I enjoyed this book so much! I can't even tell you how many people I've recommended it to. It's a well thought out examination of whether "violent" video games make a difference in humans' behavior or not. Spoiler alert: they don't.

Well researched book about video games and the history of people claiming that it is causing all sort of societies ills. Great resource if you want to shut down that relative at Thanksgiving who is going off about "The Nintendos making kids violent". The downside to this is that I think this book is about 10 years too late. I haven't seen anything in the news about games causing violence (I think we have moved on to religion).

I would recommend this book to anyone, particularly parents of kids who are starting to explore video games, to alleviate any fears that they might have that they are causing their kids harm. There are specific chapters that deal with video game addiction, social aspects of games, and desensitization to violence which all seem to be the biggest fears parents have.

Do violent video games lead kids to be more violent in real life? This was a huge debate amongst homeschoolers five-ten years ago. I’m not as involved in the day to day discussions of that subgroup anymore, but I feel like there are plenty of people who still believe that they do. So much research went into the writing of this book that I hope that it does get the audience it deserves.

Here is my standard video game Disclaimer: We are an unabashed video game enthusiast family. We own quite a few consoles and even collect what are now “antique” systems so in some ways I felt like with me the author was preaching to the choir a bit.

Tracing the world of video games from its start where in the early days Atari broke its rule about violence against humans by introducing Cops N Robbers and Roaring Twenties both of which included gun violence. That said: ” It is hard to create a horrifying and realistic violence image in the blocky 160×192 resolution of an Atari 2600.”

Nowadays we all know that that anything pictured in a video game will be both realistic and graphic whether it is violent or not. Through extensive research, we also know that games can have a positive impact on everything from social skills to stress, and may even make us more morally sensitive. The authors have spent years on the front lines of the video game debate and now offer a comprehensive overview of the scientific research on gaming. I found this to be a balanced look that separates the myths from the investigation.

I read a DRC of this book courtesy of NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.