English 102 18 July 2012

Round One, Fight: Do Violent Games Make Violent People?

Video gaming is a past time that has been growing in popularity ever since arcade game cabinets of the mid 70s and gaming consoles were introduced into homes around the mid 1980s. Video games started as just simple 8-bit, pixilated images with little movement and have since evolved into the much more realistic looking and feeling games of today. With realism being a major part of current gaming, several game genres have become more popular in recent, among these being the fighting genre, first-person shooters, and open-world action adventure games. Titles that fall under these three genres are well known for simulating violence or blood and gore and are often as labeled violent games. In this day and age when crime is at a high and gaming is widely popular, violent games are often frowned upon by leaders of society and the question is often asked do violent games produce violent people? and to that question I would answer no, violent people are not the outcome of games that portray violence or contain blood and gore. That is not to say that violent games or games in general do not have an effect on the player in a short term sense (i.e. while they are playing to a couple of hours later), but to say that a game can completely and permanently change the demeanor of the player to that of a violent nature and that the game is solely responsible I disagree with for several reasons. One major reason I disagree with violence in a game being the only factor responsible in producing so called violent people is that the game isnt the only factor in the problem. A big part of the problem also stems from parenting. The blame nowadays no matter what the problem likes to be cast onto society and external forces when a majority of problems either start from or can be solved from within the family. The Entertainment Software Regulatory Board (ESRB) has been rating games based on content since 1994 with rating criteria similar to that used in movies in order to aid parents in making

decisions as to what games are appropriate for their children. Game developers are not required to submit their titles to be rated by this board, however, most game publishers will not accept a game that has not received a rating and virtually all American game retailers expect the same, the only exceptions being obscure internet companies and foreign exporters. The majority of games that are labeled as violent (such as the Mortal Kombat or Grand Theft Auto series) are rated M for mature under this system and as such are restricted for purchase by people under age 18. If parents dont want their children playing these games one obvious solution is to stop buying the games for them. In a 2001 study which sought to correlate in-game violence with real-life aggression inadvertently correlated types of games played by youth and parents understanding of the game rating system when its results showed that only 15% of the survey sample said that their parents always or often check the game rating before purchasing while at the same time 65% of the sample said that they received their games as gifts or from parents (Lynch, Olson, Gentile, van Brederode, pg 6) . The average age of the sample was 14 years of age. If a parent is buying violent games for the child, feeding the child violence per say, then the source of the problem isnt the game but the person providing the game i.e. the parent.

Good parenting concerning gaming isnt just a matter of restricting games that the parent thinks are inappropriate, because its well known that if people want something they will find a way to get it. Humans are hard-headed that way. Parenting also involves teaching children right from wrong. If a child

isnt taught that fighting random people and beating them up is wrong and he plays Mortal Kombat where the whole goal of the game is to beat the opposing character senseless, of course hes not going to find anything wrong with it, but if he understands that fighting is wrong and its been made clear that certain things are wrong and certain things are right then those lessons will kick in the next time Lui

Kang is karate chopping Sub Zero and the realization will be made that this is just a game and as soon as the console goes off its back to real life. No lesson in life is obvious until its taught and made clear, thus the whole objective and reason for parenting. Another factor that I feel weighs into the effects of violent games is the way that the games are played. Not all violent games are inherently violent and in most cases depend on the player how violently or aggressively the game will play. This argument mainly applies to action-adventure games, more specifically free-roam action-adventure games. Among this ever growing genre includes titles such as Fallout 3, Red Dead: Redemption, and the infamous Grand Theft Auto Series. These games allow the player to move their character around a vast , open map and engage in any number of moral or immoral deeds such stealing or fighting/shooting other in-game characters as well as saving hostages or doing good deeds for citizens. Consequences to these in-game actions, however, also mirror consequences one would experience in real life to a degree. For example, stealing from a character or performing other immoral deeds in the games Fallout 3 or Red Dead: Redemption will lower the players karma (an in game concept that measures good and evil deeds based on Indian religious ideals) and characters will become increasingly hostile to the player even becoming physical, depending on the severity of the deed. This is also oppositely true with good deeds, with characters becoming more friendly and willing to interact with the player the more good they do. In the Grand Theft Auto Series, crimes are met with police action. Depending on the severity of the crime the police will act with increasing urgency and action. Although these titles may allow and depict violence, they also implement an accurate action-consequences system which requires the player to weigh in their minds the results of violence and acts as a kind of deterrent to a small extent. Additionally, many violent games have the option to turn off the offending content such as

strong language and/or blood and gore allowing players to receive the narrative with minimal unwanted content. Studies have also shown that the majority of gamers dont necessarily like large amounts of violence in video games. In the same 2001 survey, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being no violence and 10 being extremely violent, the average response to the question how much violence do you like to see in your games? was 5.4, with the average for male participants being 6.7- these being moderate values (Lynch, Olson, Gentile, van Brederode, pg 6). This may indicate that, not unlike most everything else that is deemed bad, Americas youths obsession with violent games may be an over-exaggeration. Or this may also point to what Gamasutra.com writer Leigh Alexander suggests, that video game violence or controlling an evil in-game character is only fun and tolerable when the game isnt realistic or at least not overly realistic- when the mind can still differentiate between an obvious cartoon game and what may seem like real-life. Or in other words as long as the line between game and actuality can be easily drawn, gamers find no problem with game violence, but when that violence becomes too realistic or too unjustifiable, gamers become uncomfortable and disconcerted which further shows that violence ingame does not automatically and directly translate into permanent real-life aggression (Alexander). Numerous meta-analyses have been performed to correlate game violence with violent behavior in gamers. A recent study 2011 study performed by the Radiological Society of North America at the Indiana University School of Medicine found that at least in the short term, violent game genres such as first person shooters when played in excess can affect the cognitive function and emotional control sections of the brain. According to Dr. Yang Wang, M.D., assistant research professor in the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at Indiana University, These brain regions are important for controlling emotion and aggressive behavior and indicate that violent video game play has a longterm effect on brain functioning (Wang, Y). I would tend to disagree on level that the study was only

performed for two weeks with the first week of 10 hours of violent game play producing the results and brain function returning back normal the following week. As a gamer myself I can partly attest to these results as playing violent games such as Mortal Kombat do make me more aggressive, albeit only in the moment that I am engaged the game. Although it must be stated that non-violent games such as racing titles can evoke aggressive feelings when I become annoyed or am losing. In fact, many non-game activities that occur throughout everyday happenings can cause aggressive behavior, for instance driving in traffic is often cited as one the most stressful, emotion-inducing experiences. Does driving cause violence? Should driving be banned because it may cause people to become aggressive? The vast majority of Americans would respond with a resounding NO to these questions. In this same fashion, I dont completely refute the evidence that points to violent games, or games in general, causing gamers to become more aggressive on a short term period (minutes to hours of stoppage of gameplay), but to accuse these games of solely creating an entire, supposed generation of violent delinquents is a tad absurd. Opponents of games often cite scattered incidences of violence that may have the slightest inkling of resemblance to a video game scene and tend to over-exaggerate the role of violent games in the offenders life often omitting or underemphasizing other aspects of their life that could be the real reason/cause of the problem. It seems that gaming has filled the void left by previous stigmas of movies, TV, and even literature to some extent and has become the new scapegoat for issues with the American youth.

Works Cited
Alexander, Leigh. "Opinion: On Making Game Violence Work." Gamasutra.com. N.p., 29 June 2011. Web. 2 July 2012. <http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/35481/Opinion_On_Making_Game_Violence_Work.php>. ESRB. "Search Game Ratings." ESRB Ratings. N.p., 2 Feb. 2009. Web. 2 July 2012. <http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp>. Lynch, Paul J., Douglas A. Gentile, Abbie A. Olson, and Tara M. Van Brederode. "The Effects of Violent Video Game Habits and Adolescent Aggressive Attitudes and Behaviors." (2001): n. pag. ERIC. Web. 1 July 2012. Rose, Mike "Study: Violent Video Games Have 'Long-Term Effect On Brain Functioning'" Gamasutra.com. Ed. Mike Rose. N.p., 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 2 July 2012. Wang Y , Hummer T , Kronenberger WG , Mosier KM , Mathews VP , One Week of Violent Video Game Play Alters Prefrontal Activity. Presented at: Radiological Society of North America 2011 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting; November 27- December 2, 2011 Chicago IL. rsna2011.rsna.org/search/event_display.cfm?em_id=11004116 Accessed July 18, 2012.