Useful but don't swallow the conclusions

This is a very useful work in getting a summary of the issues (social and political) and science behind violence in video games. My primary concern is the number of illogical arguments made by the author to say violent video games are harmless and in fact are helpful. While there are many I will summarize a few here:

The author suggests that recent science is clear there is no harm from video games. Unfortunately, the author's own summaries show this topic is a new field of research and standardized accepted methods have not been established. In other words, while video-game research in the last 20 years has been flawed and based on methods that would not be used today, it does not mean today's methods are definitive. The study of psychology and how people process information has radically changed in the last 20 years and will continue to change in the future. Therefore, any study quoted by the authors today showing no harm may not necessarily be true. A conclusion can only be drawn when the methods and procedures for measuring psychological and social responses to violent games can be widely validated in the scientific community. Indeed, future validated methods may find violent games harmful.

One of the more illogical arguments is that the authors state that playing violent video games for prolonged periods has no effect on the mental /social aspects of most youth and may even be therapeutic. If watching and engaging in playing violent video games has no impact then, by extension, watching violent porn should also have no effect on youth. I don't hear any experts recommending our youth watch violent porn as therapy.

Finally, the authors have an unusual paranoia against the APA (Americain Psychiatric Association). They paint the APA as a cabal only looking to support itself and trying to hide the truth that violent video games are good. Unbelievably, and completely tangentially, they link the APA of supporting the invasion of Iraq to help demonstrate their claims of a coverup. Dr. Markey neglects, however, to give full disclosure that he was executive director and president of the "Society of Interpersonal Theory and Research" SITR. This organization is promoting a brand of psychology that, scientifically speaking, is also in its infancy. Should we wonder if SITR has a stake in video game research and ask if Dr. Markey is secretly advocating for his own group by putting down the APA-LOL? Let's not join Markey in this rabbit hole :)

In conclusion, I enjoyed the review of the history of the science, politics and social aspects of video gaming. Its presentation was well done. However, do not buy into the conclusions. There is still a lot of science to be done in this area and many of the conclusions the authors draw fall short of scientific rigor.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.