Videogame violence 'does not translate to real life'
Scant scientific evidence that video games are anything but harmless, UK academic claims
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Thursday, 15, May 2008 08:30
There is little evidence linking videogames to violence in the real world, a UK academic has claimed.
Patrick Kierkegaard from the University of Essex said his research shows previous work on the subject is biased towards proving games provoke acts of brutality and anger among players.
Award-winning games, such as the oft-vilified Grand Theft Auto series, are seen by some to promote violence.
Mr Kierkegaard believes that actual scientific evidence pointing to the real, measurable effects of games on human beings is limited and, most importantly, biased.
Evidence from brain scans carried out while gamers participated in violent digital actions does seem to point to there being a correlation between the violence on screen and certain areas of the brain related to aggression.
Despite this, there is no obvious link between real-world violence statistics and the advent of videogames, Mr Kierkegaard explains.
"Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s, while videogames have steadily increased in popularity and use," he writes in the International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry.
"For example, in 2005, there were 1,360,088 violent crimes reported in the US compared with 1,423,677 the year before. With millions of sales of violent games, the world should be seeing an epidemic of violence... Instead, violence has declined."
Mr Kierkegaard added that books, films and other media are just as likely to provoke acts of emotion, violent or otherwise.