A group of researchers say centuries of colonial violence across the Americas, Africa, Asia, and India have their roots in one thing: violent video games.
According to the research, the roots of European imperialism can be traced directly to the ‘no-mercy’ ethos seen in popular gaming franchises like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto and Colonizer.
“We found that colonizers were not just simply motivated by greed, they were actually mimicking what they saw in violent video games,” said lead researcher Bianca Pura.
“It’s much like a child today playing Age of Empires and then growing up to become a hedge fund manager—it’s not the game that makes them greedy, it’s simply the logical progression of their gameplay.”
The study’s findings suggest that, if anything, the real victims were the European settlers, who were unwittingly conditioned by years of simulated violence to act out their colonial quests.