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Violence in Video Games: The Saga Continues

by Evan Shamoon on November 6, 2008 at 11:56 AM



The whole "violence in videogames" debate just got a bit more lively, thanks to a new study in the journal Pediatrics claiming to link violent games and increased aggression. Professor Craig Anderson, who teaches psychology at Iowa State University and runs its Center for the Study of Violence, told PC World, "We now have conclusive evidence that playing video games has harmful effects on children and adolescents."

As reported by GamePolitics, the Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) responded to the report by saying of the study, "[We] have been waiting for the results of an unbiased, longitudinal and comprehensive study... Unfortunately...we remain wanting." Shortly thereafter, Ferguson responded to the study, claiming it to contain "weak results" and "misleading conclusions."

PC World's Matt Peckham caught up with the professor for a two-part interview in which Ferguson further clarifies why he takes issue with the piece. One of his main points is the study lacked any sort of control for family violence exposure. We'd tend to agree: a study that doesn't account for this is essentially negligent. From the interview:

"Sure, some of my own research that I've done, I've found that controlling for family violence exposure pretty much wipes out any relationship between violent games and aggression, so the correlation is essentially zero once you control for family violence. They didn't do that in this study, which is a significant concern for me."

[From: PC World]

Tags: studies, trends, violence

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