It’s Just a Game, Right?
As students at a selective school, most of us are probably familiar with the age old assertions, “video games will rot your brain!” or “shooting games will make you violent!”. Of course, being teenagers, we usually end up ignoring the harbingers of ruination that are our parents and play on anyway. Nevertheless, countless studies have been and are being conducted over this most controversial and divisive of issues. It was only recently that Target pulled the R-rated Grand Theft Auto V from its shelves after a Change.org petition calling for the game’s withdrawal from sale garnered over 48,000 signatures.Target’s general manager of corporate affairs, Jim Cooper, said that “the decision to stop selling GTA V is in line with the majority view of our customers.” There is evidently a very public concern regarding violent content in video games, raising the question – could there really be any truth to these far-fetched allegations?
In short – no.
Too often the news presents us with violent psychopaths, driven to murder over trivial disagreements and differences. News programs and websites are quick to correlate the psychopathic behaviour to the perpetrators’ violent video gaming habits. Following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and 6 adult staff members, news reports focused heavily on Lanza’s frequent playing of violent video games (e.g. Counter-Strike), renewing debate about the hypothesised effects of VVGs on adolescents, even sparking legislative and bureaucratic change. Video game regulation is often linked to moral panic, with censorship and sales bans criticised[1] as knee-jerk reactions which fail to address the wider social issues of domestic violence and the intergenerational cycle of abuse. In 2002, a US Secret Service study of 42 individuals involved in school shootings found that 12% were attracted to VVGs, while 24% read violent books and 27% percent watched violent films[2]. I believe it is safe to assume that VVGs certainly have the potential to make already unstable minds even more unstable[3]. The problem arises when these horrific acts of inhumanity are attributed solely to video games, and the perpetrators are described as simply ‘the average child gone wrong’.
In terms of the science behind the issue, there is significant evidence to suggest that the link between VVGs and real-world violence is tenuous, if not non-existent[4][5][6][7][8]. A study conducted by Professor Christopher Ferguson of Stetson University examined the relationship between violence in the media and homicide rates since the 1920s, finding none. However, many studies have found a clear link between video game consumption and short-term aggression (bloody Flappy Bird). For example, in 2010, a meta-analysis of 130 international studies with over 130,000 participants was published by psychology professor Craig A. Anderson of Iowa State University. The study, which is considered one of the most important reports on the issue, suggested that exposure to VVGs caused both short-term aggression and antisocial behaviour in gamers[9]. Many studies also suggest that VVGs decrease empathy and desensitise gamers to violence[10][11][12]. In fact, the American Psychology Association released a statement in 2005, saying:
“There appears to be evidence that exposure to violent media increases feelings of hostility…aggression…and demonstrates violence as a method to deal with conflict”
“Analysis of violent video game research suggests such exposure increases aggressive behavior, angry feelings, physiological arousal, and decreases helpful behavior.”
“Studies suggest that sexualized violence in the media has been linked to increases in violence towards women, rape myth acceptance and anti-women attitudes.”
So what does Australia have to say about the whole thing? Following Anderson’s meta-analysis, the Attorney General’s department concluded that, “significant harmful effects from VVGs have not been persuasively proven or disproven. There is some consensus that VVGs may be harmful to certain populations, such as people with aggressive and psychotic personality traits[13].”
So, a revision of my earlier statement – do VVGs cause violence and anti-women attitudes in children? Yes and no.
Confused? You should be – it’s a complicated issue that warrants further discussion. Psychology is still a young field, and it’ll be some time yet before we’re able to accurately and empirically ‘measure’ the effects of VVGs on developing brains. While VVGs may be harmful to some, censorship or banning games is definitely not the answer (nevertheless, it is important that parents respect the classification system and keep adult-only games for, well, adults only). Video games are a growing medium which have, as of yet, found it difficult to prove their worth as an art form alongside film, literature and music. Therefore, as the medium blooms, it will inevitably cop criticism from the more ‘conservative’ members of society who see an active participation in entertainment as dangerous. Let’s remember that Rock music was called “the devil’s work” in the 50s. And look where it is now – riding that Stairway to Heaven, that Highway to Hell (sorry, I’ve exhausted my pool, or rather, puddle, of Rock knowledge). So don’t worry, games are here to stay.
[1] Byrd P. “It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt: the effectiveness of proposed video-game legislation on reducing violence in children” – Houston Law Review, 2007
[2] Vosekuill B. “Safe school initiative final report.” – U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, 2002
[3] Markey P. and Markey C. “Vulnerability to Violent Video Games: A Review and Integration of Personality Research” – VVG report, 2010
[4] Kutner L. and Olson C. “Grand theft childhood: the surprising truth about violent video games.” – Grand Theft Childhood, 2008
[5] Hillis S. “Video games don’t create killers, new book says.” – Reuters, 2008 Bensley L. and Van Eenwyk J. “Video games and real life aggression.” – Journal of Adolescent Health, 2001
[6] Sherry J. “The effects of violent video games on aggression: a meta-analysis” – Human Communication Research, 2001 [7] Ferguson, C. and Kilburn, J. “The Public health risks of media violence: a meta-analytic review” – Journal of Pediatrics, 2009
[8] Ferguson C. “Video games and youth violence: a prospective analysis in adolescents.” – Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2010
[9] Anderson C. et al. “Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behaviour in Eastern and Western countries.” – Psychological Bulletin, 2010
[10] Funk J. B. et al. “Violence exposure in real-life, video games, television, movies, and the internet: Is there desensitization?” – Ottawa Citizen, 2010
[11] Nicholas C. et al. “The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence” – Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2006
[12] Sarah K., Edward O. and Courtney H. “Changes in Dispositional Empathy in American College Students Over Time: A Meta-Analysis” – Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2011
[13] “Literature review on the impact of playing violent video games on aggression” – Australian Government, 2010
