5 ms·

A counter point could be that playing violent games would allow people to vent out their aggression in a safe way so that they don't take it out on us. I am cur

A counter point could be that playing violent games would allow people to vent out their aggression in a safe way so that they don't take it out on us. I am curious if there is a study that links playing (violent)sports with more violent tendencies, because the reasoning seems similar. Also it goes without saying correlation != causation(Just for fun please try http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations)

derwildemomo 11y ago
There's some research that indicates that the "venting anger" theory leads to the opposite, i.e. more anger, not less. [1] http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/PSPB02.pdf http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/PSPB02.pdf (quick google, there are certainly better and more up-to-date papers).
- akshat_h 11y ago
  I skimmed through the paper and they used a punching bag for venting out frustration. I think that and video games are fundamentally different. Punching bag do not give you a sense of objective fulfillment which video games do. Also video games generally have group dynamics, even in quite a few of single player games. But agreeing with you on the broad point, other research papers do suggest that violent games increase aggression. Although another interesting link(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/violent-video-games_n_5112981.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/violent-video-games... :the actual paper is behind a paywall) seems to suggest that it is not violence but our failure to master the game play that causes anger.
  - derwildemomo 11y ago
    Would be interesting to figure out whether the different methods "used for venting out" anger make any difference. I do agree that playing a game is different from punching a bag though, takes more intellectual skills and such, yet I for one remain convinced that the problem persists – whether it's punching a bag or hunting bots.

derwildemomo 11y ago

There's some research that indicates that the "venting anger" theory leads to the opposite, i.e. more anger, not less. [1] http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/PSPB02.pdf http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/PSPB02.pdf (quick google, there are certainly better and more up-to-date papers).

akshat_h 11y ago
I skimmed through the paper and they used a punching bag for venting out frustration. I think that and video games are fundamentally different. Punching bag do not give you a sense of objective fulfillment which video games do. Also video games generally have group dynamics, even in quite a few of single player games. But agreeing with you on the broad point, other research papers do suggest that violent games increase aggression. Although another interesting link(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/violent-video-games_n_5112981.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/violent-video-games... :the actual paper is behind a paywall) seems to suggest that it is not violence but our failure to master the game play that causes anger.
- derwildemomo 11y ago
  Would be interesting to figure out whether the different methods "used for venting out" anger make any difference. I do agree that playing a game is different from punching a bag though, takes more intellectual skills and such, yet I for one remain convinced that the problem persists – whether it's punching a bag or hunting bots.