The link between the violent video game and the attacks comes just days after Australia's censorship ministers agreed to create an R18+ rating for video games. Rampage ... Anders Behring Breivik in costumes. Credit:Reuters A recent government-commissioned review of research into whether video games cause real-world aggression found the results were "inconclusive" although there was some evidence of short-term effects The federal government said yesterday Breivik committed the atrocities because there is "something clearly intrinsically wrong with him", not because he played violent video games. NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said Modern Warfare 2, rated MA15+, is one of the games that should be reviewed to have a more restricted R18+ rating. The game attracted controversy upon release because in one mission players can join a group of Russian ultranationalist terrorists and massacre civilians with assault weapons in an airport.

Target practice via video games The controversial mission from Modern Warfare 2 in which players slaughter civilians in an airport. In the rambling, partly plagiarised manifesto - dubbed "2083 - A European Declaration of Independence" - Breivik described his addiction to the online multiplayer game World of Warcraft and claimed it was a good cover story to explain what he was doing while plotting the attacks. He wrote that "target practise" is difficult for "urban Europeans like us" and recommends taking a shooting vacation to a country club or playing video games as alternatives. "Simulation by playing Call of Duty, Modern Warfare is a good alternative as well but you should try to get some practise with a real assault rifle (with red point optic) if possible," Breivik wrote under the Anglicised name Andrew Berwick.

Breivik, who also described the game as "the best military simulator out there", said he usually preferred fantasy role-playing games to shooters but "I see MW2 more as a part of my training-simulation than anything else". "I've still learned to love it though and especially the multiplayer part is amazing. You can more or less completely simulate actual operations," he wrote. World of Warcraft the perfect alibi On World of Warcraft, Breivik said "you will be amazed on how much you can do undetected while blaming this game". "If your planning requires you to travel, say that you are visiting one of your WoW friends, or better yet, a girl from your 'guild' (who lives in another country). No further questions will be raised if you present these arguments."

Gamers already appear to have identified Breivik's World of Warcraft characters. Through his lawyers, Breivik has admitted writing the document and committing the massacre but said he did not believe he should be punished. Released in late 2009, Modern Warfare 2 attracted almost universally positive reviews and it is the second best-selling game of all time in both Britain and the US. Realising the terrorist mission in the game would be controversial, publisher Activision built in a graphic content warning and gave players the option to skip the mission. Video games-violence link "inconclusive"

In December last year, the Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor, released a review of existing research into whether people who play violent video games are at greater risk of being aggressive. At the time Mr O'Connor said the review found the evidence was "inconclusive". "This review shows that there's little evidence to support any claim of a strong link, though there is some evidence of short-term effects on gamers," Mr O'Connor said. The analysis found there was no conclusive evidence that violent video games had a greater impact on players than other violent media, such as movies or music videos. It found there was stronger evidence of short-term effects from violent computer games than long-term effects. Some of the analysed research found that violent computer games were a small risk factor in aggressive behaviour over the short term, but these studies do not thoroughly explore other factors such as aggressive personality, family and peer influence and socio-economic status.

'Something intrinsically wrong with him' Asked on ABC's Insiders yesterday about the link between video games and the Oslo shooting, Mr O'Connor said it would not change his support for the R18+ rating for video games, which he argued would prevent adult video games from slipping through as MA15+ or lower. "At the moment the most popular adult-themed games that are played only lawfully by adults around the world are played by 15 year olds here," he said. Mr O'Connor promised this would change once Australia introduces R18+ for games. "But look, because there is a madman who has done just such atrocities in Norway, I don't think that means that we are going to close down film or the engagement with games," he said.

"I think it really points to, of course, a person who - clearly there is something wrong with this person to sort of cause such devastation in Norway. But I'm not sure that the argument goes that as a result of watching a game you turn into that type of person. I think there is something clearly intrinsically wrong with him." The Australian Christian Lobby managing director Jim Wallace criticised O'Connor over his remarks and said that if even a few deranged minds could be "taken over the edge by an obsession with violent games" then the game should be banned. "The studied indifference of this killer to the suffering he was inflicting, his obvious dehumanising of his victims and the evil methodical nature of the killings have all the marks of games scenarios," said Wallace. "How can we allow the profits of the games industry and selfishness of games libertarians to place our increasingly dysfunctional society at further risk? Even if this prohibition were to save only one tragedy like this each twenty years it would be worth it." Asked in a phone interview whether he was specifically asking for a ban on Modern Warfare 2, Wallace said he did not want to single out a specific title as he did not know how many other violent games Breivik played.

"We need to look at each game on its merit and where the violence is excessive or gratuitous then we need to ban them," he said. No impact on R18+ policy decision On Friday, the attorneys-general of all states and territories except NSW agreed to introduce an R18+ rating for video games. NSW Attorney-General Greg Smith abstained from the vote, arguing he had to first consult the cabinet, although he indicated that NSW did not want to be "the fly in the ointment" on this issue. Asked today whether the Breivik Modern Warfare 2 revelations would affect the NSW position on R18+ for video games, Mr Smith's spokesman said Mr Smith agreed with Mr O'Connor's comments on Insiders.

"It won't make any difference to our support, which should be confirmed shortly," he said. Mr Shoebridge said the lack of a sensible video game ratings structure in Australia up to this point had meant games such as Modern Warfare 2 "are often more available to young people here than in other countries" due to the lack of an R18+ rating. "On the reporting to date there has been no evidence that this game was causative of this man's appalling actions. It appears this very disturbed man formed his murderous intention before playing this computer game," Mr Shoebridge said. "The bigger concern is his history of active hunting, with high powered weapons, rather than his playing computer games." Activision has been approached for comment.

The games industry body, the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association, video games were played by millions of people across the globe and by a majority of the adult population without incident. "I think it's fair to say that in our communities there will always be individuals who will have a predisposition towards violent behaviour, the causes for which fall into a very wide range of factors," said IGEA chief executive Ron Curry. "To single out a symptom, rather than the underlying cause, does little to understand, or show respect to, the greater tragedy." 'It is better to kill too many than not enough' In the manifesto, Breivik claims the Knights Templar, a medieval order of crusading warriors, had been re-formed in London in 2002 as an anti-Jihad movement.

"Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike," he wrote. "Do not apologize, make excuses or express regret for you are acting in self-defense in a pre-emptive manner." Large chunks of the 1500-page document are cut and pasted from other far-right, anti-Islam documents on the internet. Some are copied from writings by "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, notorious in the United States for killing three people and wounding more than 20 with letter bombs sent from 1978 to 1995. Breivik changed some words to stress what he saw as the dangers of mixing cultures.

Where the Unabomber wrote, "One of the most widespread manifestations of the craziness of our world is leftism," Breivik's text put "multi-culturalism" instead of leftism. Breivik said he was not against immigrants who integrate and reserved much of his fury for a liberal European political establishment he viewed as promoting Europe's destruction. Though the document shows the killer as a fantasist, his anti-immigration ideas are not so far from mainstream European politics, not least in Norway, where the populist, anti-immigration Progress Party is the second largest. Loading - with Reuters

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