Sometimes I wonder if this is really true. I mean, are video games and gaming in general really the cause for bad behavior?

In an article at FoxNews, the American Psychologists Association (APA) are having debates on the subject. They have been relating the violence as seen in TV and film to that of video games. They said that since games have more “interaction” and “immersion”, that, it may play more of a part toward possible violent behavior than traditional media mediums such as TV or movies.

Private-practice psychologist Elizabeth Carll, PhD, and a past president of the of APA’s media division said that kids who watch violent television shows become more aggressive and less empathic. But learning theory says that actually participating in violence — as kids do when playing many video and computer games — has a much stronger effect.

“If you are actively involved in learning, you remember things better,” Carll says. “So in a game you do things over and over again, whereas in the movies or on television you watch it once. And in the game there is reinforcement for it. So if it is killing people that you’re doing, you get a reward for that.”

Here’s more from that article:

“Kieffer and Carll admit that not all studies link violent video and computer games to problems. And Kieffer notes that there aren’t any studies that look at the effects of playing these games over a longer period of time.

The first study actually to do this got surprising results. A month of playing a particularly violent computer game had no effect on player aggressiveness, finds Dmitri Williams, PhD, assistant professor of speech communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Williams looked at a particular kind of computer game — a multiplayer online role-playing game (MMRPG) called Asheron’s Call 2 or AC2.

This kind of game is quickly becoming the most popular form of online game. The environment is constantly “on,” and a player creates an alter ego — an avatar — that gains power as play goes on. Huge numbers of players are in the virtual game world at any one time. Cooperating with other players is essential for success.”

In short, it really is up to individual to control these violent urges. Everyone knows what’s right and wrong. Also, it will fall down on parents, to a large degree, to monitor what their kids are doing. Maybe not just videogaming.

But yes, too much of anything is bad. But is Gaming Evil? You be the judge

GM T