Keynote: Real Violence Versus Imaginary Guns: Why Reframing the Debate on Video Game Violence is Necessary
After sensationalist acts of gun violence whether in North America or Europe, many policy makers and journalists ask about the potential influences of shooter video games on youth violence. Other controversies have erupted over whether shooter games can teach players how to use guns. At the same time, research on the “weapons effect”…that the mere presence of a weapon spurs aggression has recently been questioned. This has often resulted in polarization between those who believe real guns cause violence, versus those who believe imaginary guns cause violence. However, research evidence has not supported beliefs that shooter guns cause real-world violence.
Regarding both the issues of shooter games and gun control, progress is often limited by stakeholders engaging in moral posturing rather than careful analysis of the data. In this talk, I argue that we need to reframe the debate on shooter game effects to be clearer about the nature of current data, the limitations of studies, and the generalizability (or lack thereof) of aggression measures to real-world aggression and violence. We also need to look for ways to promote open, transparent science so that answers from research studies are clearer, and less likely to be due to researcher expectancy effects. Until improvements in the culture of shooter game research occur, the debate over video games will continue to function mainly to distract societies from other, more pressing issues, rather than productively contribute to reduction in crime.
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