Violence has become a staple part of gaming over the years, with the majority of the best selling video games containing graphic gun violence. But is violence in the real world linked to video games?

In August Donald Trump said during a press conference "We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence".  This sparked major outrage on social media with many memes and hate for Donald Trump. 

Statistics show no link between video games and violence. In fact violent crimes have been falling since the late 90s which is when many popular 'violent' video game series such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty came out. And although mass shootings have been on the rise in the USA in the past 20 years, of the 18 most serious cases, only 4 of the perpetrators even played video games. Any evidence that video games do cause violence is a statistical coincidence as most mass shootings are carried out by young men, and 72% of men under the age of 30 regularly play video games. 
Many studies by psychologists from around the world have proved that teenagers show little to no increase in aggression while playing video games.

Video games have been scapegoated with no real evidence to back it up.