I DO LOVE VIDEO GAMES. BUT AFTER AWHILE, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO GETUP AND DO SOMETHING OBSERVINGTHE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME VIOLENCEON VIOLENT CRIME ACROSS EIGHT USSTATESPatrick Cremen (10312473)Trinity College DublinAugust 2015ABSTRACT While many psychological studies have found a positive relationship between video game violence and aggression, few studies have examined the relationship between violent video games and real life series acts of aggression. The few studies examining the relationship between violent video game exposure and crime in the field have found there to be a negative relationship. However, without data on when exposure takes place, these studies cannot sufficiently attribute this effect to either voluntary incapacitation or catharsis.In this study, a methodology is developed for estimating the hourly number ofpeople in eight US states exposed to each Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game between the years 2006-2012. This data is then compared to hourly violent crime rates in these states. The study finds that all types of video game reduce violent crime during exposure. However, intensely violent video games increase violent crime rates in the hours following exposure. Since increased violent video game exposureis related to increases in violent crime rates following exposure, this study provides the first comprehensive evidence linking video game violence to real life acts of aggression. Therefore the catharsis hypothesis is rejected. The decrease in violent crime rates during exposure supports the voluntary incapacitation hypothesis.Overall, both violent and non-violent video games reduce violent crime, although games featuring intense levels of violence lead to a slight net increase in violent crime. However, further research is needed before this can be deemed a causal relationship 2ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThank you to my supervisor Richard Leyte for his assistance and guidance throughout this project.Thank you to Lauri Mkinen and Kyle Orland, who spent their valuable time providing me with data without which this study would not have been possible. 3CONTENTS1 INTRODUCTION AND STUDY AIMS...........................................................................................................................................11.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................................................11.1.1 Policy Relevance.................................................................................................................................................................11.1.2 A Phantom Connection?.....................................................................................................................................................21.2 STUDY AIMS.................................................................................................................................................................................31.2.1 Outline of Study..................................................................................................................................................................31.2.2 Aims....................................................................................................................................................................................31.2.3 Hypotheses..........................................................................................................................................................................31.2.4 Other Possible Results........................................................................................................................................................42 LITERATURE REVIEW...................................................................................................................................................................52.1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................................................52.2 THE PSYCHOLOGICAL LITERATURE..............................................................................................................................................52.2.1 VGV and Aggression: A Tale of Two Camps:....................................................................................................................52.2.2 Reaching a Consensus: Meta-Analytic Reviews, Reviewed................................................................................................72.2.1 Inconclusive Findings.........................................................................................................................................................82.3 VGV AND VIOLENT CRIME..........................................................................................................................................................92.3.1 The Three Major Studies:...................................................................................................................................................92.3.2 Other Studies.....................................................................................................................................................................102.3.3 Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?...........................................................................................................112.3.4 Video Games and Crime................................................................................................................................................112.3.1 Understanding the Effect of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime............................................................................122.4 INSIGHTS GAINED FROM REVIEW...............................................................................................................................................143 METHODOLOGY AND JUSTIFICATION..................................................................................................................................153.1 STUDY DESIGN...........................................................................................................................................................................153.2 A NEW PROXY FOR VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE............................................................................................................................163.3 VIOLENT CRIME..........................................................................................................................................................................163.4 VIDEOGAME EXPOSURE..............................................................................................................................................................183.4.1 Choice of Videogames......................................................................................................................................................183.4.2 Estimating Hourly Concurrent Users...............................................................................................................................193.5 CONTROL VARIABLES.................................................................................................................................................................233.5.1 Instrumental Variable.......................................................................................................................................................233.5.2 Socio-Economic Control variables...................................................................................................................................233.5.3 Other Indictors:................................................................................................................................................................243.6 OTHER METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................................................................244 DATA GATHERING AND PREPARATION................................................................................................................................254.1 STEAM GAMES............................................................................................................................................................................254.1.1 Hourly Concurrent Users for the Seven Proxy Steam Games..........................................................................................254.1.2 Number of these Users Located in the US........................................................................................................................264.1.3 Weekly Steam Sales...........................................................................................................................................................274.1.4 Calculating the Percentage of Owners Playing each of the Steam Games......................................................................284.2 CONSOLE GAMES........................................................................................................................................................................284.2.1 Units Sold..........................................................................................................................................................................284.2.2 Matching with Steam Games via Genre...........................................................................................................................294.2.3 Metascore..........................................................................................................................................................................294.2.4 Violence Rating.................................................................................................................................................................29 44.2.5 Grouping Violence Ratings...............................................................................................................................................304.3 ESTIMATING EXPOSURE..............................................................................................................................................................314.3.1 Percentage for Each State................................................................................................................................................314.3.2 Combining Datasets..........................................................................................................................................................314.3.3 Hourly Concurrent Players in the US...............................................................................................................................324.3.4 Hourly Concurrent Players in Each State........................................................................................................................334.4 SOCIO ECONOMIC CONTROL VARIABLES...................................................................................................................................334.4.1 Population and Youth Population.....................................................................................................................................334.4.2 Unemployment..................................................................................................................................................................344.4.3 Income...............................................................................................................................................................................344.4.4 Urbanization.....................................................................................................................................................................344.4.5 Combining Data................................................................................................................................................................344.5 OTHER DATA..............................................................................................................................................................................354.5.1 TV Ratings.........................................................................................................................................................................354.5.2 Holiday Indicators............................................................................................................................................................364.5.3 Weather Variables............................................................................................................................................................375 SPSS SETUP......................................................................................................................................................................................385.1 CRIME DATA...............................................................................................................................................................................385.2 GAMES DATA..............................................................................................................................................................................385.3 CONTROL VARIABLES.................................................................................................................................................................395.3.1 Weather Controls..............................................................................................................................................................395.3.2 Other Control Variables...................................................................................................................................................405.4 SEASONALITY CONTROLS...........................................................................................................................................................405.4.1 Dummy Variables.............................................................................................................................................................405.4.2 Additive Time Series.........................................................................................................................................................405.5 DATA AGGREGATION..................................................................................................................................................................416 ANALYSIS.........................................................................................................................................................................................426.1 CRIME DATA...............................................................................................................................................................................426.2 REGRESSION ANALYSIS..............................................................................................................................................................436.2.1 Methodology.....................................................................................................................................................................436.2.2 Short Run Effects..............................................................................................................................................................436.2.3 Medium Run Effects..........................................................................................................................................................447 FINDINGS.........................................................................................................................................................................................467.1 : VGV IS RELATED TO VIOLENT CRIME.....................................................................................................................................467.2 THE EFFECT IS MOST SIGNIFICANT FOR YOUNG MALES............................................................................................................467.3 THE CATHARSIS HYPOTHESIS IS REJECTED................................................................................................................................467.4 THE DATA SUPPORTS THE VOLUNTARY INCAPACITATION HYPOTHESES..................................................................................477.5 THIS DATA ALSO PROVIDES EVIDENCE IN FAVOUR OF GAM...................................................................................................478 CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................................................................488.1 REFLECTION ON AIMS.................................................................................................................................................................488.2 CONCLUDING REMARKS..............................................................................................................................................................498.2.1 Comparison with Previous Research................................................................................................................................498.2.2 New Insights Developed....................................................................................................................................................509 REFERENCES..................................................................................................................................................................................52 5LIST OF TABLESTABLE 1:TOP SELLING WII GAMES........................................................................................................................................................64TABLE 2:TOP SELLING XBOX360 GAMES............................................................................................................................................65TABLE 3: TOP SELLING PLAYSTATION 3 GAMES...................................................................................................................................66TABLE 4: GENRE GROUPINGS.................................................................................................................................................................70TABLE 5:HOURLY CONCURRENT PLAYERS OF THE ELDER SCROLLS: SKYRIM ON STEAM......................................................................71TABLE 6: STEAM BANDWIDTH STATS DATA..........................................................................................................................................72TABLE 7: AVERAGE PERCENTAGE OF GLOBAL STEAM BANDWIDTH ACCOUNTED FOR BY AMERICA..................................................73TABLE 8: PERCENTAGE OF OWNERS PLAYING NBA2K13......................................................................................................................75TABLE 9: ERSB RATINGS AND VIOLENCE DESCRIPTORS......................................................................................................................77TABLE 10: PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL US VIDEO GAME STORE IN EACH STATE.....................................................................................78TABLE 11: STATE TIME ZONES..............................................................................................................................................................79TABLE 12: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIMES..................................................................................................................................................79TABLE 13: WEST VIRGINIA VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE DATA.................................................................................................................80TABLE 14: AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY DATA..............................................................................................................................81TABLE 15: VERMONT SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA.....................................................................................................................................82TABLE 16: TV RATINGS DATA...............................................................................................................................................................83TABLE 17: WEST VIRGINIA HOLIDAY DATA..........................................................................................................................................84TABLE 18: WEATHER STATION INFORMATION.......................................................................................................................................85TABLE 19: WEATHER VARIABLE CODING..............................................................................................................................................85TABLE 20: CASE LEVEL SPSS DATA.....................................................................................................................................................86TABLE 21: COMBINED VIOLENT CRIME DATASET.................................................................................................................................87TABLE 22: THE EFFECT OF 'METASCORES ON SALES.............................................................................................................................88TABLE 23: INCIDENTS OF VIOLENT CRIME BY TIME OF DAY................................................................................................................91TABLE 24: INCIDENTS OF VIOLENT CRIME COMMITTED BY YOUNG MALES GROUPED BY TIME OF DAY...........................................91TABLE 25: THE AVERAGE NUMBER OF VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED IN EACH TIME GROUPING......................................................92TABLE 26: THE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE ON CRIME RATES................................................................................................93TABLE 27: THE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE ON VIOLENT CRIME RATES ONCE TIME GROUPING ARE AAPPLIED..................94TABLE 28: THE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE OF VIOLENT CRIME RATES OF YOUNG MALES ONCE TIME GROUPINGS ARE APPLIED......................................................................................................................................................................................94TABLE 29: THE MEDIUM RUN EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE ON ALL VIOLENT CRIME.............................................................95TABLE 30:THE MEDIUM RUN EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE ON VIOLENT CRIME COMMITTED BY YOUNG MALES...............95 6LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1: STEAMGRAPH DATA FOR SHOOTING GAMES........................................................................................................................67FIGURE 2: STEAMGRAPH DATA FOR ROLE-PLAYING GAMES................................................................................................................67FIGURE 3: STEAMGRAPH DATA FOR STRATEGY GAMES........................................................................................................................68FIGURE 4: STEAMGRAPH DATA FOR SPORTS GAMES.............................................................................................................................68FIGURE 5: STEAM BANDWIDTH USAGE COMPARISON...........................................................................................................................69FIGURE 6: STEAM BANDWIDTH STATS WEBPAGE..................................................................................................................................72FIGURE 7: SEASONALITY OF VIDEO GAME SALES.................................................................................................................................74FIGURE 8: FAR CRY 3 STEAMGRAPH DATA...........................................................................................................................................76FIGURE 9: DECOMPOSITION OF ADDITIVE TIME SERIES ON ALL VIOLENT CRIME.................................................................................89FIGURE 10:DECOMPOSITION OF ADDITIVE TIME SERIES ON VIOLENT CRIME COMMITTED BY YOUNG MALES...................................89FIGURE 11: AVERAGE US STEAM BANDWIDTH BY TIME OF DAY.........................................................................................................90 71 INTRODUCTION AND STUDY AIMSI do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you really need to get up and do something- Patrick Chan, Olympic medallist. .Patrick Cremen - August 2015 1I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states1 Introduction2Patrick Cremen - August 20151 Policy RelevanceThere have been frequent efforts by both lawmakers (Sasso and Kasperowicz 2013) andadvocacy groups (Parents Against Violence) to pass laws banning the sale of intensely violent videogames to minors. This is true both within the United States, and worldwide, with the relationship between video game violence (VGV) and violent crimenormally being cited as a principal reason. (Censors Ban Brutal video game; German Video Game Laws Explained).It is important to acknowledge that such a law will affect more than just minors, and will likely lead to the removal of intensely violent video games from the market. Currently, like the NC-17 rating for a film, there exists an Adults only rating for videogames, which prohibits the games sale to minors. As most distributors dont wish to risk facing potential fines and thus avoid distributing these products, both ratings are considered to be the kiss of death in their industries (Sandler 2001; Clayman, 2007).Indeed as of 2010, there has only been one major NC-17 release (Izzo, 2010), and as of 2013 only 0.08 per cent of videogames have been released with an AO rating.Banning the sale of violent video games to minors would likely have similar effects, and thus all but remove these games from the market.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 3I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states2 A Phantom ConnectionThe link between VGV and violent crime is more assumed than proven.In 2005 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed a law banning the sale of violent videogames to minors, citing videogames causal effect on violent behaviour as a principal reason. (AB-1179 Violent Video Games: Sales to Minors). However, the Supreme Court held that current research in this area has failed to prove that video games cause minors to act aggressively (564 U.S. _ (2011), 13).In fact as will be seen in the Literature Review, the few studies conducted in this area indicate a negative relationship between VGV and violent crime, but more research is needed. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between VGV and violent crime across eight US states, to better inform future policy making in this area. 4Patrick Cremen - August 20152 Study Aim!Patrick Cremen - August 2015 5I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states1 Outline o" StudyThis study looks to establish what (if any) are the causal effects of VGV on violent crime across eight US states (Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia), from the years 2007-2012. There are four aims I will look at achieving to establish this.6Patrick Cremen - August 20152 Aim!1: Develop a system to estimate when consumers are being exposed to VGV. As will bediscussed in the Literature Review, previous research has lacked this data and this has made establishing any kind of causal connection difficult. 2: Investigate the correlation between VGV and violent crime rates3: Establish this correlation to be a causal effect of VGV on violent crime. 4: Establish which of the three dominant hypotheses this data supports.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 7I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states# $y%othe!e!The General Aggression Model (GAM): Predicts increased VGV exposure will cause increased levels of violent crime, as VGV exposure causes arousal and primes aggressive thoughts (Wolf, 1986: 774).Voluntary incapacitation (VI): Predicts increased VGV exposure will lead to lower levels of violent crime, as by choosing to spend their time playing violent video games, potential criminals forgo other activities with higher crime rates (Dahl and DellaVigna, 2009: 678).Catharsis: Predicts increased VGV exposure should decrease violent crime due to the cathartic effect of experiencing the violence on screen (ibid.:683).8Patrick Cremen - August 2015& Other Po!!i'le Re!ult!It is important to note that existing literature has indicated that whatever the effect of VGV on violent crime, it is likely to be small (Cunningham, Engelsttter, Ward, 2011b: 15; Ferguson and Kilburn, 2010: 177;Bushman, Rothstein, and Anderson, 2010: 4) Therefore, it is somewhat probable that the study may show no significant effect on violent crime. However, such a result would not undermine the relevancy of this study. So long as the methodology is sound, establishing no causal relationship would provide evidence against the assumed link between VGV and violent crime, and help inform future policy. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 9I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states2 (IT)RATUR) R)*I)+10Patrick Cremen - August 2015# IntroductionThis literature review will examine the two largely separate fields of study in relation to VGV. Firstly it is important to examine the most prominent area of study in this field: the psychological effects of VGV exposure.Understanding the psychological effect of VGV on aggression will provide groundwork to understanding and hypothesising on therelationship between VGV and what Bushman, Rothstein, and Anderson (2010: 4) distinguish as more serious acts of aggression, namely violent crime. Secondly, I will examine the sparse literature investigating the relationship between violent media and violent crime, focusing on the three major studies conducted in this field.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 11I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states& The P!ycholo,ical (iterature12Patrick Cremen - August 20151 *-* and A,,re!!ion. A Tale o" T/o Cam%!.As others have noted (Schreier, 2013), two things become apparent when reviewing thisliterature. Firstly, the literature is highly divided, with few conclusive answers to be found. Secondly, this field of research is dominated by three researchers: Christopher Barlett and Craig Anderson, whose research supports a causal relationship between VGV and aggression (Barlett and Anderson, 2009), and Chris Ferguson, whose works dispute these findings (Ferguson, San Miguel and Hartley, 2009).An example of the former would be Anderson and Dills 2000 study Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life. The study examined this relationship using Andersons highly influential General Aggression Model (GAM) (Anderson and Dill, 2000: 774). GAM predicts that video game violencewill increase short-term aggression as the media primes aggressive thoughts, increases hostile feelings, or increases arousal (all else being equal). (ibid.: 774). Anderson and Dill (2000) tested this by assigning college students to play either a violent (Wolfenstein 3D) or nonviolent (Myst) video game.The study found that after 15 minutes of exposure, participants who were exposed to Wolfenstein 3D had a more negative world view (based on a questionnaire [ibid.: 784]), more aggressive thinking (based on how quickly participants could read aggressive words aloud [ibid.]), and moreaggressive behaviour (based on the intensity and duration of a noise-blast participants delivered to an opponent after beating them in a competition [ibid.: 786]). In contrast, Ferguson et als (2008) study disputed these findings. Ferguson et al (2008: 11) conducted a similar noise-blast test, but found that once gender was controlled for, neither violent nor non-violent videogames increased aggression. Important here is that Patrick Cremen - August 2015 13I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesFerguson et al (2008: 3) note that this noise-blast test was the only part of Anderson and Dills (2000) findings that linked VGV to physical acts of aggression.These two studies are indicative of the divided literature on the subject, with various studies finding that VGV increases aggression (Dominick, 1984); has no effect on aggression (Lynch, 1994), or even reduces aggression (Kestenbaum and Weinstein, 1985).14Patrick Cremen - August 20152 Reachin, a Con!en!u!. Meta0Analytic Revie/!1 Revie/edGiven the diverse and oftentimes contradictory literature on the subject, it may be beneficial to examine meta-analytic reviews of the literature, which Fredric Wolf (1986:10-11) notes can remove issues of reviewer bias and find a more objective, scientificallyaccurate answer. Here, I am attempting to discern whether the psychological literature links VGV with aggressive acts.Anderson, et al (2010) conducted one such robust review of the literature. Compounding GAM and similar models into a broad social cognitive model (ibid.: 4-7), they conducted a meta-analytic review examining the effects of VGV on (among other things) aggressive behaviour. Anderson et al (ibid.:158) established a series of best practices for inclusion into the review to be judged by two independent reviewers. Additionally Anderson et al (ibid.: 160) used the trim and fill method when selecting unpublished journals to avoid the risk of publication bias. Thus, this review looks to draw conclusive, unbiased findings from the literature. This review found that VGV was positively correlated with aggressive behaviour (ibid.: 167) allowing Anderson et al (ibid.: 171) to conclude by writing:we believe that debates can and should finally move beyond the simple question of whether violent video game play is a causal risk factor for aggressive behaviour; the scientific literature has effectively and clearly shown the answer to be yes.However Ferguson (who had previously [2007] conducted a meta-analytic review of this literature which found no support for the hypothesis that VGV exposure is associated with aggressive acts - findings that were explicitly disputed in Andersons et Patrick Cremen - August 2015 15I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesals study [2010: 152-3]) - was quick to dispute the findings of this review in his paper Much Ado About Nothing: The Misestimating and Overinterpretation of Violent VideoGame Effects in Eastern and Western Nations: Comment on Anderson et al. (2010). In it he critiqued several aspects of Anderson et als methodology, for example the inclusion of unpublished studies (Ferguson and Kilburn, 2010: 175) and the perceived failure to adequately address issues of unstandardized aggression measurement in VGV studies (ibid.). Anderson (Bushman, Rothstein and Anderson, 2010) in response defended these practices in their paper Much Ado About Something: Violent Video Game Effects and a School of Red Herring: Reply to Ferguson and Kilburn (2010), furthering the debate.Other meta-analytic reviews fail to provide more conclusive results. John Sherry (2007: 254) found that the literature offers some evidence for an arousal effect, some evidence for a catharsis effect (ibid. 257), yet concluded that Overall, it is clear that videogames cause a small increase in aggression after short-term exposure. The factors underlying this increase are not clearly discernible from the current research (ibid.: 260).16Patrick Cremen - August 20151 Inconclu!ive 2indin,!The interstices of meta-analytic methodology debates are beyond the scope of this literature review, but some inferences can be drawn from this literature. Firstly, while inconclusive, the literature does indicate that VGV likely increases aggression, if only ina minor way. However, this literature does not indicate that VGV causes aggressive acts. During the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association court case outlined in the Introduction section of this paper, Anderson presented his findings to the US Supreme Court. The court held that these: studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason: They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively [n]early all of the research is based on correlation, not evidence of causation, and most of the studies suffer from significant, admitted flaws in methodology (564 U. S. ____ 2011, p. 13-14). Therefore, the psychological literature on the subject does not provide sufficient evidence to hypothesise that VGV causes individuals to act aggressively. However, the many studies linking VGV to increased aggression means that the GAMhypothesis is worth examining in this paper. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 17I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states3 *-* and *iolent Crime18Patrick Cremen - August 20151 The Three Ma4or Studie!. As indicated, few studies have examined the relationship between VGV and aggressive acts in the field. Only one Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime (Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward, 2011b) is able to make strong claims of a causal relationship. Michael Wards (2010) study Video Games and Crime will also be examined here, along with Dahl and DellaVignas (2009) study Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime?. While the latter examines movie, not videogame violence, its methodology can be drawn from here, as it was by both Ward (2010: 272) and Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b: 4) All three studies found that exposure to the violent media was associated with reduced crime rates (Dahl and DellaVigna, 2009: 144; Ward, 2010: 269; Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward, 2011b: 21). The two dominant theories to explain this are Voluntary Incapacitation (VI), and Cathartic. Voluntary Incapacitation posits that potential criminals choose to spend their time engaged with the violent media and forgo other activities with higher crime rates (Dahl and DellaVigna, 2009: 25). Cathartic posits that media violence leads to reduced aggression due to a cathartic effect of viewing the violence on screen (ibid.: 7).However, finding sufficient data to support either theory is difficult (particularly for the two VGV studies), due to the difficulties involved in finding a sufficient proxy for violent media exposure.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 19I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states2 Other Studie!Briefly, two other studies in this area have recently been published, but neither study will be drawn from here. Christopher Ferguson (2015: E12) examined the correlation between VGV exposure and youth violence in the US, but made no attempts to establisha causal relationship (ibid.: E13-14), even concluding by noting that his findings could likely be an ecological fallacy (ibid.).Markey, Markey and Frenchs (2014) study Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data has strong ethical and methodological flaws. Ethically,despite mimicking much of the methodology of Dahl and DellaVigna (2009) and Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b), Markey, Markey and French make no attempt to credit their work. Indeed despite a highly thorough review of the VGV literature (2014: 2-5), there is no mention whatsoever of these studies. When similar results were found, Markey, Markey and French claimed both in their study (ibid.) and in later interviews (Makuch, 2014) that these results were surprising.Methodologically, where it does differ from these studies, it often uses inferior methodology.For example, it draws crime data from Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program data instead of the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Dahl and DellaVigna (2009: 11) note that the latter is better suited to this type of study than the former, as it provides data on violent acts known to the police but do not result in arrest. Therefore Markey, Markey and Frenchs study will not be drawn on from here.20Patrick Cremen - August 2015# 5Doe! Movie *iolence Increa!e *iolent Crime6Dahl and DellaVignas (2009) study examined the effects of violent movie exposure on same day assaults in the US between the years 1995-2004. Daily box office revenue wasused as a proxy for movie exposure, with movies being grouped into: Strongly Violent, Mildly Violent and Non-Violent (2009: 9). Unlike Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b) and Ward (2010), Dahl and DellaVigna (2009: 15) held that they could assume that this exposure took place in the evening (6pm-12pm) hours. The study found that an increase of one million in the audience for violent movies decreased crime by 1.06 per cent (strongly violent movies) and 1.02 per cent for mildly violent movies (ibid.: 14).Dahl and DellaVigna (2009: 31) also held that these findings supported VI. A major reason for this was that the effect of VGV was stronger for the night-time following movie exposure (12am-6am), than during the evening hours(-0.0192 and -0.0130 respectively (Dahl and DellaVigna, 2009: 38).They found that these estimates were on average 1.5 times larger for assaults involving alcohol (ibid.: 2), suggesting that attendance at violent movies led to increased sobriety, and that violent movie attendees were forgoing an alternative activity with increased crime ratesPatrick Cremen - August 2015 21I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states& 7*ideo -ame! and Crime8Using Variation in the number of videogames stores in an area as a proxy for videogame exposure, Ward (2010) conducted a panel study on over 400 US counties between 1994-2004, investigating the relationship between video games and violent crime. The study attempted to account for potential omitted variables by controlling for youth population, poverty, unemployment and police presence (Ward, 2010: 265), all of which are thought to predict violent crime rates. Of these controls, only police presence was not found to be significantly related to crime rates (ibid.: 270). Thus, I will control for all the other variables in this paper.Ward (2010: 269) found that a 1% increase in the number of game-stores in an area led to an average 0.10% reduction in violent crime. However, there are several limitations to this study. As is acknowledged by Ward (2010: 262), videogame stores are a proxy for overall game play, and not just VGV, and thus the study did not test for the specific role of VGV on crime. Indeed for these reasons, Wards (2010) study would not meet Anderson et als (2010: 158) best practicecriteria.Also acknowledged by Ward (2020, p. 272) is the lack of an exogenous source in the variation of videogame intensity across counties. Without such an instrument variable (IV), the study could not prove a causal relationship between VGV and violent crime.Additionally, although it was not the aim of the study, the lack of data on when exposure to VGV took place means these findings fail to lend much additional evidence of either VI or Catharsis. 22Patrick Cremen - August 20151 7Under!tandin, the )""ect o" *iolent *ideo -ame! on *iolentCrime8Cunningham, Engelsttter and Wards (2011b) study examined the effects of VGV on crime rates in the US from 2005-2008, using sales data from the top 50 videogames each week as a proxy for video game exposure. They (2011: 17) used review scores from videogame website Gamespot as an IV, finding that it was positively correlated with videogame sales (ibid.: 34), but unrelated to crime sales (ibid.: 20).This was also used along with monthly dummy variables to account for much of the seasonality of both videogame sales and violent crime rates (Ibid.: 19).Cunningham, Engelsttter and Wards (2011b: 19-20) regression analysis found that while without lag neither violent nor non-violent videogames have a significant effect on crime rates, videogames have a clear overall negative effect on crime for specifications that include from one to five lags. Interestingly, unlike Dahl and DellaVigna (2009), Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b: 21, 39) found that non-violent video games have a more significant negative effect on crime than violent video games. This led the authors (Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward, 2011b: 14) to hold that these findings support VI.Despite Cunningham, Engelsttter and Wards (2011b) study being the strongest conducted in this field of research, there are still several elements that can be improved upon in this paper. Firstly, the study focused on young people, rather than young men, the latter of which commit the most violent crime (Dahl and DellaVigna, 2009: 12) and are the demographic who have the greatest preference for violent movies (ibid.: 34) and violent Patrick Cremen - August 2015 23I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesvideogames (Ferguson et al, 2008: 11). Thus, it may be more beneficial to examine young males, instead of young people of both sexes.Secondly, using weekly videogame sales as a proxy for videogame exposure provides no data on when the exposure takes place, and thus Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward(2011b: 14) were only able to compare weekly videogame sales with weekly aggregatedcrime rates.A better proxy for when this exposure takes place, as Dahl and DellaVigna (2009) were able to use, could lead to more detailed findings that better support either VI or Catharsis. 24Patrick Cremen - August 20152 In!i,ht! -ained "rom Revie/Aside from providing useful methodological guidance for performing this type of study that will be expanded on in the following chapter, the literature review also displayed the difficulties inherent in performing a study in this area. Principally, it outlined the difficulties in finding a suitable proxy for VGV exposure. Specifically, there is no readily available data on when exposure takes place. This means that Cunningham, Engelsttter and Wards (2011b) study provides weaker evidence for causation, and is less able to support either the VI or Catharsis hypothesis than Dahl and DellaVignas (2009) study. Therefore, a principal aim of this study will be to develop such a dataset, and therefore I will be able to largely mimic Dahl and DellaVignas (2009) study. This should provide more conclusive data than is available in the existing literature. Secondly, the literature has provided the three main hypotheses that were outlined in theaims of the study: VI, Catharsis, and GAM. The pre-existing literature indicted that VI is the most plausible theory, however the data cannot conclusively prove or disprove any of these theories in relation to VGV. By mimicking much of the methodology of Dahl and DellaVignas (2009) stronger study, this paper should be able to gather data that provides more definitive evidence in favour of one hypothesis. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 25I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states# M)T$ODO(O-Y AND 9USTI2ICATION26Patrick Cremen - August 2015: Study De!i,nAs with Dahl and Della DellaVigna (2009), Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b) and Ward (2010), this study will use an observational study design. While it is widely acknowledged that observational studies face difficulties in making causal claims (Remler and Van Ryzin, 2010: 3) such a design is necessary here because as Ferguson et al, (2008: 3) note, it is not ethical for researchers to provoke interpersonal violence.However beyond this necessity, observational study designs have several benefits when compared to the laboratory studies examined in the Literature Review. For example, it allows me to investigate the real, tangible effect of VGV on violent acts in society. As Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b: 12) note, laboratory experiments can have strong internal validity, but may not have external validity on theincidence of socially costly aggression from violent video game play. As Dahl and Della DellaVigna (2009: 10) note, these laboratory effects do not account for self-selection, or time use effects, and therefore cannot predict the effect of VI on violent crime rates. To inform public policy on the relationship between VGV and violent crimein society, it is necessary to observe this relationship as it occurs in society, and not in a laboratory.Additionally, the Literature Review provided several methods to help determine a causal relationship between VGV and violent crime, such as using review scores as an instrumental variable. This should help avoid the risk inherent in observational studies of having a purely endogenous independent variable (Remler and Van Ryzin, 2010: 9). Patrick Cremen - August 2015 27I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states; A Ne/ Pro R)2)R)NC)S114.9 Million U.S. Television Homes Estimated for 2009-2010 Season. Nielsen. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2009/1149-million-us-television-homes-estimated-for-2009-2010-season.html. [date accessed 6 March 2015].2010 Census Urban and Rural Classification and Urban Area Criteria. United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/ua/urban-rural-2010.html [date accessed 6 March 2015].564 U.S. _ (2011)AB-1179 Violent Video Games: Sales to Minors, Media Coalition, http://mediacoalition.org/files/Brown_EMA_California_AB1179.pdf [accessed 27 October 2014].American Factfinder. http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_07_1YR_S0101&prodType=table [accessed 7 March 2015].108Patrick Cremen - August 2015Anderson, C. A., & Dill, K. E. 2000. Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the laboratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(4), 772-790. Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., . . . Saleem, M. 2010. Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 151-173.b4 time. http://b4time.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Daylight-Saving-Time-2013.pdf . [accessed 5 March 2015].Bactrack Consumption Report. Bactrack.com. http://www.bactrack.com/pages/bactrack-consumption-report#bacs-on-holidays. [date accessed 3 March 2015].Barlett, C. P., & Anderson, C. A. 2009. Violent Video Games and Public Policy. In T. Bevc & H. Zapf (eds.), Wie Wir Spielen, Was Wir Werden: Computerspiele in Unserer Gesellschaft (pp. 227-240). Konstanz: UVK Verlaggesellschaft.Bushman, B. J., Rothstein, H. R., & Anderson, C. A. 2010. Much ado about something:Violent video game effects and a school of red herring: Reply to Ferguson and Kilburn (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 182-187. Censors Ban Brutal video game, BBC News Channel. 2007. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/6767623.stm [accessed 27 October 2014].Clayman, D. 2007. The Big A.O. http://ie.ign.com/articles/2007/06/22/the-big-ao [accessed 27 October 2014].Patrick Cremen - August 2015 109I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesColumbus Day in United States. Timeanddate.com. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/columbus-day. [accessed 10 March 2015].County Business Pattern (CBP). (http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpcomp.pl).[accessed 4 March 2015].Crime in the United States. (2010).http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/violent-crime. [accessed 9 March 2015].Cunningham, Scott, Engelsttter, Benjamin and Ward, Michael R., 2011 (a) Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime (April). Available at http://ocw.metu.edu.tr/pluginfile.php/5587/mod_resource/content/2/Cunnigham_Engelstaetter_2011.pdf [accessed 2 March 2014]Cunningham, Scott, Engelsttter, Benjamin and Ward, Michael R., 2011b Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime. 2011 (b). (April 7). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1804959 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1804959 [accessed 2 March 2014]Dahl, G., & DellaVigna, S. 2009. Does Movie Violence Increase Violent Crime? The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(2), 677-734. Definition of Youth. United Nations. http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/documents/youth/fact-sheets/youth-definition.pdf [accessed 6 March 2015]Digbd. http://www.digdb.com/. [accessed 1 March 2015].110Patrick Cremen - August 2015Disney Pixar Toy Story 3, Moby Games. http://www.mobygames.com/game/disneypixar-toy-story-3 [accessed 5 March 2015].Dominick, J. R. 1984., Videogames, Television Violence, and Aggression in Teenagers. Journal of Communication, 34: 136147.Edwards, C. 2013. Valve Lines Up Console Partners in Challenge to Microsoft, Sony. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-11-04/valve-lines-up-console-partners-in-challenge-to-microsoft-sony. [accessed 2 March 2015].EpochConverter. http://www.epochconverter.com/. [accessed 2 March 2015].ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp. [accessed 2 March 2015].Federal Climate Complex Global Surface Summary of Day Data. NCDC Climate Services Branch. http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/gsod/readme.txt [accessed 6 March 2015].Ferguson, C. 2007. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A Meta-analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of Violent Video Games. Psychiatric Quarterly, 78(4),309-316.Ferguson, C. 2015. Does Media Violence Predict Societal Violence? It Depends on What you Look at and When. Journal of Communication, 65, E1-E22. Ferguson, C. J., & Kilburn, J. 2010. Much ado about nothing: The misestimation and overinterpretation of violent video game effects in Eastern and Western nations: Comment on Anderson et al. (2010). Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 174-178. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 111I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesFerguson, C. J., Rueda, S. M., Cruz, A. M., Ferguson, D. E., Fritz, S., & Smith, S. M. 2008. Violent Video Games and Aggression: Causal Relationship or Byproduct of Family Violence and Intrinsic Violence Motivation? Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(3), 311-332. Ferguson, C., San Miguel, C., & Hartley, R. 2009. A Multivariate Analysis of Youth Violence and Aggression: The Influence of Family, Peers, Depression, and Media Violence. The Journal of Pediatrics, 155(6), 904-908. Frequently Asked Questions, Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/faq#item11. [accessed 4 March 2015].Frequently Asked Questions (b). United States Census Bureau. https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?id=5000&rtopic=1795&rsubtopic=7679 [accessed 3 March 2015].Game Releases by Title. Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/title/ps3/a?view=detailed [accessed 4 March 2015].German Video Game Laws Explained. 2008.http://www.gamepolitics.com/2008/08/04/german-video-game-laws-explained#.VE7FINbjoXx [accessed 26 October 2014].Global Surface Summary of the Day. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://data.noaa.gov/dataset/global-surface-summary-of-the-day-gsod. [accessed 3 March 2015].Holidays in United States in 2015. Timeanddate.com. http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/. [accessed 2 March 2015].112Patrick Cremen - August 2015Import.io https://import.io/. [accessed 27 February 2015]Information Please Almanac Infoplease. http://www.infoplease.com/almanacs.html [accessed 1 March 2015].Izzo, C. 2010. Too Sexy for the MPAA: The Curse of the NC-17 Rating. http://buquad.com/2010/10/24/too-sexy-for-the-mpaa-the-curse-of-the-nc-17-rating/ [accessed 25 October 2014].Kestenbaum, G. I., & Weinstein, L. 1985. Personality, Psychopathology, and Developmental Issues in Male Adolescent Video Game Use. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24(3), 329-333.Kuchera, B. 2008. With new Wii Sports, Wii Music, the Wiis future is casual.http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2008/07/with-new-wii-sports-wii-music-the-wiis-future-is-casual/ [accessed 2 March 2015].The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. (review). 2011a. Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/wii/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/critic-reviews. [accessed 5 March 2015].The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. (review). 2011b. Gamespot. http://www.gamespot.com/the-legend-of-zelda-skyward-sword/. [accessed 5 March 2015].Local Area Unemployment Statistics. United States Bureau of Employment. http://www.bls.gov/lau/#cntyaa. [accessed 6 March 2015].Lynch, P., 1994. Type-A Behavior, Hostility, and Cardiovascular Function at Rest and after Playing Video Games in Teenagers. Psychosomatic Medicine, 56(2), pp.152152.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 113I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesMetacritic. http://www.metacritic.com. [Accessed 3 March 2015].Makuch, E. 2014. Violent Video Games Don't Lead to Increases In Violent Crimes, Study Finds.19 September. From http://www.gamespot.com/articles/violent-video-games-dont-lead-to-increases-in-viol/1100-6422421/[accessed 5 March 2015].Markey, P. M., Markey, C. N., & French, J. E. 2014). Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000030. [accessed 3 March 2014].Metacritic.com. http://www.metacritic.com/[accessed 2 March 2014].Moby Games (Mature Violence). http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,93/offset,0/so,1d/ [accessed 3March 2015].Moby Games (Intense Violence). http://www.mobygames.com/attribute/sheet/attributeId,637/offset,0/so,1d/ [accessed 3 March 2015].National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. https://data.noaa.gov/dataset/global-surface-summary-of-the-day-gsod. [accessed 7 March 2015].Orland, K. 2014. Introducing Steam Gauge: Ars reveals Steams most popular games. Arstechnica. (16 April). http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/04/introducing-steam-gauge-ars-reveals-steams-most-popular-games/.[accessed 2 March 2014].Parents Against Violence. http://www.parentsagainstviolence.org/, [accessed 27 October 2014].114Patrick Cremen - August 2015Ratings Guide. http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp. [accessed 3 March 2015].Ratings Search. http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.jsp. [accessed 3 March 2015].Remler, D. K., & Van Ryzin, G. G. 2010. Research Methods in Practice: Strategies for Description and Causation. Thousand Oaks, California; New Delhi; London; Singapore: SAGE Publications.Risk Factions. Moby Games. http://www.mobygames.com/game/risk-factions [accessed 5 March 2015].Sandler, K. 2001. The Naked Truth: Showgirls and the effect of the x/nc-17 rating. Cinema Bulletin 40 (Spring): 69-93.Sasso, B. and Kasperowicz P. 2013.Dem Lawmaker introduces bill to ban sales of violent video games to minors. http://thehill.com/policy/technology/277781-dem-bill-would-ban-sale-of-violent-games-to-minors [accessed 27 October 2014].Schreier, J. 2013. From Halo To Hot Sauce: What 25 Years Of Violent Video Game Research Looks Like.http://kotaku.com/5976733/do-video-games-make-you-violent-an-in-depth-look-at-everything-we-know-today [accessed 3 March 2014].Seidman, R. 2012. Whats a TV Rating and Who is it Dating? 2012-13 edition. TV Bythe Numbers. (2 September). http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/09/02/whats-a-tv-rating-and-who-is-it-dating-2012-13-edition/147028/ [accessed 6 March 2015].Sherry, J. L. 2007. Violent Video Games and Aggression: Why Can't We Find Effects? . In R. W. Preiss (Ed.), Mass Media Effects Research: Advances Through Meta-analysis (pp. 245-262). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 115I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesState Median Income. US Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/statemedian/index.html [accessed 1 March 2015].Status of NIBRS in the States. (2006). http://web.archive.org/web/20060528065220/http://www.jrsa.org/ibrrc/background-status/nibrs_states.shtml [accessed 2 March 2015].Steam Community.http://steamcommunity.com/app/550; archived at: http://web.archive.org/web/20131104104528*/http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content [accessed 6 March 2015].Steam Download Stats a. Internet Archive Wayback Machine. http://web.archive.org/web/20131013140750/http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content. [accessed 2 March 2015].Steam Download Stats b. Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content. [accessed 5 March 2015].SteamGraph a. http://steamgraph.net/. [accessed 2 March 2015].SteamGraph b. http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=8870q63380q28050q57900&from=0. [accessed 5 March 2015].SteamGraph c http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=72850q236430q99900q22380&from=0[accessed 5 March 2015].116Patrick Cremen - August 2015SteamGraph d http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=200510q214950q56400q21970&from=0 [accessed 6 March 2015].SteamGraph e, http://steamgraph.net/index.php?action=graph&appid=287680q255480q216610&from=0. [accessed 6 March 2015].Steam and Game Stats. Steam. from http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ [accessed 5 March 2015].Steam Content Server Statistics: Download Traffic. Matlab Central. http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/trendy/trends/2099. [accessed 5 March 2015].Steam Download Stats. Steam. http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/. [accessed 5 March 2015].Steam Downtime and Server Support. Steam. https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7366-ETYS-5919. [accessed 5March 2015].Superbowl XLVIII draws 111.5 million viewers, 25.3 million tweets. Nielsen. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/super-bowl-xlviii-draws-111-5-million-viewers-25-3-million-tweets.html. [accessed 3 March 2015].Time Temperature, Idaho. http://www.timetemperature.com/tzus/idaho_time_zone.shtml. [accessed 7 March 2015].Patrick Cremen - August 2015 117I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTime Temperature, Tennessee. http://www.timetemperature.com/tzus/tennessee_time_zone.shtml [accessed 7 March2015].Trueachievmentshttp://www.trueachievements.com [accessed 5 March 2015].Truetrophies http://www.truetrophies.com/ [accessed 5 March 2015].US Census http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpcomp.pl [accessed 6 March 2015].VGChartz. http://www.vgchartz.com/. [accessed 5 March 2015].VGChartz: PlayStation 3. http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/3/playstation-3/. [accessed 6 March 2015].VGChartz: Wii. http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/2/wii/. [accessed 5 March 2015].VGChartz: Xbox 360. http://www.vgchartz.com/platform/7/xbox-360/ [accessed 5 March 2015].Ward, M. R. 2010. Video Games and Crime. Contemporary Economic Policy, 29(2), 261-273. The Wayback Machine. The Internet Archive. http://archive.org/about/faqs.php#The_Wayback_Machine. [accessed 5 March 2015].Webexhibits.http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html[accessed 6 March 2015].Weekly Chart Index. VGChartz. http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/. [accessed 5 March 2015].118Patrick Cremen - August 2015Weekly Software Charts, VGChartz. http://www.vgchartz.com/. [accessed 5 March 2015].Wolf, F. M. 1986. Meta-Analysis: Quantitative Methods for Research Synthesis. Thousand Oaks, California; New Delhi; London; Singapore: SAGE Publications. Thousand Oaks, California; New Delhi; London; Singapore: SAGE Publications.Patrick Cremen - August 2015 119I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US states120Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 1:Top Selling Wii GamesTable 1 The worldwide top 100 best-selling Wii games that were released between 2007-2012. Ranked by total worldwide sales (accurate as of 06/03/2015), not the top selling games between these years.Data gathered from VGChartz list of all games released on Wii, ranked by sales (VGChartz: Wii). Games released outside of 2007-2012 were removed, with the remaining games ranked from 1-100.Pos represents the ranking of the game, based on units sold. Title represents the title of the game. Year represents the year it was released. V rating represents the violence rating, in accordance to the methodology outlined in chapter 4.2.5Patrick Cremen - August 2015 121I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 2: The worldwide top 100 best-selling Xbox 360 games that were released between 2007-2012.Ranked by total worldwide sales (accurate as of 06/03/2015), not the top selling games between these years. Data gathered from VGChartz list of all games released on xbox360, ranked by sales (VGChartz: Xbox 360). Games released outside of 2007-2012 were removed, with the reaming games ranked from 1-100.Pos represents the ranking of the game, based on units sold. Title represents the title of the game. Year represents the year it was released. V rating represents the violence rating, in accordanceto the methodology outlined in chapter 4.2.5122Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 2:Top Selling Xbox360 GamesTable 3: The worldwide top 100 best-selling Playstation 3 games that were released between 2007-2012. Ranked by total worldwide sales (accurate as of 06/03/2015), not the top selling games between these years. Data gathered from VGChartz list of all games released on PlayStation 3, ranked by sales (VGChartz: PlayStation 3). Games released outside of 2007-2012 were removed, with the remaining games ranked from 1-100.Pos represents the ranking of the game, based on units sold. Title represents the title of the game. Year represents the year it was released. V rating represents the violence rating, in accordance to the methodology outlined in chapter 4.2.5 Patrick Cremen - August 2015 123Figure 1: SteamGraph Data for Shooting GamesTable 3: Top Selling Playstation 3 GamesI do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesFigure 2: SteamGraph Data for Role-Playing GamesFigure 2 Displays SteamGraph data for shooting games Bioshock Infinite, Deus Ex-Human Revolution, Duke Nukem Forever and Sniper Elite V2. (SteamGraph b) Figure 3 Displays SteamGraph data for role-playing games The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dark Souls 2, Spiral Knights and Fallout New Vegas. Source: (SteamGraph c)124Patrick Cremen - August 2015Fig 1.3Figure 4: SteamGraph data for Sports GamesFigure 3 SteamGraph data for strategy games XCom-Enemy-Unknown, Total War: Rome 2, Dawn of War 2- Retribution and R.U.S.E (SteamGraph d)Fig 4: SteamGraph data for sport games NBA2K14, Pro Evolution Soccer 2015 and Football Manager 2013 (Russian). The Russian version of football manager was used as the international version was vastly more popular than the other two games, thus scaling thegraph as to make it unreadable. (SteamGraph e) Patrick Cremen - August 2015 125Figure 3: SteamGraph data for Strategy GamesI do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesFigure 5: Steam Bandwidth Usage Comparison0.0050.00100.00150.00200.00250.00300.00350.00Avg Bandwidth (7th,21st)Bandwidth (14th)Figure 5: Comparing the Steam Bandwidth being used in America on the 14th of October (Columbus Day) with the average Steam bandwidth from the Mondays preceding and following Columbus Day. Data gathered and formatted as outlined in chapter 4.1.2. However, the hourly bandwidth being accounted for by the USA is not calculated as a percentage of the total global bandwidth. Time zone is UTC-05:00126Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 4: Genre GroupingsTable 4 outlines how console games were matched with steam games according to their subgenre. Bioshock Infinite represents the typical videogame, consisting of a liner story or sequence of levels that the user completes after a certain number of hours, though they may replay it after. This is most akin to how consumers experience television programmes.Portal 2 represents simple platforming based games, which are often more challenging to complete, and have higher replay value then other genres.Far Cry 3 represents sandbox games, which are non-linear, and place users in an open ended world to explore, which tends to require a larger time commitment than games with linear campaigns. XCOM: Enemy Unknown represents strategy-based games, often akin to board games, where players must stargaze a way to victory, or are placed in charge of managing resources for a society or group.The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim represents role-playing games, where players take on the role of a hero in an epic quest. These games normally require a massive time commitment from the players.NBA 2k13 represents sports games. Since there is a separate subgenre for every sport, all subgenres other than management are given the value all others in this table.Lacking a more suitable proxy, driving and fighting games are considered sport titles, as they tend to be designed similarly. Difficulties were faced finding a proxy for party-based games such as music and board games, which are designed to have groups play together around a TV.Due to the more solitary nature of the PC platform, such games do not thrive on this market. Instead, Left 4 dead 2 was used as a proxy, as this game is focused on 4 player cooperative play, albeit online instead of offline (Steam Community). However, the focus on getting a group of friends together to play makes it the most suitable proxy for these forms of games. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 127I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 5:Hourly Concurrent Players of The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim on Steam128Patrick Cremen - August 2015Figure 6: Steam Bandwidth Stats WebpageTable 6: Steam Bandwidth Stats DataFigure 6 displays a screenshot of the steam download stats webpage (Steam Download Stats b) as it appeared at 10:45:28 on the 4th of November 2013.Table 6 displays the Steam bandwidth being used by each region at the time and date indicated.NA=North America. EU=Europe. A=Asia. R=Russia. AU=Australia. SA= South Africa. AF=Africa. O=Other. C=Current. P=Peek.The row closest to the time of Figure 6 is highlighted. This rows data exactly matches the data found in Figure 6. This verifies that the data on this Table is correct. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 129I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 7: Average Percentage of Global Steam Bandwidth Accounted for by America. Table 7 displays that average per cent of steam bandwidth being accounted for by the USA every hour on a Sunday. Average is over the first three weeks of October 2013, as outlined in chapter 4.1.2. Timezone is UTC -00:00. 130Patrick Cremen - August 2015Figure 7: Seasonality of Video Game SalesFigure 7:A line chart displaying the seasonality of videogame sales, as found in Cunningham, Engelsttter and Ward (2011b: 31) Patrick Cremen - August 2015 131I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 8: Percentage of Owners Playing NBA2k13Table 8 displays percentage of those US steam users who own NBA2k13 who are playing it every hour.US units sold represents the units sold that week, changing every 168 hours.US units sold calculated as outlined in chapter 4.1.3.Timezone is UTC -08:00132Patrick Cremen - August 2015Figure 8: Far Cry 3 SteamGraph DataFigure 8 displays steam graph data for Bioshock Infinite, Deus Ex- Human Revolution, Far Cry 3. Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and The Forrest. While Bioshock Infinite, Deus Ex- Human Revolution and Far Cry 3 are all shooting games, Far Cry 3 usage more closely resembles open world/sandbox games, here Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag and The Forrest, than traditional shooting games. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 133I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 9: ERSB Ratings and Violence DescriptorsTable 9: The correlation between the ERSB Rating, and ERSB violent content descriptors among all games included in this study. Games that appear on both systems are counted as a single game.134Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 10: Percentage of Total US Video Game Store in Each StateTable 10: The number of video game retail stores in each state as a percentage of the total videogame retail stores in America for every year under study. All data gathered from the US census County Business Pattern (CBP) (US Census).Patrick Cremen - August 2015 135I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 11: State Time ZonesTable 12: Daylight Savings TimesTable 11: Time zones for the various states, gathered from Webexhibits.org (Webexhibits).Both Idaho and Tennessee are spread across two different time zones. Idaho contains regions in both the Pacific Time Zone (PTZ) and Mountain time Zone (MT) (Time Temperature, Idaho). Tennessee contains regions in both the Central Time Zone (CTZ) and Eastern Time Zone (ETZ) (Time Temperature, Tennessee). For simplicity, one time zone is used for each state. This is the time zone of each states capital.Idahos state capital Boise is in MTZ. Tennessees state capital Nashville is in CTZ. Therefore, these time zones are used for the entire state.Table 12: The points at which the time zones in the datasets were adjusted for daylight savings. Data gathered from b4time.com (b4 time).136Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 13: Data for the first 7 hours for 10 games in the West Virginia dataset. Patrick Cremen - August 2015 137Table 13: West Virginia Video Game Exposure DataI do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 14: The Delaware and Idaho sections of the Age and Sex table from the 2007 American Community Survey data. Source: American Factfinder (American Factfinder).138Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 14: American Community Survey DataTable 15: Vermont Socio-Economic DataTable 15: 20 rows from the dataset of Vermonts socio-economic control variables. Separate rows were added for every date under study. The values for all control variables changed annually, with the exception of Urban Population which remained consistent across all dates. All data gathered as outlined in chapter 4.4Patrick Cremen - August 2015 139I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 16: TV Ratings DataTable 16: 20 random rows from the TV ratings dataset. All data gathered as outlined in Chapter 4.5.1. A value of 0 is given to all dates where a TV programme with a season average Nielsen rating of above 5.0 that year did not air. 140Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 17: West Virginia Holiday DataTable 17: 20 random rows for the West Virginia holiday controls spreadsheet. All data gathered and formatted as outlined in chapter 4.5.2. An (A) before the holiday title indicates that the date occurs after the holiday, whereas a (B) indicates that date occurs before the holidayPatrick Cremen - August 2015 141I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 18: Weather Station InformationTable 19.2:Table 18 : The source of the Global Surface Summery of Day Data used for each of the eight states. In all cases, the dataset from the weather station in the state capital airport was used. All data gathered from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).Table 19 :How the variables in the Global Surface Summery of Day Data were coded in SPSS, in accordance with the Global Surface Summery of Day Data codebook (Federal Climate Complex Global Surface Summary of Day Data). Table 20: A sample of the case level SPSS data. INCDATE represents the date, with time being the hours since midnight of that date. For every violent crime that occurs at that time, a row is added to the dataset.Age and sex represent the age and sex of the offender, with males coded as 1 and females coded at 0. NV_Players, MV_Players and IV_Players being the number of people exposed to non-violent, mildly violent and intensely violent video games at that hour.SNDP represents current snow depth, and MAX represents maximum precipitation reported in that state that day.All other variables merged as they were formatted in Microsoft excel. 142Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 19: Weather Variable CodingTable 20: Case Level SPSS DataPatrick Cremen - August 2015 143I do love video games. But after a while, you feel like you need to get up and do something Observing the effect of video gameviolence on violent crime across eight US statesTable 21:A sample of the combined dataset for all reported violent crime. INCDATE and time represent the date and time. SvCrime represents the number of reported violent crimes in that state that hour. NV_Players, MV_Players and IV_Players being the number of people exposed to non-violent, mildly violent and intensely violent videogames at that hour.SNDP represents current snow depth, and MAX represents maximum precipitation reported in that state that day.If a holiday occurs on that date, 1 value is placed in the appropriate holiday indictor column, according to indicator groupings outlined in chapter 4.5.2. All other variables merged as they were formatted in Microsoft Excel. 144Patrick Cremen - August 2015Table 21: Combined Violent Crime DatasetTable 22.1: Intensely Violent Video GamesTable 22. 2: Mildly Violent Video GamesTable 22. 3: Non-violent Video GamesTable 22:The results of a linear regression analysis, with each games metascore being the predictor variable, and the dependent variable being the units sold in America after six weeks (Sig