Fox News has compiled an article,”Training simulation: Mass killers often share obsession with violent video games”, highlighting various views on the bad influences of video games.
The article raises the issue regarding the link between past murderers in the US and their “obsession” with violent video games.
“Since Ramsey’s 1997 rampage, several other mass killers, including Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, have been linked to violent video games. And some experts worry that as the games get more violent and more realistic, so does their power to blur the line between fantasy and reality in alienated gamers,” reads the article.
Fox News also ropes in some psychology professors to bolster their argument.
“More than any other media, these video games encourage active participation in violence,” said Bruce Bartholow, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Missouri. “From a psychological perspective, video games are excellent teaching tools because they reward players for engaging in certain types of behaviour. Unfortunately, in many popular video games, the behaviour is violence.”
The article does try and give an opposing perspective, but the psychologist further highlights the dangers of violent video games.
“We have to be very careful about saying what causes what,” said Dr. Phyllis Koch-Sheras, past president of the American Psychological Association’s Society of Media Psychology and Technology. “There is a lot of debate on the issue. But this much is certain: We need to definitely be studying this more before the violent video games run amok.”
Source: Fox News
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These kids were already messed up before playing the games. Yes, simulators can hone your skills but sane people will not try to flatten a building a la Battlefield 4 because real life has a better physics engine. Lets not forget that this same argument is used to imply that if a woman wears a skimpy outfit that she’s asking to be raped and the men looking at her will want to rape her immediately. Correlation DOES NOT imply causation.