10

20

30

40

50

60

20072006200520042003200220012000199919981997199610

20

30

40

50

60

200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Total Youth Crimes (ages 18 and under)

Authorities that say Violent Video Games do not Cause Violence

Christopher Ferguson, PhD, Professor of Behavioral, Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice at Texas A&M University

Is There a Correlation Between Violent Video Game Sales and Violence?

Number of Violent Game Units Sold

(in millions)Total Number of Youth Crimes

92% of the timethe parents of the child are

present when ANY video game is being purchased or rented because...

58% of Adultsthink violent games

cause violent behavior yet...

Only 13%minors are able to

purchase M rated games from retail outlets.

Pictures Courtesy of:Game Network EuropePixabayWikipedia Commons

Target Mature Games Policy (2000)Gamestop;Playground Parents (2008) Walmart: Mature Merchandise (2008)

Federal Trade CommissionUndercover Shopper Survey (2013)

Harris Interactive Polls (2013)

The Entertainment Software Association: The Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (2009) These statistics were derived by taking the amount of all current

violent games (as of June 23, 2014) and dividing them by the amount of all games rated by the ESRB (as of June 23, 2014) then applying that percentage to every game unit sale per year. It should also be noted that this is not representing violent gamessold ONLY to minors.The ESRBThe Entertainment Software Association

Number of games with the subheading of “Violent” as of 2014 compared to all published games

Source Legend:

“We are no longer worried that children are missing school because of video games, though. We are worried that theyare murdering their classmates because of video games.”-Tom Bissel, critic and writer of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

US Surgeon General

“Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between

exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such

exposure causes minors to act aggressively."

"We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent peers were the strongest and most consistent risk

factors for youth violence across outcome measures. Parents' use of verbal cruelty in domestic relationships and the child's antisocial personality traits were also reasonably strong predictors of violent behavior. By contrast video game violence exposure and television violence exposure were not found to be

predictors of youth violence."

Dopamine Functions (January,2014) by Dr Ananya Mandal, MD

By: Blaise Lanter

The American Psychological Associationstates that playing violent video gamesincreases aggression

“Violent video games can increaseaggressive behavior in childrenand adolescents [...] according to an empirical review of the last 20 years of research.”

A group composed of about 230 experts sent a letter requesting the APA

retract said statement, on the grounds of flawed research.

“[...] communicating

results to the general public [...] scholars and the APA’s

previous policy statements [...] may be more misleading

than informative.”

A violent game is a game with the rating of “violence” within its game rating, described as “Scenes involvingaggressive conflict. May contain bloodless dismemberment” by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the official organization for rating any and all video games within the United States and Canada.

What is considered a violent video game?

To this day, Gamestop, Walmart, and Target require an adult to be present when an M rated game is purchased by a minor. This is not required by law.

FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program (1996-2013)

American Psychological Association“Review of Research Shows That Playing Violent Video Games Can Heighten Aggression” (2005)

1

2

2

The ESRB Ratings Guide

Number of Games With “Violence” on Average

80%

20%

1

With “Violence”

Without “Violence”

Some People are in Support...

What are the Parents Doing?

“Aurora, Colo., movie theater gunman James Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabby Gi�ords, in a 2011 Arizona shooting, and Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo, all were active video game players.”-FOX News, 'Training simulation:' Mass killers often share obsession with violent video games

”Guns don’t kill people. Video games [...] kill people.” -Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the NRA

Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likelyacting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 �rst gradersand six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently amounted to some kind of "score."-CBS News Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say

"If you shoot somebody in one of these games, you don't go to jail, you don't get penalized in some way — you get extra points!" -Dr. Phil, Children and Violent Video Games

@ # µ @ # µ

Let’s Get More Technical

“Media violence - specifically video games - are not a major risk factorfor violence.

We did find rising links between media violence, television violence, and short-term aggressive behavior.

But that is significantly differentfrom violent behavior allegedly caused by playing video games...”

US Supreme Court

So while the majority of people say that violent video games cause violence, there is little evidence supporting it.

Number of Violent Game Units Sold Per Year