A prof supplies data showing exposure to violent video games has "no significant relationship" to mass shootings. In other news, exposure to "Dancing with the Stars" has no significant relationship to train robberies.


Before you go all "No shit, professor, I could have told you that," realize the guy is trying to answer the question credibly and completely and with empirical data, which is a hell of a lot more intellectually honest than people who immediately connect those dots on talking head shows in the news.

Anyway, Christopher Ferguson of Texas A&M International University, published in the latest Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, says despite more than a decade's worth of information there is no link between violent crimes and violent games, even though every time a perp's game habit is brought up it's taken for granted.


Instead, Ferguson looks at the conditions that create a moral panic and often drag video games in for the ritual beating. And he implies that this outrage is more than a little goosed by researchers seeking that next grant check.

"It has been observed that a small group of researchers have been most vocal in promoting the anti-game message, oftentimes ignoring research from other researchers, or failing to disclose problems with their own research. As some researchers have staked their professional reputation on anti-game activism, it may be difficult for these researchers to maintain scientific objectivity regarding the subject of their study. Similarly, it may be argued that granting agencies are more likely to provide grant money when a potential problem is identified, rather than for studying a topic with the possibility that the outcome may reveal that there is nothing to worry about."

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Researcher: No Link Between Violent Games & School Shootings [GamePolitics via Gamasutra]