Video games have often been associated with
increasing violence and aggression in teens although there has been no
scientific evidence proving the theory.
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| Adam Lanza |
One example is the Sandy
Hook Massacre where 20 year old Adam Lanza killed 15 people at a Colorado high
school in 1999. Prior to the shooting
Lanza often retreated to his bedroom with the windows sealed with black bin-liners
and played video games. One of the video
games recovered was a school shooting game where the player must carry out a
classroom killing as well as other violent video games such as Call of
Duty. However, Lanza had an obsession
with mass murders as well as suffering from Asperger’s Disorder, along with
“significant social impairments” and “extreme anxiety,” before showing signs of
OCD – all of which he refused to get treatment for. Although it appears there may be a link, the
prosecutor concluded that there was no clear indication as to why he carried
out the killing.
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| Anders Behring Breivik |
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| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 |
Another example is Anders
Behring Breivik, who in 2011, carried out two attacks in Norway killing a total
of 77 people. The first attack was a car
bomb near a Government building that killed a total of 8 lives and injured
209. The second attack occurred at a
summer camp in the island of Utøya where Anders, dressed as a police officer,
opened fire and killed 69 people. In
court Anders stated that he used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a training
simulation, whilst using World of Warcraft as a cover for his extended period
of isolation.
These two cases do show that video games
are associated with increased violence and aggression; however the individual
must already be showing signs of mental instability.
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