Scientists have proven that violent videogames make players violent in reality, according to the latest comprehensive research conducted by the American Psychological Association.
Their study follows about two decades of similar inquiries, revealing that such forms of *entertainment* are indeed responsible for sharp increases in aggression and supporting prior research which produced identical results.
Commonsense dictates that nonstop violent play will inevitably lead to real violence, but any public discussion of this grim statistical probability is something the billion-dollar gaming industry has sought to quash, for obvious reasons.
Now, however, both lawmakers and lawmen may begin taking heed of the APA’s ominous conclusions, since an apparently unstoppable wave of violence has been launched in recent times by game-warped adults as well as juveniles.
In fact, deadly youth-on-youth assaults, family massacres, and heavily-armed young men clothing themselves like videogame characters before gunning down unarmed civilians en masse have become weekly events.
“No single risk factor consistently leads a person to act aggressively or violently,” one of the main contributors to the APA’s study explained this week. “Rather, it is the accumulation of risk factors that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior.”
And, while an abusive upbringing and even mental disorders may be two important links in the violent player-to-perp equation, “the research reviewed here demonstrates that violent videogame use is one such risk factor,” he said.
In light of that, the American Psychological Association is cautioning game-makers and manufacturers about a serious threat to the developing psyches and minds of youngsters who use their gory products, often on a daily basis.
The APA is also strongly urging the industry to rethink the level of brutality they program into all of their virtual *games* and, especially, to consider implementing design features allowing for parental control over the intensity of such subject matter.
