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The Journal of Adolescent Health has recently published a study of more than 1,200 7th and 8th graders that play violent video games.  Not only did the study show no link to violence, they found that there might be beneficial effects, such as teaching the kids how to control and regulate emotions.  They also found that the stereotype of dangerous kids playing alone is not accurate.  KidsKids reviews tend to play in small groups, or while interacting with others online.

I think it is obvious that violent videogames are just another way for boys to determine a pecking order.  It is no different than lion cubs wrestling and biting one another, or our parents playing “war” and their parents playing “cowboys and Indians”.  How is simulating the shooting of a friend’s avatar worse than the real-life simulation of actually shooting your friend in the head?  Because that is what we used to do before videogames.

The truth is actually very simple:  Violent people look for ways to express their violence.  They hurt animals, they play with firecrackers, they pick on younger/smaller kids, and if someone makes a videogame that lets them blow shit up, they will play with that toy as well.  Correlational Observations != Causation.

Feel free to discuss videogames and violence in our lovely forums.