Conducted by researchers based in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, the study adds more credence to what anti-gaming activists believe is a trend towards destructive behavior on the part of those youth and adults that regularly sit in front of the television and play video games with a violent twist.  Though the video game industry has challenged these notions, more and more evidence leads to the fact that these games do indeed create a personality change in individuals who spend an exorbitant amount of time playing.

The report studied 100 male undergraduate students from ages 18 to 21.

  Those who participated were assigned to play one of two popular games: The Simpsons – Hit and Run or Grand Theft Auto III.  The latter has been consistently under fire for its violent content. 

Subjects for the study, entitled “Effects of Media Violence on Health-Related Outcomes among Young Men”, were selected so that the test group would have "differing amounts of lifetime home and community violence." 

According to the report in the Archives, the study concluded that “men randomly assigned to play Grand Theft Auto III exhibited greater increases in diastolic blood pressure from a baseline rest period to game play, greater negative affect, more permissive attitudes toward using alcohol and marijuana, and more uncooperative behavior in comparison with men randomly assigned to play The Simpsons.”

It went on to specify that"only among participants with greater exposure to home and community violence, play of Grand Theft Auto III led to elevated systolic blood pressure in comparison with play of The Simpsons." The report continued by saying that, "Although youth growing up in violent homes and communities may become more physiologically aroused by media violence exposure, all youth appear to be at risk for potentially negative outcomes."