Conflict reigns over violent gaming aggression

In the space of a week, conflicting studies have been published on the effect of violent video games on those who play them.

The American Psychological Association (APA) has examined the data from numerous studies on violent gaming, and today warned that there is a problem that needs addressing and has called for a reduction in the amount of violence games contain.

Most worryingly, the research found that games are designed so that perpetrators of online violence get away without any punishment 73 per cent of the time.

"Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict," says psychologist Elizabeth Carll, PhD, co-chair of the Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media.

"Whereas seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behaviour."

The organisation recommended that children should be taught to be more media aware to make them better at distinguishing reality from fantasy. It said that the effects of violent games "may potentially be greater than the effects of exposure to violent television and movies."

The APA called for an enforced ratings system on games and for manufacturers to tone down the violence and show the negative consequences of violent games.

However, last week a joint study between the department of speech communication at the University of Illinois and the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore found there was no long-term adverse effect from playing such games.

The test subjects played a violent online game for an average of 56 hours over a month and had their aggression levels monitored by analysing speech patterns and their propensity to argue.

Game play was not a significant predictor of aggressive cognitions, said the authors of the report 'Internet Fantasy Violence: A Test of Aggression in an Online Game'.

"Compared to the control group, participants after the experiment were not statistically different in their normative beliefs on aggression than they were before playing the game. Similarly, game play was also not a predictor of aggressive behaviours."

While the study did find that there was a very short term increase in aggression during the game and immediately afterwards, this quickly subsided.