Researchers of a study have stated that playing violent video games was found to be linked with aggressive and callous behavior. Researchers in review of the decade-long studied found that playing violent video games was the major factor for increased aggression.

The team stated that they had insufficient evidence to present a conclusion on the influence of games such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto led to criminal acts.

It has been said that the study’s findings have prompted a call for more parental control over violent scenes in video games from the American Psychological Association.

According to a report from the association's taskforce on violent media, “The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in pro-social behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression”.

The report concluded that they found no evidence where a single influence led a person to act aggressively or violently. Rather, it was an accumulation of risk factors that resulted in such behavior.

Now, the American Psychological Association has asked the game developers to increase the levels of parental control over the amount of violence video games contain.

Recently, during a meeting held in Toronto, Canada, the association's ruling council called for a video game rating system that took more notice of violence, and for games to be more appropriate to players' age and psychological development.

Dr. Mark Appelbaum, who chaired the taskforce, said though scientists had investigated the use of violent video games for more than two decades, there are so far very less researches that address whether violent video games led to criminal violence.