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Professor, ECA Dispute Video Game Aggression Study

Posted by Soulskill on from the correlation-is-not-something-something dept.

Earlier this week, we discussed research which linked aggression in children with video games. The Entertainment Consumer Association responded with a statement criticizing the research, as did Christopher Ferguson, a professor at Texas A&M. PCWorld sat down with Ferguson for a more in-depth discussion of the flaws with the study. In addition to bringing up the correlation vs. causation fallacy, he notes: "Even if you took it at face value, which I don't, video game violence overlaps somewhere between, based on their own statistics, a half a percent to two percent, with a variance in aggression. If you woke up tomorrow and you were half a percent more aggressive than you were today, would you notice that? It's just not much of an effect. If the author said look, there's a little effect here, maybe video games increase aggression a tiny bit, but it's not going to make anyone into a serial murderer, yeah, alright, we may argue a little bit over the methodology, though I'd still say they should've controlled for other stuff. "

78 comments

  1. CmdrTaco sucks nigger dicks for fun and profit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.

    INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
    You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.

    CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
    Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat

    HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.

    FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.

    MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
    Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. The nigger's most

    1. Re:CmdrTaco sucks nigger dicks for fun and profit by Foldarn · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Someone PLEASE mod parent down.

  2. Can we gang rape white women? Yes, we can. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.

    INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
    You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.

    CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
    Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat

    HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.

    FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.

    MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
    Niggers are very, very averse to work of any k

    1. Re:Can we gang rape white women? Yes, we can. by shentino · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Patty cake patty cake baker's man
      Troll me a thread as fast as you can.

    2. Re:Can we gang rape white women? Yes, we can. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Re:Can we gang rape Anonymous Coward? Yes, we can. If he would man up and post his home address and phone number. But I guess he's just a chickenshit little white boy.

      Let us know where the next clan meeting is so we can watch you make each others asshole look like goatse.

  3. About Damned Time. by Architect_sasyr · · Score: 1

    I can't say any more than that. About god-damned time.

    --
    Me failed English...
    FreeBSD over Linux. If my comments seem odd, this may explain...
    1. Re:About Damned Time. by OeLeWaPpErKe · · Score: 1

      Have you read what it says ? He *clearly* states that there *is* indeed violence resulting from video games.

      It's just "not that much". Between a half a percent and 2 percent of gamers actually get involved in violence due to playing games (and this is causation people, not correlation). That doesn't mean they don't all become more "predisposed" towards violence.

      And yes, perhaps there are bigger factors. However this guy states plainly that there is indeed violence resulting from playing violent games.

    2. Re:About Damned Time. by Ron_Fitzgerald · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I am not seeing 'violence' resulting from video games in these articles but 'aggression'. Aggression and violence are different things. Violence can be caused using aggression but aggression can be as little as giving the middle finger in traffic with no violent result.

      --
      ~ Ron Fitzgerald
    3. Re:About Damned Time. by lysergic.acid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      have you read what it says?

      from Part 1 of the interview:

      CF: Sure, some of my own research that I've done, I've found that controlling for family violence exposure pretty much wipes out any relationship between violent games and aggression, so the correlation is essentially zero once you control for family violence. They didn't do that in this study, which is a significant concern for me.

      all he plainly states is that this study found a correlation in their data. that is an indisputable mathematical observation. he's simply being an objective and open-minded researcher here. but he's arguing that even if you accept their premise (the correlation found in the data), their logic is unsound. so he is skeptical about their conclusion, which he is clearly refuting.

      i think you should re-read the portion of interview in which he says that even an undergrad should understand correlation != causation. heck, re-read the entire thing, since you clearly missed his point:

      Even if you took it at face value, which I don't, video game violence overlaps somewhere between, based on their own statistics, a half a percent to two percent, with a variance in aggression. If you woke up tomorrow and you were half a percent more aggressive than you were today, would you notice that? It's just not much of an effect.

      i mean, you seriously need to work on your reading comprehension skills if what you took from the interview is that Christopher Ferguson thinks video games cause aggression.

    4. Re:About Damned Time. by dougisfunny · · Score: 1

      Be careful, now he'll think that you are saying video games cause aggression err violence.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
  4. Nigger lovers disgust me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.

    INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
    You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.

    CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
    Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat

    HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.

    FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.

    MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
    Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. The nigger's most

    1. Re:Nigger lovers disgust me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wheres the next clan meeting? I've always wanted to watch a bunch of fags with sub optimal IQ's get dressed up in sheets and fuck each other. Does the grand dragon give out blowjobs to the best /. troll? I heard he deep throats like a champ.

  5. Isn't it obvious? by Aphoxema · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course violent video games cause violence. I played GTA the other day, then I went out and stole a car, then I ran some people over, then I did some missions, got a rocket launcher and blew some stuff up, then I had 4 stars above my head and I knew I had some problems. The police came and killed me even though I totally loaded up an armor and life and all the weapons.

    Fortunately I came back to life and appeared in front of the hospital, yet my sins felt strangely unforgiven.

    --
    "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
    1. Re:Isn't it obvious? by Hairy+Heron · · Score: 1

      LOL @ the mod who completely missed the joke.

    2. Re:Isn't it obvious? by Aphoxema · · Score: 1

      I'm used to it. Or am I? I suddenly want to find out who did it and shoot them with the BFG9000.

      --
      "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
    3. Re:Isn't it obvious? by RuBLed · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think you missed some very important stuff. While you are thinking about it, I gonna get myself some coffee...

    4. Re:Isn't it obvious? by philspear · · Score: 2, Funny

      Of course violent video games cause violence. I played GTA the other day, then I went out and stole a car, then I ran some people over, then I did some missions, got a rocket launcher and blew some stuff up, then I had 4 stars above my head and I knew I had some problems.

      Ah, but I have to point out everyone's favorite logical fallacy: correlation does not equal causation!!! Maybe you were going to do that anyway? Have not enough stories been tagged with it? I mean, any story in which two things happen gets tagged "correlationisnotcausation."

    5. Re:Isn't it obvious? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would accept your argument normally, but this particular day was Backwards Day.

  6. Gotta wonder by poetmatt · · Score: 1

    While I'm thankful that a professor can dispute the whole magic theory of someone going GTA on their city after playing the game, I can't help but wonder why the thread is trolled so badly.

    Meanwhile, nice to have something easy and solid to point to in order to show people the whole "Correlation is not causation" thing, since many don't get it.

    1. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As with so many correlation is not causation issues, people who jump to use that line don't seem to understand it.

      Correlation does not necessarily mean causation. Correlation DOES mean there is a link, though it may not be direct.

      For example, playing violent games may not increase violent tendencies. People with violent tendencies may play violent games more by choice. Fine. That's a very reasonable alternative. But, either way, if little Johnny likes beating up virtual hookers sixteen hours a day, his parents might be wise to keep a close eye on him.

    2. Re:Gotta wonder by plasmacutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Correlation DOES mean there is a link

      Not necessarily true.

      Correlation merely means correlation.

      Unless of course pirates absorb greenhouse gases

      --
      VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
    3. Re:Gotta wonder by philspear · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unless of course pirates absorb greenhouse gases [seanbonner.com]

      ... well, that's obviously not the only interpretation to walk away with there. Another would be that some of the same changes that drove piracy down, like using internal combustion engines to power boats that would then go faster, decreasing the efficiency of hijacking a boat on the open seas, also may have been putting out more greenhouse gasses.

      Correlation does not mean DIRECT causation, but it's often hard to rule out indirect causation.

      Anyway, his point was right. People here pull out that trite bit of fortune-cookie wisdom every time two things happen, even if an argument of causation is made. Stubbornly refusing to admit the possibility that A and B are at all related just because a direct link has not been shown is not very logical either.

      In this case, people are quick to point out correlation does not mean causation maybe because they like videogames and don't want any possibility of seeing games blamed for any real problems and censored. I don't think denying the truth, if this is true, is the best way to guard against censorship. I think we need to continue to argue that the responsibility to control oneself is on the individual, if some kids become violent after playing games, the obvious solution would be to not let them play games. Barring that, lock them up or sedate them. I really don't care, but you're not taking my gaming options away just because of bad parents.

    4. Re:Gotta wonder by NonSequor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The correlation is due to the time dependence of the data. You'll always find a correlation between any two time series that increase or decrease over time.

      In a sense, they do share an indirect causal link: the passage of time.

      --
      My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
    5. Re:Gotta wonder by MrHanky · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, he's right, and you're wrong. The "correlation" of sea pirates with greenhouse gases is there only because the statistical sample is too small to be significant, and because you choose to ignore previous periods with higher concentrations of CO2 that are not linked with sea pirates. In other words, there is no correlation between pirates and greenhouse gases: the statement is fraudulent, put forth only by people with no understanding whatsoever of science or logic.

      This is the case: there is a 1:1 correlation of yapping about "correlation is not causation" as if it were a profound insight and being an idiot, and while the correlation is extremely strong, only a different idiot would claim the yapping is what causes idiocy. And vice versa: idiocy takes many forms, and not every kind is correlated with the "correlation is not causation" meme, so idiocy alone doesn't cause this intellectual failure.

    6. Re:Gotta wonder by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Actually, there is a direct causal relationship between sea pirates and global warming. Sea piracy was made significantly less feasible by steam and later oil powered ships. A wind-driven pirate vessel made from wood could be beached anywhere with trees for repair and only had food as a requirement. Any small island could be a base of operations for pirates as long as they could send a boat ashore for food.

      With the introduction of steam ships, pirates began to have problems. They could not catch a steam ship in a wind-powered ship. If they switched to steam, they had big infrastructure dependencies (coal, engine maintenance, and so on) that made it easier for the authorities to find and kill them.

      In short, the industrial shift towards combustion engines caused both the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide and the decline in piracy. Similarly, pre-existing violent tendencies might make someone favour violent games and committing assault.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    7. Re:Gotta wonder by Thiez · · Score: 2, Interesting

      > Actually, there is a direct causal relationship between sea pirates and global warming. Sea piracy was made significantly less feasible by steam and later oil powered ships. A wind-driven pirate vessel made from wood could be beached anywhere with trees for repair and only had food as a requirement. Any small island could be a base of operations for pirates as long as they could send a boat ashore for food.

      That is not a direct causal relationship. There may be a direct causal relationship between the use of faster ships using fuel that is relatively hard to obtain and the decrease of piracy, but global warming in itself has no effect on piracy (may not be entirely true: with higher temperatures, the north pole will melt and sea levels will rise, making the sea bigger, which could have an effect on piracy).

    8. Re:Gotta wonder by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      Correlation DOES mean there is a link, though it may not be direct.

      No, it doesn't even mean that. If it rains, and my cat dies the same day, there's no link. Otherwise I'd have cats dying all the time.

    9. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      You know that graph is entirely made up, right?

      There's likely a very poor correlation (ie no correlation) between pirates and global warming. However, there is a very plausible third-factor link between the two. If global warming is caused by increased C02, which is caused by increased industry. Increased industry (and increased population) means more global trade. More global trade means that the world's navies take seriously their role in blowing pirates out of the water on sight. Piracy only started to seriously decrease when the fortunes of the big trading companies got to be critical to the welfare of their parent countries.

      True correlation DOES mean there is a link between the two things. Go read up on some stats.

    10. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Thank you for once again demonstrating my point.

      If it rains and your cat dies, that is not a correlation. At least not a correlation that's strong enough that anyone would call the two correlated. If you record the weather for five years and every time it rains your cat dies, and your cats never die when it doesn't rain, THEN you have a correlation. Think the two might be connected somehow then?

      It's not that statistics lie, it's that everybody thinks they understand them and so few do that it's easy for liars to pretend to use statistics.

    11. Re:Gotta wonder by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      If it rains and your cat dies, that is not a correlation. At least not a correlation that's strong enough that anyone would call the two correlated. If you record the weather for five years and every time it rains your cat dies, and your cats never die when it doesn't rain, THEN you have a correlation. Think the two might be connected somehow then?

      Nope, I wouldn't. See, correlation means that two events happened around the same time. The fact that two events may happen around the same time, multiple times, doesn't suggest anything. In order for what you say to make sense, well, it can't. One cat may have died from kidney failure, another might have been run over. The fact that it was raining each time doesn't mean anything.

      Correlation is an exteremly poor method to determine the relationship between two objects or events.

    12. Re:Gotta wonder by dougisfunny · · Score: 1

      Correlation
      the state or relation of being correlated ; specifically : a relation existing between phenomena or things or between mathematical or statistical variables which tend to vary, be associated, or occur together in a way not expected on the basis of chance alone.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
    13. Re:Gotta wonder by AnalogyShark · · Score: 1

      But, either way, if little Johnny likes beating up virtual hookers sixteen hours a day, his parents might be wise to keep a close eye on him.

      This is exactly the attitude that people need to take on video gaming. Videogaming may or may not increase violent tednencies, but it does allow a way for those who already have to them to revel in them.

      GTA is a great example, due to the fact that there is so much to do in the game, that what a player chooses to do, can reveal alot about them. I've played all GTA titles since 2, and to be honest, I've never really gone out and just killed hookers and shot random bystanders. It doesn't really amuse me to do that, I would much prefer to actually do the missions and progressive content that the game offers. The larger the scale of the game, the more chances there are for a player to be able to reenact or partake in some sick fantasy, but hardly no game REQUIRE you do this. The thoughts are your own, and you're acting out what you've really wanted to do in the first place. The watch should really be put on the players, not the game itself, and in some cases, the games could be used to identify early aggressive tendencies in children. If Johnny does beat up hookers for 16 hours a day, maybe you should think about why Johnny thinks this is so much fun and reevaluate what morals you've instilled in him.

      Most of the biggest video game scandal moments are things players had to actively search out to find. The Mass Effect sex scene, I played through the game twice, and never found that, but that was because I never cared to try to create a relationship with any of the female characters on my team. The Hot Coffee mod, you had to know a good deal about modding your system, and had to go and download yourself.

      Overall, parents really need to watch what their kid DOES do on their video games, not what they are CAPABLE of doing. I mean, I

    14. Re:Gotta wonder by CaptainCarrot · · Score: 1

      What decline in piracy? The global warming connection was intended as a joke, and only talked about pirates from the so-called golden age of piracy. There are plenty of pirates around these days, and they prey on shipping as effectively as ever.

      --
      And the brethren went away edified.
    15. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      It's a poor example, because there likely is no connection between your cat and rain. Pick a better one. Find two things that are ACTUALLY correlated, as in significantly correlated, yet have no connection. Go ahead.

      Correlation (and it's closely related statistical siblings) is the ONLY method to determine a causal relationship between two things. You can postulate all the mechanisms you want but if there's no correlation you're just making stuff up (see astrology). On the other hand, when you have a correlation then you go looking for mechanisms.

    16. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Yes... I assume you're agreeing with me?

      Perhaps you meant to rely to the guy I replied to, who thinks one pair of events is sufficient to establish correlation?

    17. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      I agree for the most part, but don't overlook the importance of (eventually) figuring out whether exposure to simulated violence does significantly increase violence. We have fairly good evidence that exposure to real violence increases violent tendencies, and we also have fairly good evidence that TV is different in it's effects than radio or books. Are games more powerful than TV? Less? Does it matter how close the characters are to looking like real people? You're absolutely right, regardless of which way the causal link goes, violent games appear to be a convenient signal of potentially troubled kids.

      It's interesting: how many Slashdotters would assert that violent games have no significant effects on anybody? Now, how many of those would claim that putting Hentai rape anime on teletoon at 10 am on Saturday is definitely a good idea?

    18. Re:Gotta wonder by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      All the research really points to is that in young formative minds, the playing of violent video games fro hours on end, games where basically the solution to most problem is aggression will tend to reinforce that idea within those young minds that aggression is a viable solution to problems. Those games also tend to define the mores for interpersonal relationships and the way people express themselves beyond the simply game play. In addition a lot of those games can create a great sense of frustration, of being in able to complete the goals, or the games setting up arbitrary and very annoying roadblocks, the grinding repetition of activities until you get it just right.

      Aggression is likely a two fold thing, the first of a young minds attitudes shifting to those expressed in the game and second the young mind acting out on the frustrations suffered when playing the game and being unable to share and reduce that frustration upon an interpersonal basis during game play.

      I have seen people of all ages screaming and hurling abuse at the screen when being frustrated by a particularly annoying bit of game play, I fall victim to that myself. I wonder how much of that aggression I take away from computer and bring with me when I start interacting upon an interpersonal basis, so reacting to violence in the game or reacting to violence felt towards the game developers.

      Inter personal relations force the continual of moderation behaviour in order to achieve cordial relations, playing computer games does not, the computer will continue to react in exactly the same way regardless of the way you express yourself, apart from occasional keyboard replacement.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    19. Re:Gotta wonder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is not a direct causal relationship. ... but global warming in itself has no effect on piracy.

      Pirates are made of Carbon, therefore an increase in Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will have a direct influence on the carbon available to make pirates with. Allow me to explain.

      Diamonds are tough to chew for pirates. Diamonds are also tough for plants to absorb vs. atmospheric CO2. Since pirates eat plants, higher CO2 gas levels have a direct and casual impact on the availability of pirates. The presence of other, possibly contrary impacts are irrelevant to the otherwise unqualified discussion of "is there a casual link"

      "Vote Sarah Palin in 2012, because you can be stupid, or you can be a jerk, but she can be both!"

      Zzyggy

    20. Re:Gotta wonder by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      No, correlation doesn't determine anything. It merely suggests that maybe something should be looked into more. And back to the subject at hand, there are WAY too many other variables to make the claims the study does.

    21. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      You're wrong: http://janda.org/c10/Lectures/topic06/L24-significanceR.htm

      Care to offer any evidence to support your claim that significant correlation does not imply a relationship?

    22. Re:Gotta wonder by plague3106 · · Score: 1

      Ok, so I guess if it does happen to rain everytime my cat dies, that means there must be a relationship?

    23. Re:Gotta wonder by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Yes. It's hard to accept because it DOESN'T rain every time your cat dies. Whoever first came up with that example (you?) picked a purposely ridiculous one.

      A true correlation between two factors A and B means those two factors are related (it's in the name: co-related). It may be (1) A causes B, directly or indirectly, (2) B causes A, directly or indirectly, or (3) A and B are both caused by C, directly or indirectly.

      Suppose there was a correlation between your cat dying and rain. Perhaps the rain somehow causes your cat to die. Suppose you've got an outdoor cat and you live in an area subject to flooding. Your cat may be more likely to drown when it's raining because it's more likely to get caught in a flood. Alternately, maybe your cat dying causes the rain, just like killing spiders makes it rain (kidding). The third possibility is that some third factor causes both rain and cats dying. Perhaps you live in an area with a lot of particulate pollution and you think cats with respiratory diseases are cute. On days when the pollution is particularly bad, more rain may fall because there are more particulates in the air for drops to form around. Also, your cat may be more likely to die on those days due to respiratory distress.

      Those are completely made up mechanisms of course, but if there IS a real correlation then there MUST be a relationship.

      As for the other side, you REQUIRE a demonstrated correlation, or one of correlation's statistical siblings, to establish a relationship between two things. You can propose all the mechanisms you want, but until you demonstrate that two things are actually related you're just telling stories. Go ahead and try to think of an example where this is not true.

      Suppose I notice that people who eat lots of carrots seem to get over their colds faster. I can speculate all I want about vitamins and immune system effectiveness. I can do all sorts of biochemistry to demonstrate those mechanisms. But until I demonstrate a significant correlation between carrot intake and cold duration I have not shown that eating carrots shortens cold duration.

  7. what is going on here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    America elects a black president... academia defends video game violence -- who are you and what have you done with my planet??

  8. Niggers Dispute Spear Chucker Aggression Study by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.

    INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.
    You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.

    CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER
    Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat

    HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.

    FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.
    Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.

    MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.
    Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. The nigger's most

  9. Take that! by Jeanius · · Score: 1

    Lets see if that puts a stop to this nonsense... right? Right?! *rolls eyes*

  10. I have a dream by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congratulations on your purchase of a brand new nigger! If handled properly, your apeman will give years of valuable, if reluctant, service.

    INSTALLING YOUR NIGGER.

    You should install your nigger differently according to whether you have purchased the field or house model. Field niggers work best in a serial configuration, i.e. chained together. Chain your nigger to another nigger immediately after unpacking it, and don't even think about taking that chain off, ever. Many niggers start singing as soon as you put a chain on them. This habit can usually be thrashed out of them if nipped in the bud. House niggers work best as standalone units, but should be hobbled or hamstrung to prevent attempts at escape. At this stage, your nigger can also be given a name. Most owners use the same names over and over, since niggers become confused by too much data. Rufus, Rastus, Remus, Toby, Carslisle, Carlton, Hey-You!-Yes-you!, Yeller, Blackstar, and Sambo are all effective names for your new buck nigger. If your nigger is a ho, it should be called Latrelle, L'Tanya, or Jemima. Some owners call their nigger hoes Latrine for a joke. Pearl, Blossom, and Ivory are also righteous names for nigger hoes. These names go straight over your nigger's head, by the way.

    CONFIGURING YOUR NIGGER

    Owing to a design error, your nigger comes equipped with a tongue and vocal chords. Most niggers can master only a few basic human phrases with this apparatus - "muh dick" being the most popular. However, others make barking, yelping, yapping noises and appear to be in some pain, so you should probably call a vet and have him remove your nigger's tongue. Once de-tongued your nigger will be a lot happier - at least, you won't hear it complaining anywhere near as much. Niggers have nothing interesting to say, anyway. Many owners also castrate their niggers for health reasons (yours, mine, and that of women, not the nigger's). This is strongly recommended, and frankly, it's a mystery why this is not done on the boat

    HOUSING YOUR NIGGER.

    Your nigger can be accommodated in cages with stout iron bars. Make sure, however, that the bars are wide enough to push pieces of nigger food through. The rule of thumb is, four niggers per square yard of cage. So a fifteen foot by thirty foot nigger cage can accommodate two hundred niggers. You can site a nigger cage anywhere, even on soft ground. Don't worry about your nigger fashioning makeshift shovels out of odd pieces of wood and digging an escape tunnel under the bars of the cage. Niggers never invented the shovel before and they're not about to now. In any case, your nigger is certainly too lazy to attempt escape. As long as the free food holds out, your nigger is living better than it did in Africa, so it will stay put. Buck niggers and hoe niggers can be safely accommodated in the same cage, as bucks never attempt sex with black hoes.

    FEEDING YOUR NIGGER.

    Your Nigger likes fried chicken, corn bread, and watermelon. You should therefore give it none of these things because its lazy ass almost certainly doesn't deserve it. Instead, feed it on porridge with salt, and creek water. Your nigger will supplement its diet with whatever it finds in the fields, other niggers, etc. Experienced nigger owners sometimes push watermelon slices through the bars of the nigger cage at the end of the day as a treat, but only if all niggers have worked well and nothing has been stolen that day. Mike of the Old Ranch Plantation reports that this last one is a killer, since all niggers steal something almost every single day of their lives. He reports he doesn't have to spend much on free watermelon for his niggers as a result. You should never allow your nigger meal breaks while at work, since if it stops work for more than ten minutes it will need to be retrained. You would be surprised how long it takes to teach a nigger to pick cotton. You really would. Coffee beans? Don't ask. You have no idea.

    MAKING YOUR NIGGER WORK.

    Niggers are very, very averse to work of any kind. Th

  11. Wow, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    What a righteous hero you are, stud. Looks like you'll be rewarded with a -1, redundant. Quit trying to be tough, sissy-boy, and come back when your nuts drop.

    Bad boys like us get the ladies' stinkboxes' juices flowing. We're turning the ladies' holes inside out while you're beating your dick to the Jessica Alba poster on your sister's ceiling.

    1. Re:Wow, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Why don't you post you fucking home address and phone number to the NIGGER posts you keep making before you call others sissy-boy, and earn yourself a -5 Brothers gave me a goatse hole.

  12. Super Mario by coren2000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I dont like what you say... Dont make me take mushrooms and jump on your head motherF#cker!

    1. Re:Super Mario by mabhatter654 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      my opinion from anecdotal evidence with my kids is that even bejeweled will cause violence if they spend too much time at it. It's the heightened awareness and ultra-focus on twitching the buttons that causes the problems. Because any game is so much cooler than real life, it's hard to get them out to play or read. While video games burn time and get kids hyped up, they don't create the calorie burn down and "happy" hormones that running and playing for a while do.. so they are mentally tired but physically racing to do something.

    2. Re:Super Mario by Deflagro · · Score: 1

      That's actually an interesting point. They need to look into the biological aspect of the issue.
      Guaranteed there is adrenaline pumping and various other primal things going on.
      Now if you're just sitting there, it's not being used as designed/adapted/evolved (whatever).

      I've noticed the same thing in my daughter. She can be playing the most innocuous of games and still turn into a mean and evil child.

      The answer is just parenting though and since no one wants to admit they're bad parents, they would just rather blame the world and infringe upon others.

      Anyway, I thought your point was good.

      --
      Der Tod ist der einzige Weg hier raus!
    3. Re:Super Mario by coren2000 · · Score: 1

      Thats it you Koopa-Troopa... Im gonna get mideval on your a$$

    4. Re:Super Mario by bh_doc · · Score: 1

      You mention reading, but then talk about positive aspects of physical activity. Is the advantage of books then that they don't "get kids hyped up"?

  13. Tis all lies. by NoName6272 · · Score: 1
    If you have a chance of becoming violent then games would just be the trigger not the cause. I've been playing games since I was two, I beat Doom one and two when I was 5 (behind my parents backs, got to love that boss key :).) and I turned out fine, I'm the least likely to try and cause a fight. Hell I learned how to read because my folks got sick and tired of reading the text in FF7, the face your kindergarten teacher gives you when you tell them you know how to read already and when they ask how you say because of video games is priceless.

    ~
    NoName

    --
    Shoot Yourself In the Foot
  14. Influence by jamesh · · Score: 1

    I forget who said it, but in the age of pac-man someone once said something along the lines of "If video games affected people at all then the kids would all be spending their time in dark rooms listening to repetitive music and consuming pills..."

    1. Re:Influence by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Speaking as someone who's imagined the people around him trapped in day-glo bubbles, daydreamed about whether it's best to keep your spaceship stationary or moving when there are asteroids about, itches to take on a star destroyer single handed again and has watched the sun rising on Monday after playing (the original) CIV all weekend... nah, video games don't effect us in the least.

    2. Re:Influence by lupis42 · · Score: 1

      They might affect us though. I have yet to see the videogame that could effect a person. That would be one seriously realistic game.

    3. Re:Influence by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Ah, more than video games affect us. Apparently I've become a borderline illiterate from reading Slashdot.

    4. Re:Influence by dougisfunny · · Score: 1

      So the borderline illiterate was effected by slashdot.

      --
      This is not the funny you're looking for.
  15. The solution by Thanshin · · Score: 1

    As always, reason won't even reach those who accepted the false premise as truth. The distribution of information by "news" just doesn't work like that.

    The only solution to misinformation is educating the population on how to interpret that information a priori and reject at least the most blatant idiocies.

    Obviously the implementation of this solution won't come from the governing forces, which use the general lack of critical thinking to even more profitable means than news distributors.

  16. Been playing violent games since I was 3... by NoobixCube · · Score: 1

    Starting with Wolfenstein on my 386, and the usual collection of shooters from then on. I've never even broken my own nose before, let alone performed any act of aggression against any person.

    --
    Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
    1. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by Thiez · · Score: 3, Funny

      > Starting with Wolfenstein on my 386, and the usual collection of shooters from then on. I've never even broken my own nose before, let alone performed any act of aggression against any person.

      Same for me, but that is irrelevant. Maybe you feel the need to speak up because the link videogames-violence does not apply to you (thus making you think it is bullshit), and the 1000 people who turned into crazy murderers after playing tetris are to embarrassed to speak up.

      We're all biased :(

    2. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by Ron_Fitzgerald · · Score: 1

      We're all biased

      I have to agree with you. When the first article appeared my knee-jerk was to shout that I have been playing video games since the 70' but I am not a violent person. But this is not the definitive answer as I am not all people.

      --
      ~ Ron Fitzgerald
    3. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by Theoboley · · Score: 1

      I agree... Games like tetris are unholy and should be stopped with all their block dropping and row-making.. THIS MUST BE STOPPED!!!! :D

      --
      Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
    4. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by StuckInSyrup · · Score: 1

      ...and the 1000 people who turned into crazy murderers after playing tetris are to embarrassed to speak up

      And where all those violent tetris players? In Afghanistan?

      --
      Ni.
    5. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by mog007 · · Score: 1

      That's what science would call "anecdotal evidence". Just like if you said "I played Grand Theft Auto and murdered a hooker in real life" would also be anecdotal evidence.

      However, if there's a clear correlation between crime rates caused by the major video game playing demographic, and the rise in video game sales, then perhaps the argument is valid. Except there seems to be an inverse relationship. Either the video games have no impact, or video games decrease violent crime, or video games can somehow cause violence but so many other things have caused the violence rates to plummet so dramatically as to make the contribution from video games seem non-existant.

      Logically, the first of video games not having any impact on violence seems the way to go. People made the same claims about rap music, and violent movies and violent comic books in decades past, and nobody seemed to offer any credible evidence that these things would actually incite people to violence, unless those people were crazy to begin with, then it just takes ANY kind of trigger, not a specific one.

      --
      Learn something new.
    6. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think the biggest thing about video game violence that no one aside video gamers understand is that games endorse non-violence.

      What I mean by that is that they have extremely negative responses to violent action. Take for example Counter-Strike, the most popular FPS of all time, it doesn't matter how good you are at it - try to survive for any reasonable length of time in that game. Assuming you are not in a total noob server, you might survive as long as 10 minutes without dying, that's lucky (in a competitive server) even for a good player.

      Every player, in every video game, dies. You can die playing tetris, you can die playing My Little Ponies Island Adventure. Even if you do everything right, sometimes shit doesn't go your way, and you die.

      The one notable exception I can think of is series like Devil May Cry, and God of War. In these two series (and others like them), you play someone who is literally a demi-god, and thus incapable of dying. Characters like DMC's Dante (who is the son of Sparda, General of Hell) or GoW's Kratos - who is a demi-god - are capable of enduring wounds and achieving feats far beyond any human.

      For example, in DMC 1 - when you recieve your first sword - it is sentient - leaps off the wall - and impales you through the heart - keep in mind the sword in question is about 6 ft long and a foot and a half wide. Not only does Dante stand back up - he pulls the sword through him hilt first. It doesn't matter how deluded you are - no sane human being believes they could do that.

      Interestingly, even games like DMC and GoW rely heavily on the death mechanic as a form of punishment for failure - often more than other games. It's possible to go through DMC1 without ever dying on easy, its practically impossible (even for Dante) to do it on the hardest difficulty (dante must die mode).

      Consider other extremely popular video games - like World of Warcraft - you can go into Warsong Gulch and fight other players, you can do it with 9 other players with great gear, communication, and skill - but some of you will die no matter how well you perform.

      People think that games encourage violence because they allow violence - but the reality is completely contrary - games allow violence - and encourage mortality. The only way to not die in a video game - is to not do anything - and even then you'll probably die.

      Games tell us that even characters like Dante or Kratos - demi-gods - die, and die often. That the slightest slip up leads to death. If you look at counter-strike (I return to the FPS's because they are accused of endorsing violence the most, and being reality simulators) the slightest hesitation to shoot leads to getting shot, and the slightest panic to shoot too soon leads to recoil and getting shot (or missing and having to reload). I had a CSS match earlier, I had the highest KDR (kill death ratio, I also had the highest total kills, and the fewest total deaths) both halves on either team, but of the 16 rounds played I had 11 deaths (combined). The match took about 20 minutes, which means that I am dying more than once every 2 minutes.

      Apply that to real life:

      What have I learned from Counter-strike about my odds in a firefight against other skilled, coordinated opponents?

      That even if skill, coordination, luck, a plan, and 4 teammates backing me up - my average lifespan in a real gunfight is less than 2 minutes.

      That statistic is drilled into the head of every FPS player, every time they play, every 2 minutes (and counterstrike, by fps standards, is probably the most cautious, team-oriented FPS out there - in a Quake match average lifespan might only be 20 seconds, which includes the hiding and running away to get more health and armor.

      There is nothing so humbling about the potential for success in violence as video games. No matter how good you are, there are people better (at some aspects), you will lose.

    7. Re:Been playing violent games since I was 3... by Thiez · · Score: 1

      Short lifetimes are mostly the result of respawning. Some time ago I used to play MBII (a mod for JKA (a starwars 'fps')) where you have two teams, one of which has to accomplish an objective, and most classes do not respawn after death. IIRC, a round took about 10 minutes. People would be relatively cautious, because playing is more fun that spectating. The soldier class was pretty scary because they could get 2 respawns, meaning they would at times run forward guns blazing, not caring about death.

      In games where there is no significant penalty for death, people will take greater risks.

  17. This won't be the last of it... by Quantos · · Score: 1

    This is something that is going to continue getting flogged at us.
    It's in the interest of the game manufacturers to show that there is no influence, as this would increase sales of both games and gaming systems.
    At the same time there are examples that make sense. My friends six year old son does in fact become more unruly, violent, and rude after playing or watching violent video games. While there is apparently no difference in behaviour for an individual whose development has progressed beyond that level.

    The conclusion that I draw from this is that children should not be exposed to violence, and adults can make up their own mind.

    --
    Some people are only alive because it's against the law for me to hunt them down and kill them.
  18. Causation by a+whoabot · · Score: 1

    Hume said that causation was a correlation, that of constant conjunction. So if playing video games was always correlated with an encrease in violence after playing the video games, then we wou'd say that the video games caus'd the encreased aggression. In the say way we say that hitting a billiard ball with the cue ball causes the billiard ball to move: we never perceive any force in the hitting by virtue of which the billiard ball moves, we only perceive that it does move, and that this arrangement is constant in reproductions.

  19. Population perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am agnostic about video games and violence, but as a population scientist (epidemiology), Ferguson missed the boat big time on a half-percent increase.

    For individuals a half percent increase is, as he pointed out, small, even, perhaps ignorable. But from a population perspective a half percent increase in the average aggression score means that that very small increase in risk gets multiplied across the size of the population. So (to make numbers up only for the sake of example) if a half percent increase in aggression score implies a .00001 increase in the chance that an individual goes postal with aggression, and this applies to a population of, say 10 million, then you are looking at (on average) 100 people going postal, who would not have otherwise.

    All this is aside from the issue of whether the study was well designed, or measured what it purported to measure, causal inference, etc.

    Cheers,
    Alexis

  20. Practical significance? by tgibbs · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ferguson, particularly in part 2, does a nice job of pointing out the problems with the study. In addition to the obvious difficulties in drawing causal conclusions from correlational data, a key issue is whether the effects that they are claiming to observe have any practical (as opposed to statistical) significance. To what extent does a small increase in "aggression" translate into an increase in real-world violence? And how big an increase? This is a key issue, because it is undisputed that real-world violence rates have dropped even as games have become more violent and more realistic. Moreover, as Ferguson points out, there is no correlation between media violence and real violence when you compare different countries. None of this proves that the claimed violence-inducing effect of videogames is completely nonexistant--but it does prove that any such effect must be so small as to be overwhelmed by other social and demographic factors that influence violence.

  21. a half percent effect could be huge by drfireman · · Score: 1

    Okay, I freely admit I haven't read all the relevant materials, but since it's easy to get some misinformation from the out-of-context quote, I may as well correct that.

    A half percent population effect is potentially quite a large and meaningful effect. First, while it's possible it's a half percent effect in everyone, it's also possible it's a huge effect in some people but negligible in most. A video game that created one serial killer in every city and suburb in the US would probably have a small population effect, but it would still be very consequential by most standards. Second, even if violent video games cause exactly half a percent increase in agression (or whatever) in everyone who plays them, that could still be socially meaningful if violent video games are widely played. For example, suppose that you have to reach a threshold of violent feelings before actually doing anything, and people are distributed across a wide range of their pre-game level of aggressive thought. That half percent increase could easily cause a marked increase in consequentially violent acts, even though it's a small number by some standards.

    On the whole I don't believe violent video games cause much if any harm, but it's still important to understand these effects and their consequences in a little more context.

  22. Re: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It would be beautiful if a /. admin would just post this guys IP address or any tidbit of information, lol. 0wnage.

  23. What the f@!#? by jmerlin · · Score: 0

    I think political discussion makes people want to shoot other people far more than any video game ever could. When will we ban political discussion? Or politics altogether? By this logic, surely it's bad! Or wait.. it's the children.. i'm pretty sure being forced to watch Barney as a child would've made me a serial killer.. playing mortal kombat on the other hand.. was fun and relieved stress :)

  24. Re: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    because that wouldn't stop people using slashdot now, would it.. geeze, what a moron..

  25. PC world trolling for hits by LingNoi · · Score: 1

    They're talking on the issue of child aggression on video game violence and show a screenshot of game which is rated 18+ to play, just what the fuck?!

  26. Pirates do absorb greenhouse gases, you infidel! by hrimhari · · Score: 1

    That has been long known!

    --
    http://dilbert.com/2010-12-13