10

20
30
40
50
60
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
10
20
30
40
50
60
2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Total Youth Crimes (ages 18 and under)
Authorities that say Violent Video Games do not Cause Violence

Christopher Ferguson, PhD, Professor of Behavioral,
Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice at Texas A&M University
Is There a Correlation Between Violent
Video Game Sales and Violence?
Number of Violent
Game Units Sold
(in millions)
Total Number of
Youth Crimes
92% of the time
the parents of the child are
present when ANY video game is being
purchased or rented because...
58% of Adults
think violent games
cause violent behavior yet...
Only 13%
minors are able to
purchase M rated games from
retail outlets.
Pictures Courtesy of:
Game Network Europe
Pixabay
Wikipedia Commons
Target Mature Games Policy (2000)
Gamestop;Playground Parents (2008)
Walmart: Mature Merchandise (2008)
Federal Trade Commission
Undercover Shopper Survey (2013)
Harris Interactive Polls (2013)
The Entertainment Software Association:
The Essential Facts About the Computer and
Video Game Industry (2009)
These statistics were derived by taking the amount of all current
violent games (as of June 23, 2014) and dividing them by
the amount of all games rated by the ESRB (as of June 23, 2014)
then applying that percentage to every game unit sale per year.
It should also be noted that this is not representing violent games
sold ONLY to minors.
The ESRB
The Entertainment Software Association
Number of games with the subheading of
Violentas of 2014 compared to all published
games
Source Legend:
We are no longer worried that children are missing
school because of video games, though. We are worried
that theyare murdering their classmates because
of video games.
-Tom Bissel, critic and writer of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
US Surgeon General
Psychological studies
purporting to show a connection between
exposure to violent video games and harmful
effects on children do not prove that such
exposure causes minors to act aggressively."
"We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent
peers were the strongest and most consistent risk
factors for youth violence across outcome measures.
Parents' use of verbal cruelty in domestic relationships and the
child's antisocial personality traits were also reasonably strong
predictors of violent behavior. By contrast video game violence
exposure and television violence exposure were not found to be
predictors of youth violence."

Dopamine Functions (January,2014)
by Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
By: Blaise Lanter
The American Psychological Association
states that playing violent video games
increases aggression
Violent video games can increase
aggressive behavior in children
and adolescents [...] according
to an empirical review of the
last 20 years of research.

A group composed of
about 230 experts sent a
letter requesting the APA
retract said statement, on the
grounds of flawed research.

[...] communicating
results to the general public
[...] scholars and the APAs
previous policy statements
[...] may be more misleading
than informative.
A violent game is a game with the rating of violence
within its game rating, described as Scenes involving
aggressive conflict. May contain bloodless
dismemberment by the Entertainment Software Rating
Board (ESRB), the official organization for rating any
and all video games within the United States and Canada.
What is considered a violent video game?
To this day, Gamestop, Walmart, and Target require
an adult to be present when an M rated game is
purchased by a minor. This is not required by law.
FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting
Program (1996-2013)
American Psychological Association
Reviewof Research Shows That Playing
Violent Video Games Can Heighten Aggression (2005)
1
2
2
The ESRB Ratings Guide
Number of Games With Violence
on Average
80%
20%
1
With Violence
Without Violence
Some People are in Support...
What are the Parents Doing?
Aurora, Colo., movie theater gunman James Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner, who killed
six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabby Gifords, in a 2011 Arizona shooting, and
Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo, all were active video game players.
-FOX News, 'Training simulation:' Mass killers often share obsession with violent video games
Guns dont kill people. Video games [...] kill people.
-Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the NRA
Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likely
acting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 frst graders
and six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently
amounted to some kind of "score."
-CBS News Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say
"If you shoot somebody in one of these games, you don't go to jail,
you don't get penalized in some way you get extra points!"
-Dr. Phil, Children and Violent Video Games
@
#

@
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Lets Get More Technical

Media violence - specifically video games -
are not a major risk factorfor violence.
We did find rising links between media violence,
television violence, and short-term aggressive behavior.
But that is significantly differentfrom violent
behavior allegedly caused by playing video games...
US Supreme Court
So while the majority of people say that violent video games cause violence, there is little evidence supporting it.
Number of Violent Game Units Sold Per Year