Evaluation of Results

As the information gathered above shows, while there is research and some very strong opinions on violence in videogames causing real life crimes, there is just as much research and opinions suggesting exactly the opposite.

Critics against the games do however make a fair point, it does seem to make sense that people playing these games might be inspired by them, and thus imitate them in real life by committing serious crimes such as school shootings, bank robberies, etc.

However, other research and opinions show that videogames are not to blame for violent crimes, but that there are other triggers such as delinquent parents that are largely ignored by the media, and what they never mention are the parents of the children committing the crimes: who bought the games for them? Why are they allowed to own and play these games, despite the fact that a ratings system is in place in order to prevent minors from buying and owning these games?

It is possible that higher levels of aggression may have an effect on a person’s favourite videogame genres: people who aren’t aggressive by nature may prefer more light hearted and traditional videogames like the Super Mario series, while people who feel the need to “take their anger out” more often may instead prefer violent and gory games such as Manhunt.

Videogames, in theory, should not really have anything to do with real life violence, however it is possible that the people committing the crimes are either blaming the games as a way of finding an excuse, or there are psychologically vulnerable people playing these games, with their own problems and their obsession with the violent games building up to a point where they feel an impulsive need to commit an act that would be considered a crime.

But, as mentioned before, some of these people have had their parents or legal guardians buying the games for them, because they are not old enough to play them. The issue of parents not paying attention to age and content ratings appears to be common, and if the violent videogames are in fact having effect on the minds of the players, then this would most likely be the root of the problem: not the games themselves, but the ignorant parents.