Let’s take a closer look at the research in question.Īccording to Olson’s findings, 28 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls strongly agree that liking “guns and other weapons” motivates their game play. Given the sheer popularity of violent video games, their psychological impact is an urgent issue for society, and for the millions of parents whose children dive into virtual worlds for hours every day. The other contingent rebuts that such research plays into “moral panic,” exaggerates the negative impact and ignores the positive effects of violent game play. One contingent warns that violent games reduce empathy and effective anger management skills, and promote aggression. Olson’s rosy spin on violent video games positions her on one side of a heated academic debate with staggering stakes in policy and industry. As laudable as it is to debunk negative stereotypes about non-violent game play, it is less laudable to gloss over the negative effects of violent video games. Sounds more utopian than dystopian, right? She then elaborates on the psychological benefits such play might afford, describing how video games facilitate self-expression, role play, creative problem-solving, cognitive mastery, positive social interactions and leadership. Olson surveyed children’s reported motivations for video game playing and found that their top rated choices were to have fun, compete well with others, and to be challenged. And, if they are like 50 percent of boys and 14 percent of girls, they prefer games with “mature” – read: violent - themes, such as Grand Theft Auto, an urban dystopia of gun fights, car chases, pole dancers and prostitutes, where blood splatters realistically on the “camera lens.” Should you worry whether such a game will warp your children’s minds? A new paper by Cheryl Olson, a public health specialist at Harvard, suggests the answer may be: au contraire. If your children are like 99 percent of boys and 94 percent of girls, they play video games.
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