Playing video games will not make people a bad person. This is the conclusion of a study made in Germany focusing on the adverse effects of playing video games for hours on end.
The study was conducted by different schools in psychology in Germany on youths that heavily played video games. Under a regular MRI scan check, they've found out that even after playing violent games such as Call of Duty: black ops 3 and Grand theft Auto V has no visible adverse effect. This is in contrast with the previous notion that long-term exposure to violent games, desensitizes the brutality seen on such games, making them more prone to violent behaviors.
They have grouped a collection of youths who have played or playing violent, first person shooters, such as Call of Duty and Battlefield for 4 years with an average of two hours a day of playing. They were given image tests to determine their psychological states and underwent MRI scans to map out regions of the brain where violent emotions are normally observed.
However, this study, which was posted on the Frontiers of Psychology website show that there is no connection between development of violent behavior to playing video games in an extended period of time. As further proof to this conclusion, recent statistics point out that the rate of violent crimes perpetrated by youths actually went down during the late 90s and early 2000s, which is now called the "golden age" of video games.
Though the study is still not conclusive and many are still skeptical of the generality of the said conclusions, it is a step forward into understanding the real effects of video games in society. As games continue to be released monthly, there is no doubt that there is a sure effect of people, only that violence seem to be not among those expected results.
