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Violent Games 'Almost' As Dangerous as Smoking
Via Voodoo Extreme, a Reuters report on some very 'interesting' research into violent games. A study out of the University of Michigan has apparently found that 'exposure to violent electronic media' is almost as dangerous to our society as smoking. "'The research clearly shows that exposure to virtual violence increases the risk that both children and adults will behave aggressively,' said Huesmann, adding it could have a particularly detrimental effect on the well-being of youngsters. Although not every child exposed to violence in the media will become aggressive, he said it does not diminish the need for greater control on the part of parents and society of what children are exposed to in films, video games and television programs."
It is true that the actions of others is a form of teaching - which is why parents should set an example by getting off their arses and out of the house with the kids, rather than parking the kids in front of the XBox while the parents drink alcohol while watching TV football; parents teach by example whether they mean to or not.
So when a kid/intellectually challenged teenager/idiot adult sees violent actions without consequence, or violent actions encouraged by peers, they learn that (1) violence is a worthy genre (2) violence has little or no consequence. Do not forget that many people in the 'developed' (commercialised) world now grow up without any significant threat to their wellbeing, or their quality of life, and have never seen a very ill person or a corpse. They are therefore unable to conceive of the consequences of genuine violence. [this may be why post-traumatic stress is more obvious now; past generations generally developed coping/repressing mechanisms during childhood because of the deaths of relatives and friends due to a variety of unwholesome accidents and ailments no longer prevalent]
The answer is, therefore, not to reduce exposure to the violent genre (as this would emasculate individuals to the detriment of competition or the ability of developed nations to wage war), but to put it in context and to make sure that people understand the difference between reality and fiction. The cop shows that show chases and shootouts then end the segment with the arrest must show the criminal further down the line: in hospital full of holes, or in prison having lost a few years of life: getting arrested is not a significant consequence in isolation, it's just 'getting caught', the consequences are imprisonment and loss of opportunity. Put timers in games; delay a respawn by 10 seconds. Put a timer in to stop play for 5 minutes every 1.5 hours. Make every school class visit an old peoples home when they're 10, a morgue when they're 13, and an abattoir when they're 16.
As a counter-example to the research, many people went to war 1939-1945, but the level of violence in society after the wars' end was no higher than before. So it is not exposure to violence that encourages aggression. Aggression is a product of a culture that encourages aggression - like college football clubs, or Republican party meetings, or the NRA/KKK.