Sanity At Last?
Tabloid The Daily Telegraph ran an article entitled “Not guilty – Why computer games don’t turn players into violent anti-social slobs”. Excerpts:
Computer games do not prompt players to morph into anti-social, aggressive couch-potatoes, a four-year Government-sponsored report has found.
The majority of players feel happy, exhilarated, relaxed or challenged when playing, according to researches, who witnessed “very little overt aggression” in video arcades. “The main type of aggression was robust tratement of the equipment. Verbal aggression towards others was negligible and, if it did occurm, laughter and playful talk accompanied it,” the report states. Researchers point to international research which suggests that playing computer games can improve children’s co-ordination and analytical skills, increase interest in computer education and enjoyment of leisure time.
“There is little reason to believe that the activity itself should be a cause for concern and little evidence that it is a major source of anxiety within the community,” according to the report. “Young players reported that the aggressive content is not the central attraction of games. Many players said that they perceive the aggressive content as fantastic and preposterous, with the result that they do not take it seriously.”
But it was still a tabloid. An accompanying picture of a wild-eyed psycho was captioned, “Cleared… this Playstation character does not make players more aggressive.”
8:25pm (GMT +10.00) 
