Do Video Games Lead to Violence?

A Chinese student recently stabbed his schoolmate to death, because of a disagreement that originally happened in a game of the World of Warcraft. Watch Dan Chan from Off the Great Wall, Karen Chang from Learn Chinese Now! and Matt Gnaizda talk about whether there is a link between violent video games and real life violence.

[joshuadinello]

In my eyes, video games are a great way to be able to relax, talk to friends, and most importantly have fun, but when kids/adults go out and decide to committ crimes because of video games, it's technically their friends or family that if they have had bad behavior or medical issues the people that know how that person is should tell them to stop or that it's just a game. Obviously, the person is clearly insane when they start stabbing and shooting people over a video game. Just freaking insane.

[Oahudan]

Depends on the nature of the video game and the nature of the person playing it I suppose. I'm addicted to video games and I like to consider myself a very peaceful empathetic person despite the addiction to virtual violence.

If anything I feel like the way video games allow us to let out our rather sinister primal drives in an alternate reality to our own, thus helping us to externalise violent thoughts in to a normalised virtual world and separate them from reality. Just a thought.

[LughZelcs]

I think you're focusing on this being related to the video games when it sounds more like bullying is the root cause.