I'm not surprised if there's no link between violent games and violence in real life. But as a subtler concern, I do wonder if (some) violent games help to cultivate a sense of general nihilism and lack of value. I work with teens and maybe 15% of them have this sense of "blankness" in the spot where a sense of value/meaning/morality should be. (Not even in the classic 90's sense of "teen apathy" -- more like they've never even been notified that anything can mean anything.)
I do wonder if spending 40% of your waking hours playing simulators where you dice people up for no good reason, might contribute a little to that attitude. Especially the kids that already aren't being socialized particularly well (abusive parents that barely talk to them, etc.)
Hell, I'd even be alright if it were games that have loads of violence but with a sense of purpose (e.g., the Half-Life series, or many Bethesda games). The truly aimless violence is what kinda worries me.
I would argue if they are spending 40% of thier time on games, than it's the lack of other stimulation required for development that's the problem. If they were playing Atari Pong for that long, I would suspect he same outcome you observe. The violence in the video game had little to no impact on this scenerio.
Consider the rest of their environment. I think the nihilism among young people has more to do with coming to terms with the mortality of your country and planet than anything else. Violence is not a new thing, but haven't solid evidence that it will only get harder for you and future generations is pretty new.
More likely, teenagers play video games, if not just for fun, to escape from the "general nihilism and lack of value" that our society exudes on them, despite society desperately trying to blame all it's flaws on video games.
I do wonder if spending 40% of your waking hours playing simulators where you dice people up for no good reason, might contribute a little to that attitude. Especially the kids that already aren't being socialized particularly well (abusive parents that barely talk to them, etc.)
Hell, I'd even be alright if it were games that have loads of violence but with a sense of purpose (e.g., the Half-Life series, or many Bethesda games). The truly aimless violence is what kinda worries me.