Playing video games doesn't lead to violent behaviour, study shows

Video games do not lead to violence or aggression, according to a reanalysis of data gathered from more than 21,000 young people around the world. The researchers, led by Aaron Drummond from New Zealand's Massey University, re-examined 28 studies from previous years that looked at the link between aggressive behaviour and video gaming, a method known as a meta-analysis. The new report, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science on Wednesday, found that, when bundled together, the studies showed a statistically significant but minuscule positive correlation between gaming and aggression, below the threshold required to count as even a "small effect". "Thus, current research is unable to support the hypothesis that violent video games have a meaningful long-term predictive impact on youth aggression," the report said. Between them, the various studies included in the research dated back to 2008, and had reported a range of effects, including a small positive correlation between violence and video-game use in around a quarter of them and no overall conclusion in most of the rest, with one 2011 study finding a negative correlation. One common argument for a negative effect of gaming is that small harms can accumulate over time: if a player ends every game slightly more aggressive then, over the long term, that might add up to a meaningful change in temperament.