Finnish researchers: Video games don't desensitize to violence
by Justin McElroy 
{ Feb 27th 2008 at 3:30PM }
We're just speaking for us personally on this one, but video games haven't desensitized us to violence in the least bit. In fact, you could say that video games have made us more sensitive to it in that even the hint of a disemboweling can send us into spasms of delight, ecstatic in the knowledge that our gaming-honed thirst for blood will (temporarily) be slaked.Our feelings have now been backed up by some Finnish research, which found that players became "angry and anxious after killing an opposing character in James Bond 007: NightFire." Interestingly, the players also felt a sense of relief at being killed, which we guess is a comment on NightFire as much as anything else. What about you: Does in-game murder still have an effect on you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shagittarius @ Feb 27th 2008 3:36PM
fake violence weather interactive or passive is not real violence, therefore it could only serve to desensitize you to fake-violence.
I certainly have been desensitized to fake violence.
Gehodra @ Feb 27th 2008 8:00PM
That was... devoid of logic. Just because the violence is fake doesn't mean it can't impact your reactions to real violence. Movie violence is created to imitate real violence, it does a good job at it too.
SKI @ Feb 27th 2008 8:20PM
I don't know whether the weather will be nice today.
Shagittarius @ Feb 27th 2008 9:32PM
I disagree, I think there is a difference between simulated violence and genuine violence.
In fact I think its a rather big assumption made by you to assume that they would infact have anything to do with each other.
Would it not be similar to assume that hanging around your gay friends might turn you gay?
Gehodra @ Feb 28th 2008 4:23PM
Uh, not quite. Movie violence can be virtually identical to real violence save smell (I'm assuming that you aren't touching or tasting the decapitated head or whatnot). Better example is, if you find some food that imitates the taste of another food pretty well(can't think of any of the top of my head, but I'm sure there are some), and you don't like the taste of the imitation, you probably won't like the taste what it imitates.
I don't think this really applies to games though, I just latched on to the 'non-interactive' part of your post. Games' graphics aren't good enough to convince you that it could be real.
Co @ Feb 27th 2008 3:39PM
Nightfire was awesome. Those stupid bots could never beat me in multiplayer mode!!
Zertoss @ Feb 27th 2008 3:42PM
This article posted by the guy that said the first thing he did in Goldeneye when he got to the jungle is spin around and shoot Natalya in the head.
Of course, who hasn't done that on any escort mission on any game? It's gamer instinct. We hate escorting retarded AI, we ALL do.
Anyway, I wonder how most of us would react to witnessing real acts of violence.
FOXHOUND @ Feb 27th 2008 3:42PM
Actually for me, nothing's more satisfying than hearing the Demoman in TF2 exclaim sadistically "Oh, they're gonna have to glue you back together...IN HELL!"
I mean, in some games, I can't stand getting beat or hearing smacktalk; but TF2... I dunno, there's something different about it. It's kinda funny seeing them get splattered and spotting the "bits" of them(or yourself)strewn about afterward. Add in the character taunts, animations("HAAAAAAADOKEN!"), and even the team oriented aspect... and ka'pow. Easy 3-hour gaming session at minimum.
FOXHOUND @ Feb 27th 2008 3:43PM
NIGHTFIRE was the last 007 I got into heavily. All the others were bland or I didn't have time to finish(i.e., FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE on PSP).
Nick the Hero of Canton @ Feb 27th 2008 3:55PM
Everything or Nothing was the best Bond game. Yes, better than Goldeneye.
Okay, not better than Goldeneye, but really close.
sicsided @ Feb 27th 2008 4:21PM
Q-CLAW!
SKI @ Feb 27th 2008 8:22PM
I really like the one with the small RC tank and helicopter, which one was it?
ThornedVenom (Patapornographer) @ Feb 27th 2008 3:48PM
Such a hard choice....
Do I prefer Finland or Sweden?
daedalus @ Feb 27th 2008 3:50PM
Do you prefer Nokia or Ikea?
Joppe @ Feb 27th 2008 4:03PM
We used to own Finland.
Markusdragon @ Feb 27th 2008 4:26PM
Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.
borland502 (SDF - Macross Ring) @ Feb 27th 2008 4:32PM
"We used to own Finland."
So did the Russians. But can you beat them on a CTF_Lapland map? They really fight tough.
JakubK666 @ Feb 27th 2008 5:56PM
All eastern cultures use buffs(Polish Alcohol FTW!) but Russians are the biggest buff-whores in the continent.
Three of them + Crate of Vodka and they'll hold of against 30 Americans :)
Russians FTW!
Worst Review Ever @ Feb 27th 2008 3:49PM
Was "video games don't desensitize to violence" the actual conclusion reached by the researchers or just a headline? I ask because I'm studying communication theory and any article disproving negative, fear-mongering, gamer stereotypes is something that I would be interested in incorporating into my reasearch.
zelderman @ Feb 27th 2008 3:50PM
I don't know about you, but after a rousing 8 hour session of Halo 3, staying up til 5 in the morning, all I wanna do is go on a murdering rampage and steal cars and rob banks and kill hookers and rape kittens and tackle orphans and other nasty things. Man I am a sick son of a gun. Man violence is great.
/sarcasm
JakubK666 @ Feb 27th 2008 6:02PM
No...you have sex with hookers,then kill them so you can take your money back.
fischju @ Feb 27th 2008 3:53PM
In Call of Duty 4 it does.....too real....*shiver*
markhill66 @ Feb 27th 2008 3:53PM
They were probably relieved when they were killed because they didn't have to play that game anymore, and sad when they killed someone because they were jealous.
I'm kidding! The game's alright, I just had to get it out there.
Anticrawl @ Feb 27th 2008 4:38PM
Fake violence is nothing like real world violence. I cringe at the sound of bones cracking and people being hurt in real life and hell I played violent sports growing up.
The characters in a game don't have an real soul or reaction to your actions. It's just over-the-top cartoony fun and a great way to productively de-stress or release any rage pent up from the day. I can't stand movies like SAW or anything that tries to glorify death and whatnot in a realistic fashion but I love the cartoony over-the-top violence like Die Hard.
IF video games desensitized people to violence I'd bet we'd see a lot of people using games as a "gateway drug" to more hardcore and real forms of violent medium such as snuff films.
I won't bat an eyelash and may even laugh as I "de-body" an enemy in Gears of War but if someone I knew were to break a bone or get hurt badly in some manner I probably wouldn't eat for the rest of the day and be disturbed in some manner. I can account to this having two family members with dibilitating illnesses that are constantly hurt or in the hospital.
Tommy Chaos @ Feb 27th 2008 4:42PM
Funny picture! Ahh, great sense of humor... and yes however I don't really play very many violent games. I have a Wii
Kujel @ Feb 27th 2008 4:41PM
If video game violence made people kill in the real world Canada would be uninhabited, Candaians play just as many violent video games per capita as Americans and they've had far less violence per capita, coincidence I think not.
Drago Dracini @ Feb 27th 2008 5:30PM
Personally, I've been playing games since I was 2 and I still feel scared of F.E.A.R. and Condemned and Bioshock. So it definatly doesn't desensitize for some. Though on Halo when I kill my friends I definatly feel anxious that they're gonan come get me. ;p
albinogoldfish @ Feb 27th 2008 5:07PM
I know that if I saw someone's head explode 'ala Gears of War, I would freak the hell out. But having played video games I would know that when someone's head does do that, it means duck.
Slaziman @ Feb 27th 2008 5:20PM
Uhmmm wasn't this posted on Joystiq before?
Slaziman @ Feb 27th 2008 5:42PM
Yes it was, under a completely different guise:
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/02/25/science-says-fps-players-enjoy-getting-shot/
Booxatron @ Feb 27th 2008 6:15PM
Slaziman, meet Slaziman. He can answer all your questions.
Korova @ Feb 27th 2008 8:52PM
Ok, I thought I was tripping there for a second. But I like this post a little better. Its more farcical.
Intrepyd @ Feb 27th 2008 5:33PM
Finnish Him!!
WiNG @ Feb 27th 2008 5:39PM
It's official: Studies were made to contradict other studies.
cduran01 @ Feb 27th 2008 5:40PM
I don't know about others, but I don't feel anything but satisfaction when I kill something in a video game. But I'm a grown man with a normal (somewhat) brain, and I can tell the difference. I've grown up with video games, and not just the cutesy Pac Man, Donkey Kong types. Im talking Mortal Kombat, etc, yet video game violence doesn't phase me at all. BUT, I get sick to my stomach when I see a dead body or a pool of blood on the TV news or those forensic shows.
Bottom line is, parents need to monitor their kids, and if they see that the child doesn't have a healthy attitude when it comes to distinguishing games from reality, the games need to be taken away.
Deozaan @ Feb 27th 2008 6:19PM
I don't worry about Halo deaths or Eternal Darkness kind of death. That doesn't bother me because I know it's fake and it's to tell a story. It's much like a good movie or book where someone dies.
But I am still sensitive to even fake violence. In my opinion, games like Manhunt are despicable and I would not play them. But I also would not watch a movie like Saw or Hostel. That kind of senseless, random, over-the-top violence isn't entertaining to me. It's disgusting.
And when it comes to real violence, I am very sensitive to it. I am perhaps desensitized to news stories of murders that don't affect me or anyone I know, depending on how heinous the murder was. For instance, if I hear about a body that was found in a city somewhere, I don't really care. But when I heard the news of those two parents who let their infant die, strapped in its car seat inside the crib, that made me ill.
Fortunately for me, I haven't witnessed much violence other than perhaps shouting, shoving, and punching. Stuff like what you'd find among little children anyway.
fnc @ Feb 27th 2008 6:39PM
Online shooters ~may~ have desensitized me to acts of violence, that much is debatable.
What is most assuredly not debatable is that it has taught me to teabag everything I kill.
Zaber Guard @ Feb 27th 2008 9:23PM
Honestly, I dont care whether I get killed or do the killing in a game. Why? No Jack, Im not a phsyco killer who wishes to shove sharp things into school teachers. Its because I know it is completly non sequiter to destroy a colourful array of pixels and polygons.
In truth though, The only emotional results I feel is when a leading character is killed of for good (Aeris. yes, make all the Sony fanboy jokes you want) I feel more attached to deaths in movies than games, solely because A) The people are Real people acting, not digital representations of life and B) Theres no back button to try again. Certainly Im not going to giggle when I watch the news on the war or what not, because Games just dont do that. Its entertainment, not a murder simulator
Autopsy15 @ Feb 27th 2008 10:50PM
Nice repost Justin! Very informative!
Red Leader @ Feb 28th 2008 11:20PM
I was playing Kane and Lynch (which is btw a really fun co-op game)on my own just a few minutes ago. At one point in the level where you're escaping from the bank, I was surprised to hear the voice of a fallen officer on the ground that I thought I had "eliminated". The officer begged for her life, pleading that she had a daughter to take care of. I had no intention of killing this person, because even if it is just a video game, I'm still human. Ironically, Lynch (the other main character) came out from behind me and killed cop on the ground. I felt bad, but it's a game, so I kept on playing.