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Video games that showcase violence have been blamed by many people for increasing violence among young people (Markey, Markey, & French, 2015). After the Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas mass shootings, the president called out the grisly and gruesome video games for what he termed as the glorification of violence in the society. Other government officials and popular persons supported the president’s claim, saying that today’s gaming industry teaches young people how to kill (Hartmann, Krakowiak, & Tsay-Vogel, 2014). On Twitter, however, hashtags such as #videogamesarenottoblame were trending after the president blamed games for the violence. The controversy whether video games contribute to the increase in violence among people is still very relevant to date.
With increased mass shootings in the U.S, experts and the public have started looking into the various factors that may contribute to violent behavior in young people. Video games have over the years been blamed for the degradation of young minds, with violent games being largely implicated in mass shootings such as Virginia Tech in 2007, Columbine in 1999, and Sandy Hook in 2012 (Markey et al., 2015). Research conducted by various academics and scientists has shown varying results on the topic. However, a consensus seems to be forming after various studies found no significant connection between violent video games and violent behavior in young people.
While a study conducted in 2015 by the APA found a relationship between video games and an increase in aggressive cognition, and behavior, there was no sufficient evidence to link aggressive behavior to violence or violent crime (Azad, 2019). In addition, experts argue that the conclusion that violent video games increase violence among youth is not supported by modern research (Azad, 2019). It is mostly an assumption and a general trend where society is concerned about new technology that policymakers, parents, and researchers are not familiar with or have no experience with.
Recent research has shown that where a correlation exists between video games and violence, it is mostly because of an external factor. For instance, boys have a higher likelihood to play video games and are also more likely to be aggressive than girls. There is no elaborate relationship between the time an adolescent spends playing video games and their aggressive behavior. Moreover, while violent video games may increase aggression in young people, it is not an indication that they will commit a mass shooting (Azad, 2019). A different but relevant perspective on the issue is a comparison of national statistics on video game use and violence among young people. A keen look into national statistics shows no correlation between video game spending or use per capita and violent crime. If such a correlation existed, nations such as South Korea and Japan, where there is a huge game spending per capita, would have higher or similar rates of violent crime as the United States (Azad, 2019).
In conclusion, research has shown that there is no correlation between video games and an increase in violence among young people. While research has shown a surge in aggressive behavior among young people who play violent video games, aggression does not mean that an individual will be violent or engage in violent crime. Countries such as Japan and South Korea, where video game spending is extremely high, have the lowest violent crime rates in the world. If a correlation existed between violent video games and violence among young people, such countries would have violence rates that are higher than those of the United States.
References
Azad, A. (2019, August 5). Video games unlikely to cause real-world violence, experts say. Retrieved November 27, 2019, from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/05/health/video-games-violence-explainer/index.html.
Hartmann, T., Krakowiak, K. M., & Tsay-Vogel, M. (2014). How violent video games communicate violence: A literature review and content analysis of moral disengagement factors. Communication Monographs, 81(3), 310-332. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2014.922206
Markey, P. M., Markey, C. N., & French, J. E. (2015). Violent video games and real-world violence: Rhetoric versus data. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 4(4), 277. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/ppm0000030
