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Nature 424, 367-368 (24 July 2003) | doi:10.1038/424367a

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Video violence: Playing with fire?

Tony Reichhardt1

  1. Tony Reichhardt writes for Nature from Washington.

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The latest computer games involve pretty gruesome scenes — severed limbs and drive-by shootings are standard fare. But opinion is divided on whether such games spark real-life violence. Tony Reichhardt investigates.

How about this for two contrasting views of the same phenomenon? When Craig Anderson watches teenagers playing violent video games such as Doom and Grand Theft Auto, he believes that seeds of aggression are being sown in their minds.