Video Games and

Violence
Do Violent Video Games Cause Players
to Become Violent?
Why are video games synonymous with aggression?
• Many video games have players playing against each other.
Competition can breed aggression.
• Young children might try to copy what they see their
favorite video game characters do. This can be dangerous.
• Some video games depict violence very vividly because the
technology used to make the games are so advanced.
• There are often arguments among gamers as to which
games or consoles are better than the others.
How do we control mature games not being sold to kids?
The Entertainment Software Rating Board
• The ESRB reviews games before they are released and gives
them ratings that correlate to the age someone has to be to buy
that game
• eC – Early Childhood
• E – Everyone
• E 10+ – Everyone 10 and older
• T – Teen
• M – Mature 17 and older
• A – Adults Only 18 and older
• RP – Rating Pending

Examples of
Violence Related to Video
Games
• On the 25th of June 2003, William and Josh Buckner shot
and killed Aaron Hamel and injured several others. They
blamed their crime on influence from a Grand Theft Auto
game.
• In 2008, a group of online gaming guilds got into a virtual
battle. After one of the guilds lost a character they met up
and fought in real life where one man was murdered.
• In October of 2010 Alexandra Tobias was frustrated that
her son, Dylan Tobias, wouldn’t stop crying while she
played Farmville she shook him to death

So Video Games Do Cause Crime!

Hold on, there. Those examples have a lot of things going on with
them other than being related to video games.
• Why did the teenagers blame their actions on a video game?
Perhaps they didn’t want to take all the blame for their crime.
• Were the people who got in a gang fight over a video game loss
already aggressive, or did the game make them into spontaneous
brawlers.
• Farmville isn’t a stressful game, perhaps Alexandra Tobias has a
short fuse that was bound to run out some day.
There’s no way to know. But even if all of these events were
caused by video games they are extremely isolated incidents.
Side by Side
• From 1996 – 2004 game
sales were indirectly
proportional to violent
crime offences.
• This could mean that
video games kept people
too busy to commit
crimes.
• Or they were used to
release aggression in
troubled
 individuals.
According to the chart there is about a 1 in 400
chance that someone who plays video games
also has violent tendencies

Can Any Game Cause

Frustration?
Many video games are challenging, because of that many games have
the potential to make some one angry or anxious. But there are a few
things to consider:
• Different people find different things challenging, this means that the
same game could make one person upset and another person happy.
• Just because someone blames their emotions on a video game, doesn’t
mean it is the games fault. They could have underlying issues or are
not ready to take responsibility for how they behave.
• While some games may illicit feelings of aggression, the decision to
act on them is always up to the person playing.
How Can I Make Sure My Children Aren’t Playing
Inappropriate Video Games?
• If you buy their games, make sure you check the ESRB
rating on the box to make sure it’s age appropriate.
• Make sure you know what the game is about, there are
many more games involving cartoon squirrels with
chainsaws than you would expect.
• Make sure that their playtime is limited, too much time
playing any video game can be unhealthy so make sure
they get enough time outside too.

Sources
www.ESRB.org
www.time.com
http://www.geek.com/games/teenage-killers-blame-gta-victims-familysues-
554190/
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/florida-mom-alexandratobias-
pleads-guilty-murdering-baby-crying-farmville-game-article-
1.192666
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/russian-lineage-ii-player-beatsrivalto-
death/1100-6235216/