@o-soul you bring up some amazing points in your argument. Considering the reletive age of violent, specifically lifelike violent video games, it's premature to say there is no effect on empathy or the human psyche. We only could have been studying something like this for 20 years, and definitely haven't spent enough time on it to be sure of anything definitive especially considering the time frame and amount of exposure that varies on a variety of different minds.

Moreover, regardless what the science of this particular study says, I still find the claim that the violence we see has no effect on us to be pretty dubious considering that we know unequivocally that even advertising can affect what we buy and how we behave. We don't have the ability to "un-know" things after all.

While it may not add to the argument, I have had me some fun with violent video games , films, and lyrics, but I've noticed that as I've aged, learned more about the wider world, the oppressive and insidious nature of racism, toxic masculinity, and capitalism and the images used to reinforce unhealthy beliefs; I have found it more and more difficult to enjoy content that seems not to take these things into consideration.

I'm bothered that too many games create worlds where violence is the ONLY interaction with in. I'm unable to play games that don't say anything about the hyper violence we're committing beyond how cool it's supposed to be, and I question what I put in my brain more and more. For me, this proves that there is a difference in who I was as a person between Gears of War 1 and 3. Chainsawing aliens (or whatever) isn't as fun as it used to be and actively challenges who I'd like to be as a person.

So, I don't feel anyone should step in and dissolve or block violent video games, but I also think it's irresponsible to say there is no effect on the images and meanings we put into our mind, ESPECIALLY through a locus of control that gaming allows us to have. It's powerful even if we dont' fully understand it, and worth respecting what the death and murder means when we commit it. Our attraction to it alone makes that apparent in my book.