Do video games trigger violent behavior? Scientific studies have found no link. But the persistent theory is back in the headlines following Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas.
An online manifesto thought to be authored by the gunman briefly mentioned the combat game Call of Duty. Then-President Donald Trump weighed in, charging this week that “gruesome and grisly video games” contribute to a “glorification of violence.”
Trump’s statements were more reserved compared with his last brush with the subject in 2018, when he called video games “vicious” and summoned game-industry executives to meet at the White House, to little lasting effect. The Entertainment Software Association, the biggest video game trade group, reiterated its position that there is no causal connection between video games and violence.
“More than 165 million Americans enjoy video games, and billions of people play video games worldwide,” the group said in a statement. “Yet other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the tragic levels of violence that occur in the U.S.”
Activision Blizzard did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Call of Duty.
WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SHOW?
“There are no longitudinal studies that show a link between violence and video games,” said Benjamin Burroughs, a professor of emerging media at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “Certainly, there is no linkage to gun violence,” Burroughs said that some studies show a short-term increase in aggressive thoughts and feelings after playing video games, but nothing that rises to the level of violence.
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