The Virtual Scapegoat: is Violence in Video Games Really Detrimental to Society?

This problem just simply isn’t there; researchers Steven Kirsh and Jeffery Mounts have found that ultimately “gamers claimed that advancing in the game was more important than violence”, signaling that even in violent games the gamer is more inclined to cooperate with their peers in order to achieve the ultimate goal of victory, thus expelling the idea that there is increased hostility towards peers based solely on the violent content. The only instance where I believe there would be increased hostility is if there are two separate groups vying to win a match, and even then the hostility is not because of the violence – it is because of the competitiveness of the gamers. The game could have no violence whatsoever and there would still be increased hostility between the groups.

After examining the physiological, psychological, and social perspectives of violent video games, it becomes evident that there is some data supporting the hypothesis that violent video games cause violence in the real world. However, these claims all have significant flaws that need to be addressed in order to actually confirm this hypothesis. I doubt that any amount of research will ever fully prove causation, but I do believe that with further research, it is possible that an acceptable correlation can be established. As video games grow to be even more prevalent in our lives and continue to adapt over time, continuing research will be even more crucial in determining how our society handles the issue of violence in games. We must make sure that we deal with this carefully, because if we decide to prematurely condemn or if we blatantly ignore the effects of violent video games, then our society will be in for a rude awakening. Only further scientific research offers hope for the discovery of the true influence of violent video games on humanity.