For just over a decade, ever since it was discovered that the Columbine kids played Doom (much like every other kid in America in their demographic), it has been fashionable for sensationalist journalists and faux-psychologists to blame violence on video games.<\/p>\n
A new study has emerged showing that it’s not so much the violent video game, but the personality of the player that really matters.<\/p>\n
Author of the study, Patrick Markey, says this: “If you’re worried about a video game turning your son or daughter into a killer, don’t worry about that.<\/p>\n
“But is your kid moody, impulsive, or are they unfriendly? It’s probably not the best idea to have that child play violent video games.”<\/p>\n
The study, published in the Review of General Psychology, took responses from 118 people, with half the participants playing violent games, and the other half playing non-violent games.<\/p>\n
Basically, the study shows that people with aggressive personalities are more likely to respond aggressively to the stimulation of a video game. My difficulty (and admittedly I have reason for bias) a study such as this is its failure to cross-check these aggressive responses across other mediums. Proponents of the violent game theories will be quick to use studies such as these to identify these games as a trigger for psychological disturbances in children. While a child exhibiting anti-social behavior may respond negatively to a violent video game, that same child may also respond that way to violent television, books, music or getting the wrong brand of peanut butter on his sandwiches.<\/p>\n
There needs to be a caution exercised when identifying the root of a problem – in this case, the problem is most likely not a violent game, but the player of said game. The lack of a negative effect these games have on normally-functioning children is evidence of that.<\/p>\n