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Violent video games have often been accused of facilitating aggressive behaviour, in particular due to concerns that they could numb players toward real violence and therefore result in decreased empathy towards the pain of others. However, studies investigating these claims have often produced conflicting results, potentially due to methodological issues. For instance, work showing that violent games lead to emotional desensitization has often relied on testing participants immediately after a gaming session, which limits interpretations about prolonged impact. Many studies also compare gamers to people with no gaming experience, making it difficult to assess whether violent games decrease empathy, or whether less empathetic individuals are more likely to be drawn to this content.
Lengersdorff et al. aimed to examine the long-term effects of violent video games using an experimental design that would bypass some of these limitations. A group of 89 young men with little gaming experience were recruited to play either a highly or non-violent version of the same game for seven hour-long sessions over two weeks. The way their brain reacted to violent images and processed other people’s pain was assessed before and after this ‘gaming training’ using fMRI. The analyses showed no changes in these measures in volunteers who played the violent version of the game, suggesting that it had not numbed them to violence or affected their empathy.
While experimental studies cannot fully capture the experiences of real-world gamers, the findings by Lengersdorff et al. represent a step towards resolving the scientific controversy surrounding the effects of violent games. Ultimately, a deeper understanding of how this type of media influences our emotions could help inform policymaking decisions about access to violent content.
