Game Theory: Do Video Games Cause Violence? It's Complicated.

Game Theory: Do Video Games Cause Violence? It's Complicated.

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Do video games make you a more violent and aggressive person? That is the question we are covering today. We touched on this topic before in our episode “Does Fortnite Make You Violent?” but I think, in the wake of current happenings, it deserves a deeper look. This is a tricky and very personal topic for myself and many others, so I am going to do my best to do my due diligence. Today we attempt to answer the long argued question, “Do Video Games Make You Violent?”

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#VideoGames #VideoGameViolence #Violence #Debate #Issue #GameTheory

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Credits:
Writers: Matthew Patrick
Editors: Alex “Sedge” Sedgwick, Josh Langman, Tyler Mascola, and Dan “Cybert” Seibert
Assistant Editor: AlyssaBeCrazy
Sound Editor: Yosi Berman

Sources:
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.171474
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2019-02-13-violent-video-games-found-not-be-associated-adolescent-aggression
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(11)65185-9/pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hueseyin_Uzunboylu/publication/259424092_The_Relationship_of_Computer_Games_and_Reported_Anger_in_Young_People/links/56df256b08aee77a15fcf49c/The-Relationship-of-Computer-Games-and-Reported-Anger-in-Young-People.pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691615592234
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167208327216
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-03/f-vvg030117.php
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep09763
http://sci-hub.tw/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1477370817717070
https://adc.bmj.com/content/98/5/341
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/violent-video-games
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/2/e20161298
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0093650212446622?journalCode=crxa
https://medium.com/the-peruser/a-brief-history-of-video-game-sales-49edbf831dc

The U.S. Murder Rate Is Up But Still Far Below Its 1980 Peak


https://videogames.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003627#Violence
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States#Mass_shootings
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/DCJ/SandyHookFinalReportpdf.pdf?la=en
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/19/anders-breivik-call-of-duty
https://www.secretservice.gov/data/protection/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf

5 facts about Americans and video games


https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-05552-007

The Failed Replication of a Retracted Study


https://newzoo.com/insights/rankings/top-10-countries-by-game-revenues/
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/2/e20161298
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5e60/c8440d231e5f2c80691dabd0102d6f1eefd8.pdf
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bbushman/BH06.pdf
http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/2357/mod_resource/content/2/optional_AndersonDill_Video%20Games%20and%20Aggressive%20Thoughts.pdf
https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2018/research/no-evidence-to-link-violence-and-video-games/
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/08-1448.pdf
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0206767
https://drdouglas.org/GSLK_PPMC2012.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dickey_Amendment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiahrt_Amendment

50 Comments

  1. Jso-Senpai on October 31, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    Simple: *NO* and to think otherwise makes you an idiot.

  2. Dondocool on October 31, 2019 at 5:40 pm

    At 13:07 , that part just reminds me of a quote from a research project I did in high school about this topic that said “the Columbine shooters played with pipe bombs in their basement and no one stopped them from playing Doom. But no one stopped them from building pipe bombs in their basement, either”. That quote was just a huge mic drop imo.

  3. Charity Baker on October 31, 2019 at 5:45 pm

    History:
    -Rwandan genocide – third world country, 1990’s, most of population has no access to such luxury as video games.
    -Armenian Genocide – before ww2, pre-video game era, 1910-20’s
    -ww2 – pre-video game era, 1930-40’s
    -crusaders – later medieval/ renounce, pre-video games
    -Emperor Nero – Roman empire 60’s AC, pre-video games
    -"Battle" of Wounded knee – 1890’s, pre-video games
    -Attila the hun – 430 – 450’s AC, pre-video games
    -French Revolution – 1780-90’s, pre-video games
    many many more horribles murders, genocides, etc splattered across history.

    ALL BEFORE/ DIDNT HAVE ACCESS TO VIDEO GAMES

    Media:
    Video games cause violence.

    Me:
    Oh YEah, THAT makes sense. HOW ABout, I DOn’t knoW, HUMAN NATURE causes violence? shut up and go back to history class you uneducated plebs.

  4. John Marshall on October 31, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    I havent watch the video yet but this is what i think at the moment. Video games can’t cause anything, this includes violence. But video games CAN influence people and that influence is what may be to blame. And I would also like to add that the type of violence that video games seem to most likely have an influence on is verbal and emotional violence not physical. My nephew was very sweet and kind before our family allowed him on our xbox and phones but since then he has become very rude and often throws fits. Basically he has become very toxic and the only thing different in his life is that video games are very prominent in his life now. And when he does throw fits, he is most of the time grounded from games and at this point he becomes physically aggressive, he also tells me that this is very common amongst people of his age group. I have another thing to add to what I said: we didn’t actually prevent him from playing video games, it was actually competitive video games (not just violent games) so we allowed him to play things like angry birds and packman. Once we allowed him to play competitive games, this is when we saw a change in his behavior.

  5. Treyton Servantez on October 31, 2019 at 5:46 pm

    I posted a link to this video on Twitter saying the media needs to see it and started #DontBlameGames so check it out if you want to help I’m just someone who’s been playing games ever since I was old enough to understand them and I’ve played many Violent games as I grew up like Gears of War, Halo, COD, Assassin’s Creed, GTA V, and so many more but I’m a person who cares so much about other people to the point where I may be damaging myself to help them so I’m sort of living proof that games don’t cause violence so please if you feel the same way about games as I do spread #DontBlameGames

  6. Cheese 4 life on October 31, 2019 at 5:47 pm

    Videogames may cause a little violence, or effect some people as all people are different, but the reason U.S.A has so much gun violence is beacuse it is so easy to get a gun in U.S.A Take Norway as an example, we dont have much crime/mass shootings exept for that one person(and maybe more i dont know about) and it’s harder to get a gun here, so even if videogames cause violence we still wouldt have much mass shootings. But in U.S.A you can get a gun very easy, so tjerefpre it will be more mass shotings. So what im trying to say is that AMERICA HAS TOO MUCH GUNS!

  7. I love Chicken I also like watermelon. on October 31, 2019 at 5:47 pm

    Game theory more like gay theory.jk lol

  8. Evil Bail on October 31, 2019 at 5:48 pm

    The nation has literally been violent since it was created.

    The time we killed all the native Americans.
    The time we rebelled and started firing on Britain from bushes.
    The time we were killing "witches"
    The time dueling was legal
    The time the North fought the South.
    The time we killed millions of Japanese with an atomic bomb.

    The nation has been murdering each other and others since conception, and only now with handheld devices and national news are we seeing just how widespread violence is in this country.

    It has nothing to do with video games, we’re a nation soaked in blood, but more so to do with how easy it is to decide to be violent and acquire tools to succeed at it.

    I disagree with your point that violence in media makes a person numb to violence. Ask a soldier.

  9. Some Canine on October 31, 2019 at 5:49 pm

    I think it’s much more likely that contentious politics and the media are encouraging mass shootings.

  10. čØrśę1 on October 31, 2019 at 5:52 pm

    To Game Theory
    In my English class, we have been tasked with writing a persuasive speech on an issue common in the world today. I chose the topic that Video Games cause violence, and why I am against this idea. I was struggling to make solid points and find detailed research, then I remembered this video. After watching it a few times and writing down key points you made, I have enough information to make a solid speech. I want to say thank you for helping me understand the topic, and also to help my English grade, which not good right now, whoops. Thank you Game Theory, your work is always helpful, inspiring and educational, I have been watching your content for years and you never stop to amaze me.
    Thank you,
    c0rse1

  11. Blake Oconnor on October 31, 2019 at 5:54 pm

    Hey Mattpat, I’ve been watching your channel for many years now. I love all the: math, science, and research that goes into every one of your videos. I especially love this video and just wanted to let you know that I am using this video to help write my essay for my college class. It’s an argumentative essay and we have to present these in class so I hope that I will help clear up the misunderstanding of video games and whether they cause violence. Please keep making videos and keep up the research your hard work is very appreciated by this community

  12. Cole Kenedy on October 31, 2019 at 5:57 pm

    Thank you so much for this video bro, you and I speak the same language. People need to do their research and see the facts to find out the best answer, not just what they think is right by clouded judgement from emotion.

  13. Kanoka621 on October 31, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    Man, I’ve been loving the new kinds of videos you’ve been putting out, Mat and the Theorist team!

    Thanks for doing this research and making this video. The thought you put into writing and discovering all this information shows, and I’m incredibly proud of the work you’ve done and continue to do. I’m super familiar with all these arguments and issues going into the world of journalism myself, but it just makes me want to get there even faster – to try and do this kind of ethical research and reporting. It’s not easy to put aside your personal perspective and see what you find, but you did, and I thank you on behalf of those of us who aspire to do that too. 😀

  14. chrisbreezy on October 31, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    when you said correlation doesn’t mean causation, i had flashbacks to my AP stats class. my teacher said that all the time.

  15. Factfur on October 31, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    in conclusion, america just has a lot of bad people with access to guns

  16. F Sch on October 31, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    Havent seen the video yet but I can give you an easy answer:

    Videogames -> available worldwide
    Guns -> available in america

    Gun violence king -> america

    Take any country that has no guns and videogames, it will has way less mass shootings, if any.

    But of course it is complicated. I would never let a kid play a violent game, even though I grew up with portal 2 and GTA. I think kids are way to easy influenced and they just shouldnt be exposed to this gruesome stuff, they dont understand enough yet. They dont understand portal 2 is just a parody. They dont understand that GTA is a caricature of society.

  17. Menos The Name on October 31, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    Great video, Pat!

    Is there a correlation between gun sales and gun violence?

    I’m just kidding.

  18. MisterObiwan on October 31, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    YouTube: get money mine now

  19. Ecnal on October 31, 2019 at 6:04 pm

    I did a school project on this last year and came to the same conclusion. Nice video btw and keep up the great work!

  20. Ah Yes Enslaved Voice on October 31, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    bruh how is ranching slimes going to make me more violent

  21. Shay Cormaic on October 31, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    It’s video games it’s Marilyn Manson it’s heavy metal what happens when these Boomers Run out of s** to blame

  22. Missing May on October 31, 2019 at 6:06 pm

    I think that something happened to that person in order for them to react to violence and yes video games can help with aim but u can’t just point the finger at video games just bc they played it, you have to look further into it and see wht events happened to react on such a violence reaction to something or someone — my opinion abt this

  23. Matheus Castello on October 31, 2019 at 6:06 pm

    yeah im sure playing snakebird and parkitect makes me really violent lol

  24. craftbrothers on October 31, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    I’m a gamer. #Steve&AlexMC

  25. Helgard Van Rensburg on October 31, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    What about bully that bully because of video games how about that?

  26. Carson King on October 31, 2019 at 6:16 pm

    He is more unbiased than almost all news

  27. starsselect08 on October 31, 2019 at 6:18 pm

    We’re not conflating gun deaths with gun violence and mass shootings, are we? Most "gun death" is suicide. Most gun violence is between gangs in inner cities like Detroit and Chicago (both with STRICT gun laws). Mass shooting, especially with an "assault" rifle is less than 1% of all gun deaths. We should be getting very specific about these statistics. Epstein didn’t commit suicide. I know this isn’t supposed to be a political video, but context matters and millions of people will watch this video.

  28. Glorious Katfood on October 31, 2019 at 6:18 pm

    Next Thing Ya know

    DËMÔÑĮTĪŹÈD

  29. DinoLord01 on October 31, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    Then agian, what if the mass shooters picked up violence else were, and the video games were now more satisfying

  30. Joshua Navarro on October 31, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    You have a son?

  31. Ah Yes Enslaved Voice on October 31, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    police:have you ever played a vid game?
    mass shooter: um yeah i think i played pac man once
    see video games do cause violence

  32. Justus Lester on October 31, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    Thanks matpat

  33. Elalae La on October 31, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    Well, I think that violante games, for me, didnt cause me to be more violatne or make me think that violence is fine. But I do see the difrence that now, while watching violence in movies I dont even blink, and if it werent for that video games I would probably be scared or disgusted while whatching something like that. So games did change my perspection on violence, but not efecting real violence, just the one in games… so games made me more violatne in games, not in real life. Soooo thats sort of my opinion, there isnt a clear answer, same for the: "is humanity good or evil"
    Sory for the spellingm its bad.

  34. Treyton Servantez on October 31, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    I love the research MatPat put into this video but I feel like he didn’t put one thing in this video that should be acknowledged which is the age range of school shooters and bullying because from what I’ve read most of them are in the school that they target and while the media is trying to say games cause it because people of the age group play games they ignore the true cause which is bullying a lot of kids end up shooting up school because they finally had enough of being treated like crap instead of blaming games they should be focusing on ways to reduce the amount of bullying in schools and if they did that we’d probably see a decline in School Shootings

    please like this comment so MatPat might be able to see this comment.

  35. Ghost on October 31, 2019 at 6:23 pm

    Every science teacher has said that the violence = video games is dumb

  36. Alexandra Howell on October 31, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    MatPat if the shooters aren’t video gamers then could they maybe be bullies OR the people that are getting bullied

    Love this chennel by the way I ave been watching and found it through fnaf I have been loving your vids though.💖

  37. Mehmet fatih otcu on October 31, 2019 at 6:27 pm

    My mom getting arrested for "posible shooter" because she has candy crush on her phone…

  38. TheMagicBean on October 31, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    the media: demonotizes this video the gamers who know more than the idiotic retards at the media: so, you’re getting desperate good, now you’ll have to acknowledge that we know more than you ever will about what causes violence in this world

  39. Josh LB on October 31, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    Forget video games. After watching odd squad I wanna nuke America.

  40. MisterObiwan on October 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    The reason why it has gotten less in the 90’s is because we are too lazy to go outside until we got mobile games

  41. Prince_Frozen on October 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    Thanks, mapat we all love you

  42. Verena Long on October 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    I think if guns weren’t legal in america there wouldn’t be as many shootings

  43. October Sweet on October 31, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    I have 3 sisters and we all grew up on gaming. 1 out of all 4 of us do not play video games. Like at all. And that person is the most violent out of all of us.

  44. Life Of Lucifer on October 31, 2019 at 6:33 pm

    MatPat: "Games DO NOT make people violent! Just because mass shooters owns video games, means nothing."

    CDC: "More people have been shot, stabbed, murdered, robbed, mugged, swatted and suicided over theft of video game media and game consoles than any other crime. But, gun violence, *not including suicide*, has gone down. Lawful gun owners have saved more lives than ever before, by up to 100 times more than the number of violent gun crime incidents, *including suicides*."

    Also MatPat: "But guns are bad! 2nd Amendment Bad!"

  45. RE zen Pathan on October 31, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    PS4 heat is the root cause of global warming.

  46. yamour taieb on October 31, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    I love your personality and videos so much that i started watching all of your videos, and all your channels. Even though i don’t play any games and haven’t seen some movies you did theorys about.. 😅

  47. Josh Krawczyk on October 31, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    Violent video games don’t make me want to be violent but EA games….

  48. Joshua Navarro on October 31, 2019 at 6:36 pm

    If mass shootings have been on the news more then they are more rare therefore leas

  49. Helgard Van Rensburg on October 31, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    Its America ITS GUN LAND

  50. Anonymous Fox on October 31, 2019 at 6:38 pm

    Blaming Video games for violence is like blaming hot wheels for car crashes

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