Many studies seem to assume that violence in video games allows people to be violent without any repercussions. This is not true, because in order to add challenge (and fun) to any video game, it is necessary to have opposition – a way to lose. If a person attacks someone in real life, they are likely to be attacked right back. Video games work in the same way – you attack someone, they attack you right back. There are circumstances in real life where one may be, for some reason, unable to counter the opposition, and video games share those same conditional circumstances. But no matter what the circumstance, there is always a repercussion in some form or another, video game or no, for acts of violence. In the Grand Theft Auto series violent acts are treated in much the same way as in real life, resulting in the player being wanted by the police/military, and oftentimes the player gets killed trying to evade them. In the game Battlefield: 1942 the player is given arms and told to go out and fight in World War II. And not unlike the real war, the player is at constant risk of stepping on a landmine, being sniped, being bombed by a plane, etc. These games aren't showing the players that war and violence is okay, they're showing them just how devastating war and violence can really be.
When extremely involved in, or passionate about something, it is easy for people to overreact. When playing video games in competition with another player, or sometimes even against the computer, a player can become frustrated from a losing streak. This highly depends on the individual person, but sometimes players can become so frustrated at their losing streak that they throw the controller, or even hit the friend who was constantly beating them. That is not an example of the video game causing them to be violent; it is an example of poor sportsmanship and self control. Being that video games are a form of media created by people, they also act as a kind of self-expression for the developers, representing their thoughts and ideas. If one is arguing with somebody else and begins to feel frustrated by his or her ideas, one must hold back feelings of aggression, just as one must hold back feelings of aggression when playing a video game. Video games are designed for recreation and entertainment; if the game isn't fun anymore, one can simply stop playing it. Sports fans who are really passionate about the team they root for might react in a similar way when they see their team make a stupid move during the game. The ability to lose, admit defeat, and shake the hands of the opposing team is something supposedly taught at a young age. Unfortunately some people never grasped the concept of losing with dignity during their youth and instead of congratulating the opposing team they get angry and make accusations. Video games are not the only devices that cause frustrated losing reactions; this behaviour is found all over the place, and video games are merely a convenient medium to pin the blame on due to their popularity among the younger generation (Ferguson 1).
The argument has been made that young children shouldn’t play violent video games because it could desensitize them to violence. Depending on the age and development of the child, this could very well be true, but this is also why video games are given a rating, just like movies and television shows. Many young children are impressionable, and game developers know that, so they rate their games for certain age groups. But even within the age groups of the rating, the parents themselves must decide whether their child should play it or not. If parents find that their child is outside stomping on turtles like the Super Mario Brothers, that isn’t the fault of the game, since he clearly wasn't ready, it’s the fault of the parents for letting their child play the game and not teaching the child beforehand that stomping on turtles is wrong. The same argument can be made for the television shows children watch. Just as parents would watch an episode of a television show and judge for themselves if their child should watch it or not, parents should also play a level or two of a video game so they can accurately judge if their child should play it or not. Children are impressionable in their early developmental years, and therefore parents should be the judges of whether their child is ready or not for various media stimuli.
When making the argument that violent games cause violence, people seem to ignore the possibility that the violence could have happened despite the video game. Dr. Patrick Markey stated in an article of The Escapist, “Individuals are not ‘blank slates.’ One’s general disposition moderates the effect of violent media” (Chalk). If a man played the game Modern Warfare and then went out and shot someone, that doesn’t mean that the game made him do it. Taking an example of a single individual who actually shot someone and correlating his shooting with the video game he plays is inaccurate because it does not account for the thousands of other people who have played that game and gotten no urge to go on a real life killing spree. If this guy can actually go out and shoot someone just like that, maybe we should consider the possibility that he is mentally ill, or that he has a history of violence. If violence in video games were making people physically violent, imagine how many people would be currently under attack by the approximated 9 million currently active World of Warcraft players (Holisky). People play video games that they personally enjoy, so telling a number of people to sit down and play games that they do not enjoy can cause them irritation in itself, thereby contaminating the results of the test. The humanity element is a difficult thing to measure and cannot accurately be portrayed in a laboratory; when testing for a correlation between violent gaming and and real life violence, the mental characteristics of the gamers should be taken into account.
Some people might question why violent video games are made in the first place and why people play them. People who play violent video games often play them as a way of relieving stress. Let's say a man by the name of Greg had a bad day at work; his boss gave him a hard time. He might have thoughts about punching his boss, or even throwing his boss out the window. These mental images are normal; it's acting on them that makes them bad. So Greg comes home and attacks a punching bag for an hour to relieve his stress. You see how Greg can relieve his stress through acts of violence against an object designed for receiving acts of violence? What if Greg came home and played Street Fighter on his gaming console? He takes control of a virtual avatar and beats on another virtual avatar, thereby taking out his anger on a virtual character designed to be attacked. Video games allow people like Greg in the modern age to have a sense of control during hard times, and many games offer virtual realities where people can create lives for themselves that could never be achieved in reality (CACM Staff 10). Video games allow people to experience their “happy place” in a fully immersive environment and help people to cope with the hardships and stress of their daily lives.
The reactions people have to the video game world vary highly depending on the person, and society has been known to shun every technological step leading into a new era. Radio was looked down upon when it became popular, television was looked down upon as its popularity grew, and now video games and virtual reality are being used as a scapegoat in much the same way. Video games may be addicting, they may bring out bad sportsmanship in some people, and for developmental reasons it may be a bad idea to let your 6-year-old play Mortal Kombat, but because there are so many gamers out there who aren’t attacking people, it is inaccurate to say that video games are causing violence.
CACM Staff. “War is No Game.” Communications of the ACM Mar. 2005: 10-10. Abstract. Print.
Chalk, Andy. “New Study: Most Teenagers are Unaffected by Violent Gaming.” Escapist 7 June 2010: n. pag. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101160-New-Study-Most-Teenagers-are-Unaffected-by-Violent-Gaming>.
Ferguson, Christopher J. “The School Shooting/Violent Video Game Link: Causal Relationship or Moral Panic?” Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling (2008): 1-14. Abstract. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://168.156.198.98:2059/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b42ecbc6-5561-40b3-a578-ec064e402798%40sessionmgr14&vid=4&hid=111>.
Giumetti, Gary W., and Patrick M. Markey. “New Study Examines Anger, Aggression, Videogame Violence.” Journal of Research in Personality (2007): 1-10. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://www65.homepage.villanova.edu/patrick.markey/vg.pdf>.
Holisky, Adam. “World of Warcraft subscriber numbers dip 100,000 to 10.2 million.” WoW Insider 9 Feb. 2012: n. pag. Web. 20 Mar. 2012. <http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/02/09/world-of-warcraft-subscriber-numbers/>.
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