Do violent video games create killers?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Do violent video games create killers?". Your opponent's style: Shroud

Yes, it causes tons of killers.

Dude, that's straight up wrong. Look, I've been gaming since I was a kid - Counter-Strike, violent shooters, all of it. You know what happened while gaming exploded? Youth violence dropped by over 80% while gaming exploded [1]. We've got millions of kids grinding Counter-Strike daily, but they're staying home instead of getting into real trouble. The data's crystal clear - Oxford researchers found zero relationship between aggressive behavior in teens and violent gaming [1]. Meanwhile, only 12% of school shooters played violent games, way lower than normal kids [1]. Gaming's actually keeping kids out of trouble, not creating it. You're blaming the wrong thing entirely.

You're cherry-picking your stats and missing the forest for the trees. More than half of school shooters demonstrated interest in violent media, including books, movies, or video games [1]. That's not 12% - that's over 50%. Your "Secret Service study" conveniently ignores that playing at least some violent games was associated with a fourfold increase in odds of carrying a weapon to school [1]. Four times more likely to bring weapons to school, but sure, let's pretend that's harmless. And here's what really gets me - you talk about kids "staying home" like that's some victory. These games aren't keeping kids out of trouble, they're training them for it. These games may serve as virtual rehearsals for actual violence [1]. When you spend hours perfecting headshots and learning tactical movements, that muscle memory doesn't just disappear when you log off. Japan comparison? Please. They have completely different gun laws and cultural attitudes toward violence. Of course their murder rates are different - they can't easily get the weapons these games teach them to use.

Nah bro, you're twisting the numbers completely. That Secret Service study you're citing literally says "no particular behavior, including interest in violence, could be used to produce a 'profile' of a likely shooter" [1]. They found interest in ALL violent media - books, movies, games - not just games specifically. Here's what actually matters: Stanford researchers just reviewed every single credible study on this topic and found "no causal link between playing video games and gun violence in real life" [1]. Zero. None. And get this - "violent crime actually decreased following the release of popular, violent video games" [1]. Your "fourfold increase" stat? That study disappeared when they looked at newer data - "this effect disappeared in the 2014–2017 data" [1]. Classic cherry-picking old, debunked research. You want real training for violence? Try military drills, not Call of Duty. Kids can't even reload properly after thousands of hours gaming - muscle memory my ass.