I’ve seen drunken Dwarf paladins fall off their epic mounts in World of Warcraft, and now I understand the connection! Tor Thorsen (who sounds like he could be a Dwarf paladin, himself) of GameSpot writes:

Researchers conclude “violent” games foster more “permissive attitudes” toward drugs, alcohol, and sex.

Anti-game activists got another bit of ammunition today, courtesy of a study published in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. The study, which was jointly conducted by San Francisco- and Pittsburgh-based researchers, came to the conclusion that playing violent video games leads to “permissive attitudes toward violence, alcohol use, marijuana use, and sexual activity without condom use.”

The study, titled “Effects of Media Violence on Health-Related Outcomes Among Young Men,” was based on a sampling of 100 male undergraduate students aged 18 to 21 years. It randomly assigned the subjects to play one of two video games - VU Games’ The Simpsons: Hit & Run and Grand Theft Auto III. Subjects were selected so that the test group would have “differing amounts of lifetime home and community violence…“

[tags]alcohol,violent game,permissive attitude,drugs,sex,effects of media violence on health-related outcomes among young men[/tags]