Are Violent Video Games Bad For You?

You might have heard that playing violent video games makes people more aggressive, but is it true or is it just a myth?

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[th_St_Air]

in a related study, gamers who were repeatedly subjected to random connection lag for 10 minutes just spontaneously combusted

[MephLeo]

Suggesting me to go play a *golf* game is a sure way to get at least a mildly aggressive response from me.

[RonnocFroop]

I saw a study that divided things up differently than most.  It had 4 categories: Violent Competitive, Non-Violent Competitive, Violent Non-Competitive, and Non-Violent Non-Competitive.  It found that the heightened aggression afterwards correlated to the Competitive categories, rather than the Violent ones.  It is only 1 study, and I wish there were more that looked at the same thing, but it was still pretty interesting.

[MindfulThinks]

After I play Legend of Zelda, I get urges to break pots and large vases to see what's inside #GottaGetThoseRupees

[krismoose]

video games dont cause violence... lagg does !

[OctorokSushi]

I've always thought about it as depending on the person. Like how some people are angry and violent when they drink, people don't generally blanket it and say "Alcohol makes you beat your wife". It's more like, "hey that guy beats his wife, oh and he also likes whiskey".

Likewise I see it as "hey that guy's violent, oh and he also likes video games". I feel like some people like to demonize things that they don't enjoy themselves, like in those murder documentaries or whatever. I saw one where they were talking about the murderer and his violent tendencies and mentioned how he played Grand Theft Auto like it was evidence. I was sitting there like "oh dang he probably watches TV too. Or drinks water..but wait _I_ drink water D: OH GOD I'M A MURDERER!!!"

At that point you could pick another hobby, let's say baseball. Mercilessly beating baseballs with a bat like a barbarian! First it was baseballs... Then it was SKULLS!

This murderer chopped up a family...Know what he used to do as a kid? HELP HIS MOM CHOP VEGETABLES!

He used to play Hangman with vocabulary on the whiteboard in school, after school HE'D PLAY WITH LIVE PEOPLE!

The hook wielding killer would kill his victims by hooking them in the face with a giant hook, where did he get such violent tendencies? FROM FISHING WITH HIS DAD AS A KID!

[_useroffline]

Honestly, I feel like video games are more of a relaxing and anger-relieving thing, rather than being something that causes that. It's always fun to kick back and enjoy playing video games when everything else in life is punching you in the gut, and I'd imagine that many other gamers would agree. If games make you aggressive, it's probably a good idea _not_ to play them.

[cup_check_old]

I read in an article that a study found that one of the benefits of playing aggressive games is that people use them as an outlet of their anger. People who were angry or had aggressive thoughts felt better after playing a violent game. So on the plus side games can be used for anger outlet as well.

would love to see more research on this topic though

[Just_Amatuer]

Short answer: nah
Long answer: lmao nah

[AbudBakri]

I cry every time I run someone over in GTA... #animatedlivesmatter

[TheZozz]

I'm not aggressive because I play violent video games, I'm aggressive because I'm forced to put up with absolutely stupid dumb arrogant selfishly vain mother fuckers every damn day and it's illegal to punch them when they're doing everything in their power to piss me off. On video games, you pull that crap you get rekt. It's satisfyingly simple.

[RayClust]

3:43
might wanna change that to
"When participants -felt like- was told that they were -a bad player- noobs, they show more aggressive feelings, thoughts, and behaviors"

[kerielwatson]

I'm a pacifist who plays violent video games to de-stress. Reality and fiction are very very separate worlds. No I don't feel bad when I play hunting games, or run old ladies over in saints row, but in real life such things would cause me to have panic attacks and be sick. Video games aren't real. You're not actually hurting anything and that's why they're so great

[guinetik]

Can't wait for Psychologists to find the Overwatch Competitive toxic ladder...

[helloitsme]

Video games don't make me violent this video buffering every 5 seconds does.

[TeronRedoran]

I've never so much as thrown a punch, or stolen anything, yet play violent and "amoral" video games all the time. Love the dark brotherhood in skyrim, murder all the people in dishonored, and am generally a pirate in X3 and any other game that lets me be one. I also personally know several people who can say very similar things and who are just as non-violent...

Now, want to know something interesting? There's at least three cases of people who I know who are either violent or have pretty damn iffy morals... and they don't play games. Not saying there's a link, I'll admit that this is too small of a group to really say anything. . . but so far I've never heard of a psychological test that took people who already have amoral or violent urges and tested if playing a game made them less so. In addition, every test I've heard of only tests if people are having more violent "thoughts" after playing video games, not if they're taking more violent actions.

Finally, I think there's one really obvious test that REALLY needs to be done: Doing a survey of people who have been arrested for crimes and asking them if they played violent or questionably moral games before that. I'd be very curious to know how criminals within the... say... 12-18 or 18-30 age groups for instance would compare to people who have never committed a crime. That would help see if age has something to do with ACTUAL bad behaviors, and if there is an actual correlation between games and violence.

[tushargarg]

How is having temporarily increased tendency for aggression after playing a game any different to any exposure to any media - A violent movie, a summer blockbuster with lots of people getting killed, a graphic novel, a song for that matter! - Isin't that just the human condition - to reflect or get influenced by anything we expose ourselves to ? ( and then, through our intellectual capacity make a choice whether to act out those situations or not ) -

Why just single out games ? True, they have more of a "active" participation, but that's just on the surface of it. A realistic movie with a hero committing justifiable violence may induce a greater sense of acting out than a game #justsaying

If the goal is to prevent inculcating any form of aggression in people ( temporarily or otherwise ) then you need to extend that to all forms of media and engagement and ultimately realize what you are asking for is a situation where people can't be trusted to make their own judgement and thus must have strict doctrines fed to them to control their thoughts.

[Excelsior]

Bro I get more aggressive while playing Stereo Madness on Geometry Dash then when I play violent shooters

[robertlambert]

To be honest these studies should have been under more intense scrutiny. Because the type of people you select for these studies and the baseline of there personality play a major factor when concluding weather or not they will be more aggressive. So you must take into account how they react in stressful situations in real life then compare them to after the video games. Otherwise the study isn't as conclusive as it might seam.

[Naplingbat]

It all comes down to the person, I used to be friends with a guy (Key phrase "used to be") Who took GTA way to seriously, he'd get way to into. He'd swear, yell, but all like he was trying to live out some crazy fantasy in his head. My best friend now plays GTA too, and it's totally different. Yea sometimes he gets frustrated and swears and stuff, but more often than not he's just laughing and having a good time. Violent people will be violent video games or not, and nonviolent people will be nonviolent video games or not. I think so many of these studies prove more correlation than causation.