Horizon on BBC 2 had a programme exploring whether video games can cause violent behaviour in players; aptly named Are Video Games Really That Bad? This is a question a lot of people have asked and for some reason, can't stop asking. This episode was aired Wednesday 16th September. Various psychologists studied both behaviour and the brain after playing violent games.

One of the first experiments, taking place at Ohio State University, was measuring the aggression of people after playing a violent fighting game. The players were told afterwards they were now playing against another person. If the other person lost they could give the 'loser' a punishment. There was actually no other person; the test was to see how much/or if the player - after playing the violent game - would increase the punishment.

Another test had two groups - one playing the violent game, the other not. Both groups were then shown violent images on a TV screen and the players who had played the violent games had less of a reaction than the others.


During the first half an hour of Horizon I was a bit concerned that we were going to witness another biased 'anti video game propaganda show'. But I was pleasantly surprised. After looking at some evidence of gamers being desensitised to violence, they explored the other side of the coin.

They looked at the state of the brain and the parts that were actually being used while playing a gory video game. Despite the emotional part of the brain being activated during playing, the reasoning part of the brain was also active. This illustrated that the gamers tested knew they were playing a game (duh), and it also proved that video games have an actual effect on our brains, but not quiet as extreme as some opposes think.

Horizon actually explored the benefits of playing games. The constant practise of certain games helps grow parts of your brain. It used the older generation regaining their multitasking ability after weeks of playing as an example. I was surprised to see that a Dr had made a game with custom controls to help train keyhole surgeons. He got the idea after hearing that younger surgeons who had played video games whilst growing up appeared to have better surgery skills.

There are, however as we all know, some cases were a gamer has decided to turn violent. But I think, as a society, we need to look at the deeper problems. Why does that gamer find it difficult to determine what is real and what is behind a TV screen? There is obviously some other psychological problems there. You can't just jump to conclusions that it's the sole responsibility of the game industry. If that's the case, then should we not vilify movies in the same way? Why does it seem to be that video games are viewed in such disdain? There is still a lot of stigma around video games, mostly perpetrated by people who don't understand, or have never played, a video game.

I think gradually the feeling about video games is changing. With the sheer amount of people playing nowadays it seems a lot more accepted than it was. Young children are playing on their 3DS. Commuters are playing games on their phones and ipads. It's not just the job of teenagers in darkened rooms anymore. With the inclusion of so many different ages, maybe video games will gradually come out of the crosshairs of people who don't understand them.


Lauren