State of Science: Games And Violent Behaviour

Perhaps you know that in my real life (yes, I have one, from time to time at least) I study Educational Science (and Sociology) at the University of Osnabrueck. In the new semester, which runs since two weeks, I attend a lecture/seminar that might interest all of you that are sick of hearing video games as the mono causal scapegoat whenever a school massacre happens.
The lecture is named: "Schlagende Jugendliche und schreckliche Computerspiele: Eine Annäherung an eine schwierige Beziehung" which translates to "Violent Adolescents and Terrible Computer Games: Approach to a Difficult Relation".
It says computer games but video games are included as well.
I know, the name of the lecture sounds like there is some kind of judgement already there and the leading professor, Dr. Wassilis Kassis, an expert in the field of violence science, makes no secret out of that he personally thinks videogames "are not needed in this world". However, unlike infamous German criminologist Dr. Christian Pfeiffer, one of Germany's leading popularist game haters, my Professor stays neutral and objective. The lecture will contain many different international studies and elements of Dr. Kassis' own quantitative study of pupil's aggression and violent behavior developed by over 3000 standardized questionnaires from Germany, Austria, Slowenia and Spain. To give one thing out already: Video games are at best one of many factors that influence people to become violent (It's what anyone with a common sense already guessed, but it is nice to have it proven true by science and so finally to take the fundament for everyone that blames video games for anything that goes wrong in society).
I will give you the running order for this semester and I will give updates and reflections of the lecture whenever I find the time, because as student of Educational Science and hardcore video game fan I am propably the only one on the internet that can build a bridge between the world of science and gamers, using my well all around the world visited blog Personal Gaming as platform.

1. - 20th October 2009 - Introduction of the topic:
A topic between panicmongering and bagatellisation

2. - 27th October 2009 - Area of Phenomenon I: Effects of violence oriented computer games
Use of violent oriented computer games und violence. Results of the Osnabrueck Youth Study
Lecture Wassilis Kassis

Theoretical Deepening I: Effects of violence representing contents.
Text: Chapter 3 and 4 (pages 23-36) of Steiner (2008) Neue Medien und Gewalt

3. - 3rd November 2009 - Exams week, cancelled

4. - 10th November 2009 - Area of Phenomenon II: Getting to know different computer games

5. - 17th November 2009 - Discussion of the observation of Area of Phenomenon II.

6. - 24th November 2009 - Theoretical Deepening II: Effects of violence representing computer games
Text: Effects of Exposure to Violent Entertainment Media, Chapter 2 (p. 12-39) of Anderson et al. (2007): Violent Computer Game Effects in Children and Adolescents

7. - 1st December 2009 - Continuation Groupwork of chapter 2 (p. 12-39) of Anderson et al. (2007): Violent Computer Game Effects in Children and Adolescents

8. - 8th December 2009 - Theoretical Deepening III: Effects of violence representing computer games
Text: The General Aggression Model, chapter 3 (p. 40-59) of Anderson et al. (2007): Violent Computer Game Effects in Children and Adolescents

9. - 15th December 2009 - Continuation groupwork of chapter 3 (p. 40-59) of Anderson et al. (2007): Violent Computer Game Effects in Children and Adolescents

10. - 5th January 2010 - Area of Phenomenon III: Analysis of the risc group
The use of violence oriented computer games and violence. Results of the Osnabrueck and STAMINA Youth Study.
Lecture Wassilis Kassis

11. - 12th January 2010 - Theoretical Deepening IV: Violent computer games and aggressive adolescents
Text: Gewalttätige Computerspiele und aggressives Verhalten im Jugendalter, von Koglin/ Witthöft/ Petermann (p. 163-172)

12. - 19th January 2010 - Continuation group work of Text of Koglin/ Witthöft/ Petermann (p. 163-172)

13. - 26th January 2010 - Theoretical Deepening V: Computers make fat, dumb and aggressive!
Text: Mediennutzung, Schulerfolg, Jugendgewalt und die Krise der Jungen, von Mößle/ Kleimann/ Rehbein und Pfeiffer (2007), (p. 1-22)

14. - 2nd February 2010 - Theoretical Deepening VI: Implications
Text: New Findings and their Implications, chap. 8 (p. 133-141) of Anderson et al. (2007): Violent Computer Game Effects in Children and Adolescents
accomplishment of an evaluation

15. - 9th February 2010 - Bread and (violence oriented computer) Games: What is the problem?
Lecture Wassilis Kassis
talk about the evalution

Okay, so far so good. As you can see it is a complex topic that is worked out scientifically. Two meetings have already happened and I can give you a short feedback. There is one thing I found irritating. The way violent computer games are categorized. My professor, as said, hasn't much knowledge of gaming history or games in general. He is helped by a scientific assistant that should know better. But he seems a little incompetent as well, although he plays games like Crysis or Grand Theft Auto IV in private. Violent games were classified as Ego Shooter and Action games:

As you can see there is some serious bullshit found here. Not only does every gamer know that Mortal Kombat is a fighting game and not an action game, following that logic you could as well say every Ego Shooter is an Action game (Tomb Raider is an Action Adventure and GTA an open world sandbox title, but somewhere they have to draw the line, I guess). However, another thing is that it is not specific games, but only the name of the series.
With the correlation of 0.678 is meant that the congruence of people that play both of the so classified ego shooter and action games is extremely high. Saying who plays the one, will play the other as well. This correlation leads to nothing, because as I mentioned above the categorisation is plain wrong.

Anyway, this should be it for today. I will post updates as the seminar progresses. And I will watch over the correctness concerning computer and video games, because this is where I am certainly more competent than any other in the room.