violent behavior is undermined by scientific research and common sense...The evidence makes a mockery of the suggestion that video games cause violent behavior” (Gallagher).

There are quite a few people even supporting the viewpoint that playing these violent video games help to lessen aggression, such as in this study published by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine titled Personality, Psychopathology, and the Developmental Issues in Male Adolescent Video Game Use. This study “...Found that arcade games have a “calming effect” and that boys use them to blow off steam” (Erik). There is also the viewpoint of how one cannot measure aggression in a lab setting accurately, and that there is really no good way to draw any actual correlations between aggression and violent video games as stated by an associate professor of psychology and criminal justice at Texas A&M International University. (Ferguson).

There were many studies on this subject, one by Scott D. in which the result of his test was that “There was no linear pattern in aggressive affect change across...games that contained varying levels of violence” (Scott D). Yet another study proving this point is by P. Lynch from the University of Oklahoma. His study was about comparing the heart rate of teens before and after they played a violent or non-violent video game, and the conclusion of this study was that “whether it was violent or non-violent, subjects’ heart rates showed no differences” (Lynch).

Another viewpoint in this argument between correlation and causation is that according to some people that think violent video games are harmless, this group thinks that this violence in games is standard or even sub-standard to what children are exposed to on a daily basis. Ryan Hall, a psychiatrist at the University of Central Florida said, “I don’t think we have enough science to suggest that playing video games causes violence in children any more than watching violence on TV” and this is significant because Ryan Hall has been looking for the same subject being discussed but in violent television and behavior instead of violent video games. That previous quote begs the question: are violent video games really the reason people think kids are more violent, or is it an amalgamation of violence across the various medias a child has access to? If so, should video games really solely to blame, if blamed at all?

The conclusion one can draw from the above information and speculation is that there is really no way to scientifically prove that there is a definitive correlation between the violence seen in video games and general levels of aggression from children and teens, despite the numbers of people and scientific studies that try to state otherwise.