1. Increasing reports of bullying can be partially attributed to the popularity of violent video games. The 2008 study Grand Theft Childhood reported that 60% of middle school boys who played at least one Mature-rated game hit or beat up someone, compared to 39% of boys that did not play Mature-rated games. [2]
   
   
2. Video games often reward players for simulating violence, and thus enhance the learning of violent behaviors. Studies suggest that when violence is rewarded in video games, players exhibit increased aggressive behavior (112 KB) compared to players of video games where violence is punished.
   
   
3. Violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence. It is common for victims in video games to disappear off screen when they are killed or for players to have multiple lives. In a 2005 study, violent video game exposure has been linked to reduced P300 amplitudes in the brain (275 KB) , which is associated with desensitization to violence and increases in aggressive behavior.
   
   
4. A 2000 FBI report (187 KB) includes playing violent video games in a list of behaviors associated with school shootings.
   
   
5. Violent video games teach youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy (193 KB) and an appropriate way to achieve one's goals. A 2009 study found that youth who play violent video games have lower belief in the use of nonviolent strategies and are less forgiving than players of nonviolent video games.
   
   
6. Violent video games cause players to associate pleasure and happiness with the ability to cause pain in others. [3]
   
   
7. Young children are more likely to confuse fantasy violence with real world violence, and without a framework for ethical decision making, they may mimic the actions they see in violent video games. [4]
   
   
8. Violent video games require active participation, repetition, and identification with the violent character. With new game controllers allowing more physical interaction, the immersive and interactive characteristics of video games can increase the likelihood of youth violence. [5]
   
   
9. Playing violent video games increases aggressive behavior and arousal (162 KB) . A 2009 study found that it takes up to four minutes for the level of aggressive thoughts and feelings in children to return to normal after playing violent video games. It takes five to ten minutes for heart rate and aggressive behavior to return to baseline. Video games that show the most blood generate more aggressive thoughts. When blood is present in video games, there is a measurable increase in arousal and hostility (144 KB) .
   
   
10. Playing violent video games causes the development of aggressive behavioral scripts (141 KB) . A behavioral script is developed from the repetition of actions and affects the subconscious mind. An example of a common behavioral script is a driving script that tells drivers to get in a vehicle, put on a seat belt, and turn on the ignition. Similarly, violent video games can lead to scripts that tell youth to respond aggressively in certain situations. Violence in video games may lead to real world violence when scripts are automatically triggered in daily life, such as being nudged in a school hallway.
    
    
11. A 1998 study found that 21% of games sampled involved violence against women (165 KB) . Exposure to sexual violence in video games is linked to increases in violence towards women and false attitudes about rape (47 KB) such as that women incite men to rape or that women secretly desire rape.
    
    
12. Several studies in both the United States and Japan have shown that, controlling for prior aggression, children who played more violent video games during the beginning of the school year showed more aggression than their peers (288 KB) later in the school year.
    
    
13. Exposure to violent video games is linked to lower empathy in players (192 KB) . In a 2004 study of 150 fourth and fifth graders by Professor Jeanne Funk, violent video games were the only type of media associated with lower empathy. Empathy, the ability to understand and enter into another's feelings, plays an important role in the process of moral evaluation and is believed to inhibit aggressive behavior.
    
    
14. When youth view violence in video games, they are more likely to fear becoming a victim of acts of violence. According to a 2000 joint statement by six leading national medical associations including the American Medical Association and American Psychological Association, this escalated fear results in youth not trusting others and taking violent self-protective measures (103 KB) .
    
    
15. Violent video games can train youth to be killers. The US Marine Corps licensed Doom II in 1996 to create Marine Doom in order to train soldiers. In 2002, the US Army released first-person shooter America's Army to recruit soldiers and prepare recruits for the battlefield. [6]

1. Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled. [7] [8]
   
   
2. A causal link between violent video games and violent behavior has not been proven (112 KB) . Many studies suffer from design flaws and use unreliable measures of violence and aggression such as noise blast tests. Thoughts about aggression have been confused with aggressive behavior, and there is a lack of studies that follow children over long periods of time.
   
   
3. A 2004 US Secret Service review of previous school-based attacks found that one-eighth of attackers exhibited an interest in violent video games, less than the rate of interest attackers showed in violent movies, books, and violence in their own writings (1.6 MB) . The report did not find a relationship between playing violent video games and school shootings.
   
   
4. The small correlations that have been found between video games and violence may be explained by violent youth being drawn to violent video games. Violent games do not cause youth to be violent. Instead, youth that are predisposed to be violent seek out violent entertainment such as video games.
   
   
5. Playing violent video games reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play (115 KB) . Playing violent video games allows adolescent boys to express aggression and establish status in the peer group without causing physical harm.
   
   
6. Video game players understand they are playing a game. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality prevents them from emulating video game violence in real life. [9]
   
   
7. Playing violent video games provides a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings. A 2007 study (261 KB) reported that 45% of boys played video games because "it helps me get my anger out" and 62% played because it "helps me relax."
   
   
8. Violent video games provide healthy and safe opportunities for children to virtually explore rules and consequences of violent actions. Violent games also allow youth to experiment with issues such as war, violence and death (211 KB) without real world consequences.
   
   
9. The level of control granted to video game players, especially in terms of pace and directing the actions of their character, allows youth to regulate their emotional state during play (601 KB) . Research shows that a perception of being in control reduces emotional and stressful responses to events.
   
   
10. Alarmist claims similar to current arguments against violent video games have been made in the past when new media such as radio, movies, and television have been introduced. Claims that these various mediums would result in surges in youth violence also failed to materialize.
    
    
11. Violent video games may affect the form of violence (191 KB) , but does not cause the violence to occur. Youth might model violent acts on what they have seen in video games, but the violence would still occur in the absence of video games.
    
    
12. Exposure to violent video games has not been shown to be predictive of violent behavior or crime. Any link found between video games and violence is best explained by other variables such as exposure to family violence and aggressive personality. [10]
    
    
13. When research does show that violent video games cause more arousal and aggression, it is because the comparative game is less exciting (286 KB) . A short-term increase in arousal and aggression does not mean a child is going to leave his or her house and commit a violent act.
    
    
14. In 2005, the US had 2,279 murders committed by teenagers (27.9 per million residents) compared to 73 in Japan (3.1 per million). Per capita video game sales were $5.20 in the US compared to $47 in Japan. This example illustrates that there is no correlation between violent behavior and playing video games. [11] [12] [13]

1. Sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995-2008, while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell 71.9% and the arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period.
   
   
2. The 2008 study Grand Theft Childhood reported that 60% of middle school boys that played at least one Mature-rated game hit or beat up someone, compared to 39% of boys that did not play Mature-rated games.
   
   
3. California passed a law in 2005 that would have required violent video games to include an "18" label and criminalized the sale of these games to minors. The law was struck down as unconstitutional by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, whose ruling was upheld in Feb. 2009 by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
   
   
4. Following the controversy involving hidden sexually explicit content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, then-Senator of New York Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in 2005 to criminalize selling "Mature" or "Adults Only" rated video games to minors, arguing that video games were a "silent epidemic of desensitization." The Family Entertainment Protection Act was referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and expired at the end of the 109th Congress without becoming law.
   
   
5. In 2008, 298.2 million video games were sold in the US, totaling $11.7 billion in revenue. Six of the top ten best-selling video games included violence, with four of the games carrying a "Mature" rating recommended for persons aged 17 and older.

We post pro, con, and not clearly pro or con comments in the approximate ratio that we received them. We sometimes edit comments for brevity, clarity, and spelling. We may also remove comments posted when we find better comments covering the same issues or for other good reasons.

1. "I think video games are unhealthy to youth brains. They should not play violent video games until they are 18 years of age."
   Marie, Feb. 8, 2010

1. "The issue of games causing violence is really a 'non sequitur.' It is such a tragic tragic attempt to save our own bad consciousness over the fact that we failed to be around available to lend an ear and a hand, when these kids needed it.
   
   If it hadn't been games, it would have been movies...
   If it hadn't been movies, it would have been music...
   If it hadn't been music, it would have been books...
   If it hadn't been books, it would have been religion..."
   Yammo, Feb. 10, 2010
   
   
2. "There's been violence in entertainment (even kids entertainment) for a very long time. From the original Brothers Grimm to Bugs Bunny. Playing football (or just watching) doesn't seem to turn kids violent. So if real violence in a game won't do it, why would virtual violence do it?"
   Robert, Feb. 9, 2010
   
   
3. "Video games have become today's scapegoat to cover up a lack of parental involvement. Many parents today are either too involved in their own lives or don't care enough to monitor what games their children are playing so long as it keeps the kids quiet and out of their way. It's up to parents to teach children about right and wrong, about real life and fantasy, and ultimately to decide what their children should and shouldn't be exposed to."
   Chris, Feb. 9, 2010
   
   
4. "There is much debate on whether there is any correlation between the playing of videogames and violent behaviour. I would posit, that even if there was a strong correlation between the two, this would be the result of inherently violent people being drawn towards violent media - rather than violent media fostering violence in its audience. In this regard, then, violent videogames would be no more harmful than violent films, music or books.
   
   I would like to remind everyone that even literary fiction - the reading of which is considered a mark of culture today - were called 'novels' when they were first written. Their very name meant 'new', termed thusly because of the apprehension of their authors. Novels were seen as a corrupting influence, something that the idle reading of could cause the descent of a person into degeneracy and violence. I believe that the anti-videogame moral panic of today will one day be looked back on as quaint in a similar way. Of course, those of us who look to the past to inform our present, will already be looking at these ill-formed opinions with scepticism."
   Will, Feb. 9, 2010
   
   
5. "This is an important issue and well done on this site. It is nice to see an honest debate on the topic. Too often opponents of violent video games, including some of the scholars in the field, resort to dishonest scare tactics to frighten parents. The evidence from the research is weak with small and inconsistent effects, common use of poorly validated aggression instruments, and issues of citation bias and publication bias. As video games have become more popular, violence among youth has decline rapidly. Although not necessarily true that video games are the cause of this, this does indicate video games are certainly not causing a rise in youth violence as there is no rise in youth violence. This kind of correlational data is the cornerstone of research on global warming and smoking and lung cancer...for some scholars to argue it doesn't matter in video game research is specious (particularly when many of the same scholars argued crime data mattered decades ago when it was rising!)"
   Anonymous, Feb. 9, 2010
   
   
6. "I rather think that violence in video games is a way for violent agressions to be taken out, a more of a stress relief because if you've had a bad day at the workplace or you need to get rid of some tension then playing a violent game does the opposite of what some 'people' think otherwise."
   Howard, Feb. 8, 2010
   
   
7. "Violence among youth has been a sociological problem all throughout human history, be it in the form of bullying, gangs, fights or other methods. It is socially irresponsible to attempt to pin the blame to any form of media rather than attempting to address the underlying causes (socio-economics, broken families, mental imbalances, etc.) that prime some individuals to be violent to their peers."
   Nathan, Feb. 8, 2010
   
   
8. "In the 'con' category, it should be noted that one of the less spoken of reasons for the increase in bullying has to do with reporting. Educators have been working to make reporting of bullying more acceptable and I think it is paying off. In the past, if a person (especially a boy) was bullied, the act of reporting it not only resulted in more teasing by other students but also often resulted in 'blame the victim' attacks from faculty. This was (and is) especially true when the bullies are part of a preferred social group (such as athletes) that the faculty see as more valuable."
   Nathan, Feb. 8, 2010
   
   
9. "My belief is that these incidents of violence that have been blamed on video games actually had their root somewhere else, like a bad childhood, or simply mental disorders that inhibit a person's natural recognition that 'This is a game, it isn't real. Doing this in real life is bad.' The notion that violent video games desensitize people to real life violence seems like a misconception too. In my mid-teens I began to play more violent games like Grand Theft Auto.
   
   However, more recent games that have become more realistically violent are completely unappealing to me, especially when the game makes stories about the characters that are being killed. Going one step further, violent live-action movies or TV shows can be just as repulsive without being nearly as graphic. I simply can't handle documentaries and the like showing real-life violence and gore.
   Andrew, Feb. 8, 2010
   
   
10. "Youth violence is not caused by video games. I believe that the increase in youth violence is caused more by what happens in their social life than because of the violent video games. For example: would a child (in your opinion) want to pick up a revolver and shoot someone because a fictional character in a video game did, OR because maybe one of the parents had threatened to do so to the other? So as far as my opinion goes, I believe children act this way because of violence at home or in public."
    Jackie, Jan. 14, 2010
    
    
11. "The problem is, many people who have done violent crimes such as school shootings were all depressed, and people quickly point out that they possessed some sort of a violent video game. But it doesn't matter since video games are common household items. In the homes of these school shooters, you probably have found Grand Theft Auto, Toothpaste, and Twinkies. Strangely enough, nobody is blaming the toothpaste."
    Fedor, Dec. 19, 2009
    
    
12. "I think that this is a usless topic because video games are not the problem. The problem is the way people act."
    Dominick, Dec. 16, 2009
    
    
13. "Kids do not hurt people because of violent video games. They do it because of stress or harm brought on by parents or people around them. It's also the cause of personal choice. The video games have nothing to do with it. If anything, violent video games let out anger."
    Anonymous, Dec. 11, 2009

1. "As a parent, I feel that it is up to the parent to decide what their children play. I do not believe that the government should get involved. The parent is the person closest to the child, and as such, is much more likely to be able to see if a violent video game will affect him/her or not.
   
   My children (aged 9 and 11) are not allowed to play ANY M-rated games, and all teen games have to be approved by both me and my wife. I have seen, in my two boys, two completely different reactions to video games. The oldest is the heavier video game player, shows less violence and increased self control after playing video games, however, he becomes verbally a bigger jerk to his brother. My youngest shows much more violent tendencies before he plays video game, and when he does, his violent tendencies decrease, and is much more pleasant to his brother. Both boys get into their biggest fights in the mornings before school, when video games, TV and computers are not allowed to be on. Which also goes contradictory to many studies that 'yes video games cause violence' studies claim. This behavior in both of my boys means that I have to choose which games they can play. And yes, one boy is allowed to play some T-rated games, which are different than the ones the other boy is allowed to play.
   
   I can do this because I pay attention to both boys and understand that they are two different people, and are different maturity levels. I guess my summary would be this: Can media (any media) affect children? Yes it can (in certain situations), but good parenting can contradict it. Should that be an excuse to create laws limiting free speech or to tell parents what they can and cannot let their children see? No, it is up to the parent to choose what the child sees, and if the child disobeys them to talk with them and tell them why what they have seen (or read or told) was wrong or right, or not for their age."
   John, Feb. 9, 2010
   
   
2. "It really depends on the person playing the video game. If it is someone who is more inclined to be violent anyway, then playing violent video games would only fuel that person's need to be violent. If, however, a more responsible and mature person were playing, then they would be far less inclined to do stupid and rash things based on something seen in a video game."
   Nick, Jan. 6, 2010
   
   
3. "This is an issue that is highly controversial between children and adults alike. I think an in depth look at the issue would make more people pause and question what they expose themselves to for entertainment."
   Paige, middle school educator, Dec. 13, 2009

Please take our short survey and give your opinion on whether or not you think violent video games contribute to youth violence. We'd also like to know what you think of this "micro" site. At the end of the survey, please leave us a comment for posting in our Readers' Comments section above.

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Craig Anderson, Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescent, 2007

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Amanda Lenhart, Joseph Kahne, Ellen Middaugh, Alexandra Macgill, Chris Evans, and Jessica Vitak, "Teens, Video Games and Civics," Pew Internet & American Life Project website, Sep. 2008

Ingrid Moller and Barbara Krahe, "Exposure to Violent Video Games and Aggression in German Adolescents: A Longitudinal Analysis," Aggressive Behavior, Oct. 2008

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Dmitri Williams and Marko Skoric, "Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Game," Communication Monographs, June 2005