by Joshua Mccracken

Created on: May 21, 2009   Last Updated: May 28, 2009

People frequently point out a correlation between video game violence and real life violence most often citing the infamous columbine massacre in which two teenagers murdered numerous classmates and teachers. Of course, it was revealed that the infamous Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the perpetrators of the horror that the media dubbed the columbine massacre, played Quake and Doom.

According to an article published on PhysOrg in April 2005, Dmitri Williams, the lead author of the study on which the article is based, asserts that though video game violence appears to affect attitudes for a short period of time after exposure, there is no significant correlation between it and real life violence. Video games physiologically affect the central nervous system in a similar fashion to hip-hop or hard rock music (ie increased heart rate, which directly impacts demeanor) but there is no evidence of any long-term effects. The physiological effects of video game violence are very short acting and unlikely to result in real world violence after the initial effects have worn off within a few minutes of game play. The study focussed specifically on 56 hours of playing Asheron's Call II over the course of a month. Williams asserts that though there may be some fleeting links between video game violence and real world violence, the link does not appear to be strong at all and most conclusions suggesting the correlation between video game violence and actual violence are premature and unfounded. Individuals who are not predisposed to violent behaviors do not appear to be at risk. Those who are, will most likely engage in violent activities regardless.

In an article published by The Tech Herald on May 16th 2008, statistics were revealed showing that despite growing video game popularity, real world violence has shown a steady decline. Could it be that the activist supported studies touting video game violence as a cause for school shootings and other forms of real world violence are *SHOCK* biased? I'll let you decide.

Doubtless Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold also ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as children as did the majority of other mass-murderers. Is there a correlation between peanut-butter and jelly sandwich eating and violence? During my ground-breaking research, shockingly, it was revealed that there is not.

While it would appear to an outsider that violent video games are very similar to questionable activities such as fantasizing about murder, outsiders

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