Video Game Violence

Julian Bregstone

Violent video games are often a scapegoat for the increased gun violence in the U.S. It can be shown that violent video games do not cause violent actions, due to the fact that millions of young gamers in the U.S. never act out violently, countries with even more video game usage show less gun related violence, there have been no conclusive national studies on the long term effects of playing violent video games, many new forms of expression are blamed for big problems in the U.S. when they are just getting popular, and finally, violent video games can also serve as a useful release for anger. Lawmakers should not pass legislation, such as the Video Games Ratings Enforcement Act, to censor video game content or restrict minors from buying M rated games. In a New York Times article columnist, Max Fischer states, Video game consumption... does not seem to correlate at all with an increase in gun violence.

Many people have played violent video games and have never committed a violent act, much less a criminal act. 68 percent of American households play video games.(ProCon.org) Peoples misconceptions would lead someone to believe that millions of people would be out on the streets rampaging. Even game designers have regular lives. Ted Price works at Insomniac Studios and is a 44 year old father of four. He believes that violence is only part of the stories he creates. He states, conflict is what makes stories interesting. Most gamers have never been involved in a fight or have acted out violently so the cause of the elevated gun related death rate must be caused by something else.

Although the U.S. has an abundance of gun violence, video games are not the problem. Other countries with more video game consumption do not have nearly as much gun related violence. For example, in Germany people spend a similar amount of money on video games but there are only a twelfth of the gun related deaths per year.(NYTimes.com) Max Fischer has put together graphs comparing video game sales in developed countries in relation to gun related deaths in developed countries. Looking at the worlds 10 largest video game markets yields no evident, statistical correlation between video game consumption and gun-related killings.(NYTimes.com) He concludes that the

international data actually suggests a slight downward shift in violence as video game consumption increases. This does not mean that video games stop violence but it shows that there is no correlation between make-believe video game violence and actual gun violence.

Inside the U.S. there have been many studies since the 1980s about the effect of violent video games on young people but none of them have been conclusive about any long term effects of playing violent video games.(Kotaku.com) Many people say, anecdotally, that if someone plays violent video games at a young age he/she will become a more violent person, but it is not supported by facts. It is not at all clear whether, over longer periods, such a habit (playing violent video games) increases the likelihood that a person will commit a violent crime.(NYTimes.com) Chris Ferguson, a professor at Texas A&M, thinks that research from the past 20 years has been quite inconsistent. There have been a plentitude of studies and there is no consistent conclusion. There are also many hidden variables such as competition. Without consistent conclusions no one can make a case that violent video games cause violence.

Violent video games have been a scapegoat for real life violence. The National Rifle Association blames video games for the acts of crazy people with guns. There is an obvious solution to this; do not give guns to crazy people. One week after blaming video games for the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut the NRA released a shooter iPhone game. The NRA claims that the Second Amendment protects gun rights so no one can change them, but the First Amendment much more clearly protects video games. The Supreme Court stated, Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Its not just the NRA that scapegoats video games. Many commentators are biased when reporting. Daniel Greenberg, a writer for The Atlantic , says, A spate of recent news stories uncritically reported attacks on video games or made fresh attacks of their own without attempts to balance the coverage with the gameindustry perspective. This is swaying the publics support to the side saying that video games do cause violence and many of the news stories are not based on facts.

New forms of media always undergo being blamed for this or that. When movies started to become popular, they were blamed for numerous things. When movie theaters first opened in the early years of the 20th century, public protests and political campaigns threatened to shut them down.(The Washington Post) The same thing happened with radio, jazz and comic books. Adam Sessler, chief editor and executive producer of Rev3 Games, explains that when tragedies happen... people tend to go

to what feels most alien and what feels most different and changing.(screwattack.com) History has shown that video games are no different than movies and other forms of expression in that this phase of backlash will pass over once more adults adopt the art forms.

Violent video games are a release for anger. When someone channels all his/her anger into video games they are less likely to act violently. Video games are the modern day equivalent of hunting. Hunting was not just to get food; it was to dispel anger. As video games sales have gone up, youthful violence has gone down through the years. Total youthful violent crimes have actually gone down 36 percent since video games have become popular. (ProCon.org) This is true not just for youth violence. Overall violent crime has gone down from 1995 to 1999 and beyond. At the same time video games sales were skyrocketing.(ProCon.org) This suggests counterintuitively that because of video games, the crime rate has gone down.

There are many misconceptions about the video game industry. ESRB, the video game rating system, has been rating more and more harshly. Although people think that all popular video games are rated M, most video games are rated E and do not have any violence in them.(ProCon.org) The three biggest video game genres are action, family entertainment, and sports. Shooter games only account for 10.9 percent of video game sales.(ProCon.org) Close to 60 percent of games released are rated E while only 11 percent are rated M. People think all video games are geared towards boys under 17 but this is not true.(ProCon.org) Boys under 17 account for only 18 percent of video game players.(ProCon.org)

Video game executives have met with politicians and the politicians have decided not to tamper with the video game industry. A bill was introduced that would prohibit the sale of violent videogames to minors, it would include fines up to 5,000 dollars. Vice President Biden says, Let the CDC, let the National Institute of Health, let these people go out and look at the pathology thats behind this.(Forbes.com) This means that politicians have no place in the video game industry. There is no need to pass legislation about video game content. Vice President Biden's task force on gun violence rejected the political clamor to scapegoat video games.(Forbes.com) Biden agrees with video game executives and does not see the need to interfere with the video game industry. This should let other lawmakers know that nothing needs to be done.

Violent video games do not cause violent actions. The reason that we have more gun violence in the U.S. is probably caused by our lack of gun control, not violent video games. There are no conclusive studies about long term effects of playing violent video games. Many countries have similar spending on video games but have far fewer gun related deaths. Video games help release anger that could have otherwise been transferred into violence. Many new forms of expression, which seem alien at first, are blamed for tragedies. Without doubt gun violence is a terrible problem in America today. All concerned people should try to find answers that could ameliorate the problem. However, based on the evidence presented here, banning or censoring video games would not be effective in solving this pressing issue. Violent video games should not be a scapegoat for gun violence.

Works Cited

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"25 Video Game Violence Studies, Summarized." Kotaku. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.

Khimm, Suzy. "POW! CRACK! What We Know about Video Games and Violence." The Washington Post. N.p., 17 Jan. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.

Fischer, Marc. "Game makers say violence is only part of a story." The Washington Post [Washington D.C.]: n. pag. Print.

Forbes. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. <http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/01/25/biden-says-not-tofear-the-facts-about-video-game-violence/>.

ProCon.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2013. <http://videogames.procon.org/view.resource.php?

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Terkel, Amanda. "Video Games Targeted By Senate In Wake Of Sandy Hook Shooting." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.

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World View. Washington Post, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2013. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/17/ten-country-comparisonsuggests-theres-little-or-no-link-between-video-games-and-gun-murders/>.

Terkel, Amanda. "Video Games Targeted By Senate In Wake Of Sandy Hook Shooting." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.

Adam Sessler Explains Violent Video Games to Fox News . N.d. Home of DEATH BATTLE!, Hard News, Brentalfloss, and More! Web. 15 Apr. 2013.