Harvard researchers 'Video games don't create killers'

I've always thought that claim was just ridiculous, and it is. You cannot blame a video game for a crime. You blame the person.

It's not like the guns kill the people, or the keyboard mis-types words. It's the one holding that gun, or typing on that keyboard.

-MDX

Give me a break... Everyone is subject to become a deranged killer... Blaming it on video games is ridiculous. I mean...These kids see war footage everyday on the news and in movies.

Lame.

Ah, this is gonna break poor Jack Thompson's heart.

I know I find it nonsense to say that video games can make someone become dangerous. I play counterstrike and call of duty, they never made me angry or dangerous to any other human being.

The person playing the game has to know the difference between video games and what's reality. Ofcourse nobody wants to put the blame on themselves they blame it on something else, video games.

I dont think video games create killers,

however i think some of them create aggressive behavior in children. And if the children cant contain that aggression that creates the killer. The habits promoted in some games make light of violence and murder. Murder is not a game. Murder will not get you a high score in real life. Bad habits that when combined with children that cannot control their anger and aggression promoted by the game creates killers.

--Jade
PS NONETHELESS YOU CANNOT BLAME A GAME FOR YOUR MISTAKES

I worried myself with my son who loved them...
He has just been accepted to Dartmouth!

Weird to think of though but we always made him turn the blood into other colors..maybe that helped..the green blood..?

finally some actual research into the subject rather than blindsighted accusations made by lazy people who cant be bothered to fix the problem and so cause a media panic, blaming violence on videogames rather than the area children grow up in, their parents, their siblings and their quality of education or lifestyles..

never-the-less some will ignore the bulk of the study and focus on the noticeable relationship between videogames and aggression..

I have to believe that all the blood and guts killing of make believe enemies sure as hell can't help anything, no matter what studies say.

The sad thing is that my textbook disagrees.

if kids that played M-rated games had more fights doesn't that mean that it *does* have an affect???

Sorry what? Middle-school children playing Mature rated games? There's your problem!

Timmy was such a good boy until he played Manhunt 2, a "Where's Wally?" type of game.

What about adults? I was playing Grand Theft Auto, and then I stole my neighbors' car and went to a strip joint! Oh, wait, that was just my Ambient medication, got me sleep walking in a trance.

p.s. - i love trance

When I heard this comment some years ago, my initial thought was, "But... then how did serial killers come to be before video games were invented?"

My thought now? Perhaps people blamed board games like Clue.

Sometimes people are weird, no?

I know some very compassionate, brilliant and happy teens and adults that grew up playing computer games.

KILLERS CREATE VIDEO GAMES!

Honestly though, some video games or events trigger emotions in certain people. You can't stereotype and say all games are evil, some people just can't cope with it.

The government is just going crazy over this. They show war footage and have Cops running on TV everyday. Why don't we blame it on that?

There were killers before games came out.

Grand theft auto IV was the largest media launch ever. More than any box office draw, more than any book, or television series, or album. World of Warcraft a videogame has an income of two billion just from monthly user fees. Interactive media as evidenced by the very fact we are discussing this on one of the first every open sourced news forum/broadcasts is proof of that power. If this type of media were relegated to eight bit charicatures and viral videos (I am not intending this as an insult to viral videos or classic games) than it would be a slap in the face to consumers. Video Games like Mass Effect have grown into storytelling masterpieces on par with other forms of media and in many ways surpassing them. Mass Effect is interactive, and after putting more than twenty hours into a charachter development you feel a deep sense of atachment to them, that is what good art should do. Video Games get away with less gore, less nudity, far less sexual content and less profanity. More on point there all more vissible and the audiance is made more aware that they are present than in any form of media. That a double standard exists is becoming increasingly evident and its hampering the legitimacy of this media moving forward. The fact that television bandwith is being seeded to telecomunications next year says alot about how much things have changed, while the political paradigm has stayed the same.

In no way do I think video games promote violence. Unless the child is mentally challenged it is clear the game in no way represents real life because the child walks away from the tv when done. A child cannot walk away from real life they understand this.

I don't get why violence in Video games is such a big deal when children are exposed to violence on a daily basis just watching cartoons. Violence is mainstream media's staple fare. It just seems so ironic that people are complaining about one kind of violence but not another.

i'm 16, and i stay away from games like GTA simply because i think it's a step backwards for that kind of extreme violence to be so accessible 24 hours a day. i also think enjoying it so much is a little on the creepy side.

i worry about future generations who get overly accustomed to this insensitivity to the value of human life whether it's virtual or real life. it's not a healthy thing to be constantly involved with.

i don't think it really has much to do with the age of the gamer, it's the principal of "woo bang bang i killed you". i don't support it.

I think that raises a good point. What does it say if we value virtual life? Or if we devalue it? Its a precarious slope either way.

Video games are not a problem as long as you maintain the ability to seperate virtual reality from actual reality.

If this study is false, then I should've killed everyone ever by now.

"What we did that had rarely been done by other researchers was actually talk to the kids. It sounds bizarre but it hadn't been done,"

Crikey,,,Stas can be manipulated rubbish so much of the time

As`Innocent Criminal says he worries about future generations who get overly accustomed to this insensitivity to the value of human life whether it's virtual or real life.

exactly! if the crime rate is going down, and the amount of people playing video games is going up, how is there quantitative evidence of video games causing violence.. and like others have said, if the problem is children who play highly rated games, then the problem itself lies with the parents! and the distributers! stop children from playing very violent games from a young age! that is the real problem! u cant just ignore the ratings and then blame the video game for effecting the child! the ratings are there for a reason!

i agree that video games probably do not create killers, but as an early elementary school teacher who observes her students at recess daily, video games have a huge impact on already aggressive students in "pretend" play... when i ask them what they are playing, 9 times out of 10 they name a violent video game or "professional" wrestlers... i spend most of recess offering alternative games for them as their "pretending" often ends in a fight... when one student was tantruming in my classroom and i described his behaviors to his mom, she said the noises he was making and body language were very similar to a wrestler he watches... she was surprised and shocked about how much of an impact it had on him... it think this study is interesting and makes some good points, but i still have some major reservations about how video games impact my students' lives...

I wish more independent studies like this would be done. Maybe people will start take some responsibility for there own children and not push blame on some form entertainment. I think the biggest influence on a child is there parents (if they respect them) and there peers.

Just like our ridiculous drug policies, the fact that we even need a study about violence's nonexistent link to video games demonstrates that we are very much a culture that tends to judge everyone by the actions of a few abusers and idiots.

No credit is ever given to video games for their positive influence in society. They sure as hell tricked me into learning how to work a computer at a very early age, which is why I way give more credit for my successful career as a web designer to playing video games than the college degrees that I never bothered to get.

I find it interesting that everyone wants to point a finger at video games, at magazines, a TV and the movies, but NOBODY wants to accept the reality that religious leaders and politicians are more responsible for murder and mayhem and violence in our world that all of those above-mentioned scapegoats put together! The next politician to wave a bloody shirt and talk about banning video games should be the FIRST ones handed their walking papers and told to clean their own house first!

i am THE master of Halo 3 - killing humans would bore the hell out of me .

the fact that research shows, this may coclude that music doesnt cause kids to kill themselves either.

Of course a video game could cause violent acts when involving children.
Thats why these game are rated MATURE!! Kids aren't "mature" enough to play those games.
If parents kept tabs on what their children were doing the problem would be resolved, stop blaming video games because your not doing your job as a parent...

Wait wait wait wait, they talked to the subjects? This is uncharted territory, they are in for some surprises, like actually knowing what's going on!

I just looked around the comments etc at my work for a couple of seconds... I loved reading that they wrote a book about this! I really wanna pick it up and potentially mail a copy to Jack Thompson himself... But we'll see!