AfterDawn: News

University study casts more doubt on violent videogame influence

You will remember that last week we wrote a news article about a 20 year old man, Devin Moore, who murdered three police officers and blamed Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto series for the influence that led to the actions. The Jury refused to believe his claims. Now a study by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign casts more doubt on the possibility of violent video games causing an increase in real-life aggression amongst players.

The study, which included 2 groups including players – a group of 75 people who had no prior MMRPG [massively multiplayer online roleplaying game] play and who played AC2 for the first time; and a control group of 138, who did not play, found that exposure to highly violent videogames caused no considerable increase in real aggression. The two groups ranged in ages of 14 to 68 years old, with an average age of 27.7 years.



The debate over violent videogames has long been an issue around the world. People are blaming games for their actions in increasing numbers. This is much the same as the debate over violent movies and music tracks that contain violent lyrics and content. It seems likely that overall, videogame developers will win this battle.

Source:
The Register

Written by: James Delahunty @ 15 Aug 2005 20:39

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• 11 comments

• Jauzzi

  it's BS. I've seen people get more angry at playing monopoly than playing GTA. LOL

  16.8.2005 05:09 #1

• Persy

  hahahaha...thats so true jauzzi

  16.8.2005 07:16 #2

• goodswipe

  It all seems like yesterday, my friend called out A3... I looked down and saw that I had a sub located there. All of a sudden I began to feal the blood rush to my head....my face turned red and my skull began to hurt like it was being crushed in a vice. I found myself gritting my teeth out of anger and then stood up and smashed the Battleship playing board.... picked up my Yahtzee dice and threw them as hard as I could right in between his eyes.
  
  R.I.P. Jason

  16.8.2005 11:14 #3

• goodswipe

  It all seems like yesterday, my friend called out A3... I looked down and saw that I had a sub located there. All of a sudden I began to feal the blood rush to my head....my face turned red and my skull began to hurt like it was being crushed in a vice. I found myself gritting my teeth out of anger and then stood up and smashed the Battleship playing board.... picked up my Yahtzee dice and threw them as hard as I could right in between his eyes.
  
  R.I.P. Jason

  16.8.2005 11:14 #4

• Repoman89

  LMAO^ nice

  16.8.2005 14:58 #5

• GrayArea

  A defendant in a murder case blaming one violent video game for his actions is pretty ridiculous, but the way this this study was set up is pretty ridiculous too. 75 and 138 people? Not much meaningful statistical data to be had there. This is not about one video game, or even just video games. Our culture (at least here in the USA) is soaked in violence, both fictional and real. Every form of media is involved, as well as most people's real life experiences. To single out video games is missing the point. To conclude that they have no effect on people is also missing the point. IMHO if you believe that the huge amount of violence kids are exposed to as they grow up does not at the very least radically desensitize most of them to it you are living in a naive dream world. I don't believe that exposure to violence makes everyone it happens to more prone to violent acts, but I think it's pretty clear that the increase of real volence in our culture has pretty closely paralleled an increased exposure to violence in the media. You can chalk that up to coincidence if you choose to. I can't.

  18.8.2005 13:02 #6

• xboxd00d

  Its all a load of crap, I enjoy all the GTA games and get great pleasure in executing people on manhunt, but it ends when I put the controller down.
  The thought of doing it in real life turns my stomach.
  Also, I agree with the above comment (about monopoly), ANY game can spark rage if u r a bad loser, especially sports games (Soccer for example).
  If your evil on the inside it is just waiting to come out, and it doesnt need to be sparked by anything.

  19.8.2005 08:11 #7

• Mr-Movies

  First of all, people always want to blame something or someone else for their own indiscretions.
  
  Second, we have always had a fare amount of violence in our up bringing the difference in today’s world is a lack of parenting and social boundaries in our schools, homes, and environment. Old Popeye, Rod Runner, Tom and Gerry cartoons are extremely violent amongst many others from times past but you didn’t see people using them as a crutch for going out and killing someone. Discipline is basically unheard of and in most cases considered abuse.
  
  Third, if your disposition is such that you are prone to violence then yes playing a violent video game will get you hyped for trouble, if not it won’t.
  
  Forth, I don’t know why they waste good money on some of these studies since it really comes down to common sense, but there might be one the problems. It seems common sense does not prevail in today’s world I see this all the time and it will cost us down the road but everything tends to be a cycle so we are do to come back around some day.

  19.8.2005 12:30 #8

• Jauzzi

  well... back in the "ancient times," roman's didn't have juventus or ac milan playing soccer in their arenas. They had gladiators, tigers, elephants, and all sort of bloody entertainment... in the medieval times we had guys in a killing spree in the name of god... not so long ago in more "modern times" there were towns people burning women in public because they thought they were "witches"... and not so long ago there was this german guy with a mustache who killed thousands of people just because they were not blond, tall, with blue eyes... i mean... do you really believe that our culture is becoming increasingly more violent than before? Is GTA violent entertainment as a roman arena? What about american football? Boxing? What about the father who takes his children to hunt ducks on a weekend? I mean, the kid is actually holding a rifle, shooting, and killing, right? Don't worry guys... GTA nor Marilyn manson won't make you a killer... but be careful with monopoly, be very careful...

  22.8.2005 05:15 #9

• goodswipe

  Or Battleship
  
  

  8.9.2005 07:12 #10

• fknhstile

  lmao
  goodswipe crazy yall

  9.10.2005 17:12 #11