Games and Aggression

GGA is talking about this new study that suggests there is no difference between gamers and non-gamers when it comes to violence:

Players were not statistically different from the non-playing control group in their beliefs on aggression after playing the game than they were before playing, Williams said.

Nor was game play a predictor of aggressive behaviors. Compared with the control group, the players neither increased their argumentative behaviors after game play nor were significantly more likely to argue with their friends and partners.

“I’m not saying some games don’t lead to aggression, but I am saying the data are not there yet,” Williams said. “Until we have more long-term studies, I don’t think we should make strong predictions about long-term effects, especially given this finding.”

-- No strong link seen between violent video games and aggression

Now the average age of these gamers was 27, and therefore far out of the range of the minors that the witch-hunters say get brain damage from playing video games. Or they have nasty thoughts, or smaller frontal lobes or maybe they just end up chewing on more pencils as an adult. It's all kinda confusing. That last one is about all that happened to me. My prediction is that overall the research will just kind of eat itself and everyone will pick out the parts they like the best.

I don't think the parents are going to benefit from any of this, since it's just not clear enough. If politicians are going to try and make this a health issue, they better back it with research that is fairly bullet-proof, or we've just learned nothing at all from history.