For most kids, and even adults, I don't see video games being a problem. I did say most though. Unfortunately, for some who may have mental issues to begin with, I can see where some of these games and all the violence seen on television could play a part in some of these people doing what they do.
For someone who considers killing children a way to obtain fame and glory, there are many sources of inspiration. The Oklahoma City bombers were influenced by books such as The Turner Diaries and The Anarchist's Cookbook.
The Turner Diaries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They were also influenced by media coverage of the ATF's Branch Davidian raid on April 19, 1993, and planned their attack to synchronize with the anniversary of Waco (April 19, 1995).
The Columbine killers were influenced by media coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing, and in fact planned their attack on the anniversary of the OKC bombing (April 19, 1999).
Should we ban books and news coverage?
Video games clearly don't cause people to become mass murderers. If they did, with 97% of 12-17 year olds consuming video games, we'd have experienced a massive increase in mass murders, which we did not.
If video games even inspired juveniles to commit crime in general, juvenile crime in America would have increased as video game consumption by 12-17 year olds began rapidly increasing during the period from 1995 (when the playstation gaming console was introduced with far higher resolution graphics than any prior gaming consoles) through 2012, when the population of juveniles was almost completely saturated with access to video gaming consoles.
In contrast, juvenile arrests in the U.S. fell dramatically from 1995-2012:
The introduction of high resolution gaming systems corresponded to
the largest drop in juvenile arrest rates since we started tracking that figure nationally. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention ((OJJDP), which tracks juvenile arrest and criminal data:
The juvenile Violent Crime Index arrest rate reached a historic low in 2009 and is down 12% since 2006.
Source:
Juvenile Arrest Rate Trends
One interesting thing I've observed is high rates of violent game usage by gang-involved clients in recent years. I was working in Denver during September and went out to visit clients with local program personnel. I found it very interesting that not once, but in several instances, gang-involved clients brought up the fact that they'd decided to "stay at home and shoot people on x-box" instead of going out into the community and hanging out with the gang. This decision to stay at home and play video games had a corresponding effect on their individual rate of offending. When these individuals aren't spending large amounts of time unsupervised in the community with other socially deviant peers, they commit fewer crimes.
Here is some information from research on both persistent offenders and current brain development studies on subjects that affect delinquency.
The starting line, and something that is well established over the last 20+ years is that low adrenaline excretion is characteristic of persistent offenders:
Adolescent Problem Behaviors: Issues and Research - Robert D. Ketterlinus, Michael E. Lamb - Google Books
Exposure to childhood maltreatment, particularly as an infant, results in impaired limbic (adrenaline) function. Current research on brain development shows a correlation between childhood trauma from abuse/neglect/violence exposure and disassociative disorders and PTSD, which impair adrenaline/limbic function.
Child Maltreatment and Brain Development
http://www.google.com/url?url=http:...opment&usg=AFQjCNGOra298EUetLgB9Xbw-c-H6G8KDg (this link downloads a PDF article)
Individuals with impaired limbic/adrenaline function require higher levels of stimulus to experience normal levels of adrenaline function, and their reactions to stress are vastly different from those of normal individuals.
I think it would be interesting for researchers to track arrest rates for gang members immediately following the release of high profile FPS video games to see if there is any effect on criminal involvement by this age group. After my experience in Denver, I would actually be prepared to argue that people who experience a rush of adrenaline from involvement in criminal activity may well experience that same rush of adrenaline from playing one of these FPS games. A lot of gang members (and cops, for that matter) are adrenaline addicts.
Many gang members were exposed to violent/traumatic childhood experiences that was likely to have affected their brain development. I would contend that they seek out high risk and adrenaline-creating situations to experience the rush of adrenaline. If these individuals can get their "adrenaline fix" from an intense first-person shooter game, and that meets their need for adrenaline, it is entirely possible that the existence of these gaming consoles is correlated to drops in violent juvenile crime.
The same scenario is now being theorized to occur in conjunction with the availability of pornography.
There is an inverse relationship between rape and pornography. The higher the level of access to pornography, the lower the rate of rape.
ScienceDirect.com - Aggression and Violent Behavior - The pleasure is momentary?the expense damnable?: The influence of pornography on rape and sexual assault
Victimization rates for rape in the United States demonstrate an inverse relationship between pornography consumption and rape rates. Data from other nations have suggested similar relationships. Although these data cannot be used to determine that pornography has a cathartic effect on rape behavior, combined with the weak evidence in support of negative causal hypotheses from the scientific literature, it is concluded that it is time to discard the hypothesis that pornography contributes to increased sexual assault behavior.
The theory that access to pornography ameliorates the need for some individuals to rape has not yet been substantiated, but current research makes it clear that access to and use of pornography is correlated to lower rates of rape. For some individuals, it may be true that watching porn meets their need for stimulation that would other be achieved through comission of sex crimes.
Access to violent video games has coincided with the single largest drop in violent crime in U.S. history.
i'm starting to believe that a lot of the studies that have been so influential with some posters in this thread have the relationship backwards.
Perhaps, in some cases, as I observed with gang members in Denver, the access to the adrenaline rush provided by these intense video games ameliorates the need for some violent offenders to commit acts of violence. In other words, violent video game use stimulates the same regions of the brain as are likely stimulated during the commission of a crime.
Having said all of this, there is a baseline, inaccurate belief in this thread, which is that "children are routinely sheltered and protected from violence." In the case of persistent and/or violent offenders, that assumption does not hold true. In fact, exposure to childhood violence is a risk factor for commission of violent acts as a juvenile. That childhood exposure to real violence (abuse from parent, violence between parents, between neighbors, between mom and her abusive boyfriend) changes the process of brain development, creates impaired adrenaline function, and normalizes violent behavior for children and makes it seem acceptable.
These games, especially for children who grow up in these circumstances, are a minor blip on their trauma meters in comparison to the reality they've experienced at firsthand.
Here is some data on the level of childhood exposure to real life violence in America:
More than 60 percent of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly (i.e., as a witness to a violent act; by learning of a violent act against a family member, neighbor, or close friend; or from a threat against their home or school)
Nearly one-half of the children and adolescents surveyed (46.3 percent) were assaulted at least once in the past year, and more than 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) were injured in an assault; 1 in 4 (24.6 percent) were victims of robbery, vandalism, or theft; 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) suffered from child maltreatment (including physical and emotional abuse, neglect, or a family abduction); and 1 in 16 (6.1 percent) were victimized sexually. More than 1 in 4 (25.3 percent) witnessed a violent act and nearly 1 in 10 (9.8 percent) saw one family member assault another. Multiple victimizations were common: more than one-third (38.7 percent) experienced 2 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, more than 1 in 10 (10.9 percent) experienced 5 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, and more than 1 in 75 (1.4 percent) experienced 10 or more direct victimizations in the previous year.
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf
The posters here are interested in portrayals of violence on the television screen, but the sad reality is that MANY children in America grow up watching their family members and neighbors assault, stab, beat, and shoot each other.
The impact of a video game, when weighed against these real life experiences of violence is laughable.
In fact, those 1 in 16 children who were raped last year would probably find some of the posts in this thread just more evidence of how many adults in America "just don't understand" what their lives are really like.
This is why programs like Scared Straight also don't work:
Scared Straight: Don?t Believe the Hype (Facts from CJJ) | Juvenile Justice Reform | Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment | Reclaiming Futures.
It is legally impossible to attain or exceed the "scare" factor for a child who has previously been beaten or raped by his/her parents. Being yelled at by convicts does not accomplish the goal of creating enough emotional trauma to create an aversion to criminal acts.
On the flip side, young people who grew up in normal environments, with normal exposure to stress and supportive parenting are unlikely to be affected by these games, because their brains already have a fully functioning system with which to regulate and process stress and adrenaline, just as these young people are unlikely to become involved more than a single delinquent act.
) I find it quite interesting (although I'm not obsessed with it). [I swear, I can quit any time I want. 
] It's interesting to contrast our playing styles even when playing the same game. He's more of a testosterone run-n-gun type while I tend to take my time, explore, and play a stealth/cover sort of approach. He's called me in before when he's stuck solving a problem and needs alternate solutions, I've called him in when success relies purely on fast action and quick reflexes. He does some group online playing, I do not. I pretty much stick with campaign mode.
