Dear Friend,

Perhaps you would agree that the case list of aggressive and violent acts committed by our youth is heartbreakingly long, and this presents a serious problem for America.

You might not dispute the notion that extra-ordinary, large-scale acts of violence perpetrated by young people substantially began in the 1990s, ticked upward in the 2000s and has remained steady to the present.

Provided you’re with me so far, would you claim to have an informed opinion on the question of whether virtual violence leads to actual aggressive and violent behavior?

Some people believe the suggestion that life imitates the art in violent video games is too simplistic.  Given the thousands – potentially-- of precipitating influences present in any perpetrator’s background, it’s true the mass violence epidemic cannot be fully attributed to the practice of violent video gaming.

But couldn’t it still be a contributing factor to this complex and vexing social problem?

Others, often video gamers themselves, assert that since they don’t behave violently in the day-to-day world, excessive gaming could not have anything to do with actual violence. The contributing factor approach meets this objection as well, given that exposure to media violence does not automatically produce aggressive or violent behavior.

As notable Iowa State University media researcher Douglas Gentile asserts:

That everyone is not affected in the same way by media violence does not mean that everyone is not affected.

Unscientific though it may be, the central premise of this website is that exposure to and practice of virtual violence can beget actual aggression and violence.

After substantial consideration of the material on this website, maybe you will buy in to this primary assertion, or maybe you won’t.

Even if you don’t, and either you or a loved one, “Game On”, perhaps this will be done with more awareness of boundaries not worth crossing over.

John