Common videogame stereotype under fire.

Yes, a recent study made by Finnish scientists suggests that videogames do not desensitize players to violence, or even bring about violent reactions. Insteasd, the controversial study found that players playing violent videogames (007 Nightfire was used in this study) actually exhibited negative emotional reactions when killing enemies in the game.

So what makes this one study any better than all the studies done that supposedly "prove" that videogames have a negative affect on players and cause desnsitivity to violence? This study has a wider scope and broader perspective on the issue. In this study non-violent games were used as well (Super Monkey Ball 2) and both violent and nonviolent games displayed similar reactions form the players. Challenges in Super Monkey Ball and the action of killing in Nightfire both were met with stress, and not any positive reaction.

Another study, this time by the American Sociological Association completely goes against most other studies done on the subject, pointing out that many other studies contradict themselves or are inconsistent, and instead suggests that videogames are not in any way connected to homicidal tendencies in juvenilles, and rather that a plethora of other elements are the root causes. Some interesting facts on the subject:

• Students have a seven in ten million chance of being killed at school.
• Many reviews actually conclude that it is in no way possible to accurately determine if videogame violence affects aggressive behavior.
• In the ten years following the release of popular FPS game Doom (which many opponents of videogames hav tried to link to school shootings) homicide arrest rates among juvenilles fell y 77 percent.
• While videogames have been proven to improve everything form spatial skills to problem solving skills to rection time, no study has as of yet proven a connection between violonce in videogames and violent behaviors in juvenilles.

What does it all mean? Do violent videogames make killers out of our children? Or are videogames being used as a scapegoat for real issues, and asking as a mask for more more concealed problmes in society? I don't know, and while there are a lot of studies that have been done that point to a negative affect of videogames, specifically FPS's on players, if videogames really influenced us, wouldn't we all be running aroung dark rooms eating pills and the occasional ghost, listening to monotonous music? And while I will admit to dressing up as an Italian plumber every once in a while, I assure you that I've never battles a giant turtle/dragon or save a pricess named after a fruit.

http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Winter07ContextsFeature.pdf