The great thing about video game violence studies is you can generally find one to back up whatever opinion you may have on the issue. Take the one performed by the Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, which pretty much found what I've been saying all along. Violent video games only affect crazy kids.

Okay, not crazy exactly, but those predisposed towards violence, aggression and neurotic behavior. Call it crazy lite(tm). The study looked at 120 children in the early teens before and after a 20 minute Quake II session. While the already aggressive children were either more or less aggressive depending on their emotional state before playing, the majority weren't affected at all.

Prof Devilly said much of the research linking aggressive behaviour to violent video games had been unconvincing.

"It's the only message parents have ever received and it's just not accurate," he said.

The study showed aggression linked to game playing depended on a player's mood and predisposition to aggression, he said.

It all boils down to being familiar enough with your child to know whether or not they should be playing violent video games, which is sadly a rare thing these days. You don't leave a pryo kid alone with a pack of matches, but if you never look closely enough to see the soot on their fingertips, how are you to know? Michael Fahey

Most kids 'unaffected' by violent games [The Sydney Morning Herald via GamePolitics]

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