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?
Before we begin we must first be clear that when gun violence is referred to in this article, it is specifically meant as homicides by gun. This does not include burglary, armed robbery, etc. Also, the data presented here are not very in depth and is not by any means to be taken as conclusive research in the academic sense.
Going forward though, if the logic is true, that the more hours one spends in front of violent video games, the more likely that person is to be attracted to use guns for violent purposes in the real world, then it is seems likely that we should be able to compare violent video game sales in the U.S. to another high consumer like Europe and see similar trends in homicide-by-gun rates in both major areas of the globe.
We are using the year 2009 because it is the most recent year where detailed homicide data is available for most countries in Europe. In order to conduct this research we decided on six best selling violent video games of 2009 including Killzone 2, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: World at War, and Assassin's Creed.
The total units of video games sold for the above titles in America was roughly 18 million units. And for Europe in 2009 the total was roughly 10 million units. For 2009 the gun homicide rate per 100,000 residents in the U.S. was 3.3 and in Europe it was only 0.79.
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.
As we can see from the data however, this does not seem to be true. In 2009, America's violent video game sales was merely 1.8 times the size of Europe's. But USA's homicide rate of 3.3 was 4.2 times greater than what it was in Europe in 2009: 0.8. The difference between 4.2 and 1.8 is statistically a very big number and seems to point to the fact that violent video game consumption does not lead to real world gun violence.
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.
Before we begin we must first be clear that when gun violence is referred to in this article, it is specifically meant as homicides by gun. This does not include burglary, armed robbery, etc. Also, the data presented here are not very in depth and is not by any means to be taken as conclusive research in the academic sense.
Going forward though, if the logic is true, that the more hours one spends in front of violent video games, the more likely that person is to be attracted to use guns for violent purposes in the real world, then it is seems likely that we should be able to compare violent video game sales in the U.S. to another high consumer like Europe and see similar trends in homicide-by-gun rates in both major areas of the globe.
We are using the year 2009 because it is the most recent year where detailed homicide data is available for most countries in Europe. In order to conduct this research we decided on six best selling violent video games of 2009 including Killzone 2, Halo 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: World at War, and Assassin's Creed.
The total units of video games sold for the above titles in America was roughly 18 million units. And for Europe in 2009 the total was roughly 10 million units. For 2009 the gun homicide rate per 100,000 residents in the U.S. was 3.3 and in Europe it was only 0.79.
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.
As we can see from the data however, this does not seem to be true. In 2009, America's violent video game sales was merely 1.8 times the size of Europe's. But USA's homicide rate of 3.3 was 4.2 times greater than what it was in Europe in 2009: 0.8. The difference between 4.2 and 1.8 is statistically a very big number and seems to point to the fact that violent video game consumption does not lead to real world gun violence.
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.
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