My 2p is that violent video games will certainly have the potential to affect previously unstable characters, and although they will not give anyone particular moral insight (but what do I know, there may well be games out there that could have a potential to--I've just never seen any), most people won't change appreciably as a result of playing them.
Much was made of the way the Columbine murderers played Doom, for instance, but in a generally fairly violent and unjust society the real influences on acts of violence like that are probably to be found predominantly in the real world, in the facets of life that matter more, such as parent-child relationships, disturbing experiences, etc. A lot of people are full of anger that they can probably rather reduce a little bit by play-acting out violence. I'd still take that over shooting at living people any day. There will always be those who develop serious mental health difficulties, and they will be vulnerable to any such 'influence', but demonising video games probably mainly serves to distract from the more fundamental issues.
My 2p is that violent video games will certainly have the potential to affect previously unstable characters, and although they will not give anyone particular moral insight (but what do I know, there may well be games out there that could have a potential to--I've just never seen any), most people won't change appreciably as a result of playing them.
Much was made of the way the Columbine murderers played Doom, for instance, but in a generally fairly violent and unjust society the real influences on acts of violence like that are probably to be found predominantly in the real world, in the facets of life that matter more, such as parent-child relationships, disturbing experiences, etc. A lot of people are full of anger that they can probably rather reduce a little bit by play-acting out violence. I'd still take that over shooting at living people any day. There will always be those who develop serious mental health difficulties, and they will be vulnerable to any such 'influence', but demonising video games probably mainly serves to distract from the more fundamental issues.