Can Video Games Influence Levels of Real Violence
Much of the research into the effects of playing video games with violent themes has used substitute measures or verbally reported indicators of aggression. Questions have been asked about whether these measures can truly represent real forms of violence that occur in everyday life. This chapter, therefore, reviews research that has included real aggression. This takes the form of observing naturally occurring behaviour, reports of actual incidents in which an individual was involved, or secondary data on a macro level, derived from official crime statistics and other relevant societal data. The evidence for violent video game effects on social violence is mixed, and the case for harm has not been proven.