Those Against Violent Video Games Should Hang Out With Gamers

Culture

from the no-scratches dept

For all the stories of parents and lawyers trying to blame video games for violence, here’s a good response article, suggesting that all those anti-gamers hang out with the kids at QuakeCon. The writer points out that, unlike a high school football game, none of the kids at QuakeCon left with any scratches or bruises. While anti-gamers would have you believe that gaming is anti-social, it often brings people together, and teaches them about teamwork, similar to sports. He also takes issue with a study saying that kids who played Wolfenstein 3D were more aggressive immediately afterwards than kids playing Myst. He points out that this is just due to adrenaline, and is unlikely to be a lasting phenomenon. He says that anyone involved with higher adrenaline is going to act that way. While he doesn’t suggest it, it would be interesting to do a comparison study to people playing sports, against those playing some sort of musical instrument. Those playing sports will also be pumping adrenaline and likely to be more aggressive for a bit, but it doesn’t mean they’re any more likely to go out and shoot up a school.