Okay, I’m a first amendment absolutist. I’m quick to jump on data that defends my art and our industry from those who don’t understand it. All the same, I’m sick of reading about this study about Asheron’s Call 2.

After an average playtime of 56 hours over the course of a month with “Asheron’s Call 2,” a popular MMRPG, or “massively multi-layer online role-playing game,” researchers found “no strong effects associated with aggression caused by this violent game,” said Dmitri Williams, the lead author of the study.

Players were not statistically different from the non-playing control group in their beliefs on aggression after playing the game than they were before playing, Williams said.

Nor was game play a predictor of aggressive behaviors. Compared with the control group, the players neither increased their argumentative behaviors after game play nor were significantly more likely to argue with their friends and partners.

Let’s not snark on AC2, but instead get to the point: using AC2 to determine whether or not video game violence will warp your mind is roughly akin to using Everyone Loves Raymond to see if television makes you violent.

Perhaps a bad example: ELR does, in fact, make me throw items at my television screen. Nonetheless, AC2 is many things, some good and some bad. My memories of the game are nearly two years old (and people who have played it since or more frequently are welcome to contradict me), but what I remember is mostly cartoony violence. Like most MMOs, the action occurs at a fairly sedate pace. Much of the combat happens at range. I remember little or no apparent blood, nor gruesome monster deaths. I think only one server has player killing. And industry apologists are trying to use this to defend a game of drug-running, cop-killing, ho-slapping and general naughtiness like GTA? That’s like comparing apples and frickin’ stainless steel birdhouses. The article admits as much, saying:

“This game featured fantasy violence, while others featuring outer space or even everyday urban violence may yield different outcomes.”

Well, why didn’t you TEST with the ones with urban violence? What’s next, observing girls playing Virtual Barbie to see if it turns them into cowboys?

The original comments thread is here.