The relationship between gun violence and video game violence
Over the past decade there have been several studies conducted regarding the link between aggression in one's behavior and the amount of time spent playing violent video games. This was an intense topic of debate after the Columbine Massacre. It seems that the data resulting from these studies has mostly been mixed depending on who is conducting the research and the different factors that have been taken into consideration during the study. But what can one really prove looking at the raw numbers available to the common person?
First of all, to be honest it must be stated that the statistics here are not thorough at all and are, at best, an anecdotal line of evidence to show the very weak link between actual gun violence in real life and video game violence. Secondly the only gun violence that is being researched is strictly homicides committed with a firearm. This does not completely encapsulate the topic of gun violence but is ultimately the statistic that is most heavily debated in political circles.
If the allegation is true, that the increased consumption and time spent playing violent video games in America is a leading cause for the reason why the country has such a (relatively) high level of gun violence in this country, then it is logical that one should be able to compare America to the next highest consumer of violent video games (Europe) and see similar murder-by-firearm rates there as well.
The year 2009 has been chosen for this article because that is the most recent year in which detailed homicide data are available for both the USA and most of the countries in Europe. Data have been given for the six best selling violent video games of 2009; the rationale was to include any game where the point is to kill or shoot people. The six games included are: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, Assassin's Creed, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Killzone 2
The total number of units sold for all six games in 2009 in the USA was 18,151,386. In Europe the total was much lower at 10,108,855. In that same year the average rate of homicides by gun per one hundred thousand residents in the USA was 3.3. Averaging together all the countries in Europe that data was available for in 2009, the number comes out to 0.8 shooting deaths per one hundred thousand residents. Much lower than the US's 3.3.
So, if video game violence can be linked to gun violence, it is logical to assume that one could to take the ratio of violent video game sales in the USA vs. Europe and compare it to the ratio of homicides by gun in the USA vs. Europe and see that the two are similar in scale. To put it more plainly, since Europe's violent video game consumption was 56% that of the USA, we should see that, similarly, their homicide by gun rate is also 56% in comparison to the USA if it indeed is true that video game violence can be correlated to gun violence.
But as can be inferred from the numbers stated earlier, this is not the case. In 2009, USA's violent video game consumption was 1.8 times that of Europe but the homicide by gun rate was a whopping 4.2 times greater than Europe's. Quite a large discrepancy. The USA's inclination toward actual gun violence is much greater than the high consumption and attraction to video game violence when compared to Europe.
In summary, we can see that at least on the surface, it appears that there is probably not much of a relationship between video game violence and actual real-life violence as demonstrated by the difference in ratios of violent video game sales and the number of homicides by firearm.
First of all, to be honest it must be stated that the statistics here are not thorough at all and are, at best, an anecdotal line of evidence to show the very weak link between actual gun violence in real life and video game violence. Secondly the only gun violence that is being researched is strictly homicides committed with a firearm. This does not completely encapsulate the topic of gun violence but is ultimately the statistic that is most heavily debated in political circles.
If the allegation is true, that the increased consumption and time spent playing violent video games in America is a leading cause for the reason why the country has such a (relatively) high level of gun violence in this country, then it is logical that one should be able to compare America to the next highest consumer of violent video games (Europe) and see similar murder-by-firearm rates there as well.
The year 2009 has been chosen for this article because that is the most recent year in which detailed homicide data are available for both the USA and most of the countries in Europe. Data have been given for the six best selling violent video games of 2009; the rationale was to include any game where the point is to kill or shoot people. The six games included are: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, Assassin's Creed, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: World at War, Killzone 2
The total number of units sold for all six games in 2009 in the USA was 18,151,386. In Europe the total was much lower at 10,108,855. In that same year the average rate of homicides by gun per one hundred thousand residents in the USA was 3.3. Averaging together all the countries in Europe that data was available for in 2009, the number comes out to 0.8 shooting deaths per one hundred thousand residents. Much lower than the US's 3.3.
So, if video game violence can be linked to gun violence, it is logical to assume that one could to take the ratio of violent video game sales in the USA vs. Europe and compare it to the ratio of homicides by gun in the USA vs. Europe and see that the two are similar in scale. To put it more plainly, since Europe's violent video game consumption was 56% that of the USA, we should see that, similarly, their homicide by gun rate is also 56% in comparison to the USA if it indeed is true that video game violence can be correlated to gun violence.
But as can be inferred from the numbers stated earlier, this is not the case. In 2009, USA's violent video game consumption was 1.8 times that of Europe but the homicide by gun rate was a whopping 4.2 times greater than Europe's. Quite a large discrepancy. The USA's inclination toward actual gun violence is much greater than the high consumption and attraction to video game violence when compared to Europe.
In summary, we can see that at least on the surface, it appears that there is probably not much of a relationship between video game violence and actual real-life violence as demonstrated by the difference in ratios of violent video game sales and the number of homicides by firearm.
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Learn more about gun statistics and how to think logically about gun control in our society.