Study: Games Less Harmful Than Movies/TV

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According to a recent study, Playing Video Games, the British Board of Film Classification believes that video game violence is less harmful to young people than television or movie violence. The 107-page study is quite in-depth, and even goes beyond children and addresses middle-aged persons.

One BBFC spokeswoman, Sue Clark, sums up the research in this way:

"We have traditionally taken the view that because a game is interactive, by definition we need to be more careful. ...but one of the key conclusions of this report is that interactivity actually helps players distance reality from adult experiences in games."

Many have thought the interactive facet of video games would be more harmful to players - especially to still-developing children - but it appears that interactivity is what assists in our real-life understanding. In other words, by tapping the button to send a rocket into a group of innocents, we're differentiating between fantasy and reality in a more...up-close-and-personal way.

They conducted the study in preparation for a revision of the BBFC's video game rating system, and now it appears that new system might be less strict in the face of these results.

4/25/2007 Ben Dutka