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Another GTA article (aka. Fun with statistics)

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Another GTA article (aka. Fun with statistics)

Old 09-16-03, 04:10 PM
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Another GTA article (aka. Fun with statistics)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...nguage=printer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - More than 70 percent of American teenage boys have played the violent but popular "Grand Theft Auto" video games, and they are more likely to have been in a fight than those who have not played, according to a new Gallup company poll released on Tuesday.

Although the study showed twice as many boys who had played the criminal adventure game reported having been in a fight in the last year, the survey's authors cautioned that did not prove a link between game violence and real-life behavior.

The Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing found in an online survey of 517 teenagers aged 13 to 17 conducted in August that 71 percent of boys in that age group have played "GTA," along with 34 percent of girls.

"Grand Theft Auto 3" was the best-selling video game of 2001, and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" topped the charts in 2002. They have been decried by parents and lawmakers, among others, for depictions of graphic violence against women, law enforcement officers and the elderly.

Both games, published by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., carry "Mature" ratings from the Entertainment Software Rating Board, meaning they are not intended for persons under age 17.

The survey found that 34 percent of boys who admitted to being in a physical fight over the last year have played "GTA," while 17 percent who were in a fight have not played the game.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

"The data can't demonstrate causality -- boys who are more prone to fighting may simply be more attracted to violent video games," the Gallup editors said.

"With regard to the likelihood to have been in a physical fight in the last year, the difference between those who have played and not played is greater for Grand Theft Auto than for any of the other games asked about," they said.

The poll found that 62 percent of teenagers play games at least one hour a week, while 25 percent play six or more hours per week. More than one-third of those surveyed reported spending no time playing video games.

"As a parent, I absolutely did expect what we found, that games are a big part of kids' lives," Frank Newport, the poll's editor-in-chief, told Reuters.

Maybe my brain is a little slow this afternoon, but wouldn't you expect GTA players to make up at least 71% of the fighters in the last year, if you're trying to prove GTA causes violence?

Instead, we have 34% versus 17% (versus 49% who apparently were beaten so badly they can't remember whether they played it ).

So it's a 2:1 ratio when the population is 71:29.

Sounds like GTA prevents violence to me.
Old 09-16-03, 04:15 PM
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I thought the violence wasn't a gimmick?
Old 09-16-03, 04:19 PM
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This is the most important part of the article:

"The data can't demonstrate causality -- boys who are more prone to fighting may simply be more attracted to violent video games," the Gallup editors said.
Old 09-16-03, 04:19 PM
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"With regard to the likelihood to have been in a physical fight in the last year, the difference between those who have played and not played is greater for Grand Theft Auto than for any of the other games asked about," they said.
...but since GTA sold such an astronomically high number of copies, isn't that misleading as well? I mean, I could say that the percentage of 'fighters' that have seen Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is higher than that of folks who have seen Salo, but that doesn't mean anything at all. I'd bet proportionally more 'fighters' have eaten at McDonald's more frequently than at Boston Market, but that doesn't mean that McNuggets make more kids violent. They're just more ubiquitous.
Old 09-16-03, 05:11 PM
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This report is a joke. 51% of kids between the ages of 13 and 17 have been in a fight in the last year. Kids these days have a very strange definition of fight because the face beating, street brawling type are definatly not the kind that happen to 50% of the populace every year.

And like it was mentioned
71% played the game 34% got into fights.
29% didn't play the game 17% got into fights.

It seems like we have some real math majors studying this survey.

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