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Does Video Game Violence Cause Real-Life Violence?

Evan Ramsey, Anders Breivik, and Adam Lanza all have committed mass shootings, and
all of them enjoy violent video games. Are violent video games causing violence in real life, or is
there something else that caused these three individuals to take so many lives? There is no true
evidence that connects video game violent to mass killings. Also, there is never only one reason
to cause someone to result in murder, so does it really make sense to blame virtual violence for
causing real-life violence? Violence in video games do not cause real-life acts of violence.
Over the years, people always looked for something to blame for acts of violence, and
now they are pointing fingers at video games. Even though violent video games are becoming
more popular and games are getting increasingly more violent, violent crime rate is actually
decreasing in the United States, according to the article by Julia Layton. In the article, it states
that in a 2013 study, researchers looked for a link between kids negative social habits and gameplaying habits. They failed to find a link between the two. Julia Laytons article explained the
results of another study. This 2010 study found that the subjects that were the most affected by
violent video-gameplay were those that exhibited personality traits that indicated psychoticism.
There have been many attempts to prove that violent video games cause violence in real life, but
so far, there has not been any true evidence to support this claim.
In addition, we must see if there is more to these school shootings before jumping to the
conclusion that they were caused by violent video games. The article written by Julia Layton
points out that mental illnesses may play a role in causing some to commit murder. It asks the
question, what if real-life psychopaths enjoy being psychopaths in video games? They might
just choose violent video games so they have a place to be violent thats free of punishment.
Adam Lanza, the 20-year-old who killed innocent people at Sandy Hook Elementary, didnt have

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any mental illness that led to psychoticism. He did, however, behave strangely and lived alone
with his mother. Perhaps past life experiences also cause violent acts? There is never just one
reason, such as video games, that urges someone to commit something as heinous as murder,
according to an interview in Kim Hone-McMahans article. A quote from her article states,
Based on my own research...some of the information is more conclusive that its family issuesand I hold to that. This basically means that there is a better chance family problems and mental
illnesses have a better chance of persuading someone to kill than violent video games would.
Finally, blaming video game violence for tragedies such as school shootings just doesnt
make sense. Julia Laytons article explains how 97% of young American people play video
games, most of them containing violence. If so many people were playing violent video games,
then surely there would be more shootings and other acts of violence, right? Layton also
mentions a 2013 study that found that children who exhibited signs of psychoticism had no
changes in behavior at all after playing violent video games. In fact, in a small number of
children with attention-deficit symptoms, playing violent video games actually seemed to
correlate with slight reductions in bullying, explains Layton. Poor parenting is also a suspected
cause instead of violent video games. If a video game contains violence, then the rating on the
box would warn of its content and suggest a specific age that could be allowed to play a game. If
young Americans are too young to handle the content or already show signs of mental illness
(specifically signs of psychoticism), then parents should do their best to keep their children away
from the games.
Despite the evidence proving that video game violence does not cause violence, there still
is a small amount of evidence saying that they do cause real-life violence. According to PBS.org,
the military uses combat simulations to train soldiers, and that children playing violent video

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games are being conditioned to be aggressive in a similar way. This theory can easily be
disproved however, by factoring in key elements that average gamers have, such as the ability to
show resistance to what they are being taught. Julia Laytons article explains that in a 2000
study, those who played violent video games punished the losers more harshly in a contest than
those who played a nonviolent video game. Kim Hone-McMahans article states, ...violent
video games can make people more aggressive over time though, its impossible to link such
games to violent criminal behavior like the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.
All in all, video game violence does not result in real-life violence. The lack of evidence,
the fact that its never just one cause to commit crimes, and how little sense blaming video games
make help prove that violent video games cause violence in real-life. Even though virtual
violence can make the player more aggressive over a duration of time, it would not cause the
average gamer to commit acts of violence or other crimes in the real world.

Works Cited
PBS. PBS. Web. 05 Jan. 2015.
<http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html>.
"Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence?" Www.ohio.com. Web. 07 Jan. 2015.
<http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-real-violence-1.375519>.
"Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence? - HowStuffWorks." HowStuffWorks. Web. 04

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Jan. 2015. <http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence.htm>.