February 22nd 2018, the President of the United States blasted video games, movies, and the internet in general as culprits to violence in schools, or just “bad things in general”. It’s a tale as old as time, and before we digress into a soliloquy of “Beauty and the Beast”, what we are hearing from the upper echelon politicians is nothing new. In the age of hyper-realistic graphics and virtual reality, have we finally crossed the line with our interactive media? Is it time we brandish our torches and pitchforks at our developers, or is this just more political posturing? Together, you and I will assemble the facts as best we can to find out if all this rhetoric of the “Blame Game” is fact or fiction.
What do the experts say?
Let us preface all following information with the disclaimer of my history, that I have been a gamer since as far back as I remember. During my early childhood, I played Atari games, Dragon’s Lair on floppy disk, and plenty of Nintendo. My experiences, ranging from playing Doom on DOS, to Duke Nukem 64 and beyond, never once encouraged me towards violence. Unfortunately, this isn’t about one person’s story. In 2005 and subsequently in 2015 the American Psychology Association released statements linking, and confirming those links, between aggression and violent video games. An excerpt reads, “Quantitative reviews since APA’s 2005 Resolution that have focused on the effects of violent video game use have found a direct association between violent video game use and aggressive outcomes.” 1
Now before we throw up our hands in disbelief and outfit ourselves with M-Busters like Mega Man, the very same conclusion goes on to read that video games are only one possible risk factor, and that reasons for violence are multifaceted. Therein lies an issue, and that issue is determining the proper risk factors that predispose violence rather than a correlative conclusion. I’m sure in that same vein one would be hard pressed to disprove that similar risk factors of violence could simply be driving a car, reading a true crime novel or breathing oxygen. I’m sure most violent gamers that harmed others may have done several of those things as well. In fact, many studies over the subject of gaming as the predominant risk factor have been flawed or inconclusive due to competing studies substantiating different outcomes. 2
More importantly, in several studies, it wasn’t video games specifically that even caused violent behavior, it was competitive games that caused the largest response of aggression. Anyone that has played a shooter on Xbox Live has seen this type of aggression, but this same kind of aggression has been linked to sports as well.5
So, Do Video Games Cause Violent Behavior?
Let’s look at it like this my friends, violent video games make up the vast majority of games on the market. Even in the simplest of terms, entertainment created for children all have some form of conflict, whether it’s Mario throwing a turtle shell at Toad in Mario Kart, or hurling a red bird at some green pigs in Angry Birds. This was prevalent even before video games splashed into the mainstream with games like Rock’em Sock’em Robots and Dungeons and Dragons which was also held responsible for some controversies in its heyday.3 Despite the increase of over 70 percent of children having played video games at some point into their teenage years, violent crimes in juveniles has actually decreased. 4 This again is more of a correlated conclusion, but one that is far more encouraging.
In 2018 alone there have been at least 25 mass shootings in the United States. In nearly all of them, the perpetrator was older than 18 years of age, and most of them were extenuating circumstances, attacks levied against family members, spouses or situations of conflict. The most recent debate on violent video games as the culprit, is perpetuated by the same misguided finger pointing from a generation that doesn’t like video games and nothing else. In 2016 and through 2017, Mr. Trump leveled accusations of killings and drugs at immigrants after several news stories were published where the felons did turn out to be immigrants, illegal or otherwise, despite the majority of deaths in the United States occurring from non-immigrant citizens. The rhetoric being used today against video games is just one more unfocused misdirection.
If This is Just Rhetoric, What Can Be Done?
Mr. Trump leveled an idea at the public in regards to violent media, “You see these movies, and they’re so violent. And yet a kid is able to see the movie if sex isn’t involved, but killing is involved, and maybe they have to put a rating system for that.”
Whether he is aware or not, rating systems already exist in just about every media space. The ESRB has been rating games for decades, Movies and Television shows have ratings too. Where we’re scant on responsibility and accountability in terms of content ratings lies at the feet of parents. No rating system can do its job properly if a parent chooses to disregard them, which is a common thread in our modern society.
Rating systems today are only a half measure when trying to block a child from viewing violent media, but the finger pointing that somehow these entertainment avenues themselves are some unstoppable driving force that needs regulation is like saying McDonalds needs to be regulated because they’re force feeding the public into obesity. The premise is preposterous, to hold developers and publishers accountable for the actions of disturbed individuals.
What Does It All Mean?
Perhaps the TL:DR version is necessary when dealing with the complexities of violence in regards to video games. Let me put it as simply as I can. Violent video games do not cause anyone to commit violence. For every study that shows an aggressive tendency in a subject, a counterpoint study shows the direct opposite. For every correlative occurrence that shows a child acting aggressive before, during or after playing a violent game, there are dozens of examples showing otherwise. Video games have the ability to change our lives, shape our passions and tell us stories, some beautiful, some disturbing. It’s time we stop trying to demonize everything we don’t understand and take responsibility for how we raise our children and for how we handle ourselves both in and out of video games.
