Violence in video games and the outcries against it date all the way back to 1976. “Death Race,” a game which encouraged the player to run over stick figure pedestrians in a car, was banned among some communities leading to a dramatic increase in its sales.
It was free publicity for the game. In a twisted way, the outcries against violence in video games have actually encouraged game developers to push more violent video games. Time and time again video game history has shown that violent games will outsell their family-friendly competition. After the success of the 1990s gore fest that was “Mortal Kombat,” big game developers Sega and Nintendo rushed to cash in and created their own versions of the game. Nintendo toned down their blood and gore, and Sega outsold them three to one. As the years have passed, video games have become more realistic with the advent of 3D graphics, better effects and first person perspective. Now players from all across the world can hunt and slaughter each other virtually with weapons ranging from assault rifles to chainsaws.
While little research has been done to study the effects of video game violence specifically, plenty of studies have been conducted to determine adverse effects of violence in the media. In 2006 the Handbook of Children, Culture and Violence compiled a handful of these studies. A recent review of literature on media violence co-authored by no less than eight leading media violence researchers determined that media violence does increase long and short term violent and aggressive behavior. In 2004, over 98 percent of surveyed pediatricians agreed that violent media will affect childhood aggression.
There’s really no debate as to whether violent media negatively impacts our children. The question being asked is simple: What do we do about it? In the wake of such tragedies as Sandy Hook, Vice President Biden has been charged with a gun control task force dedicated to examining our media culture. The focus has been placed on violent video games.
It has become more and more clear that responsibility for violent video games won’t fall on the shoulders of the government. In 2005 state senator Leland Yee tried to introduce a bill that would regulate the voluntary age-advisory system used by the video game industry. It was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled “Any attempt to legally restrict the sale or rental to minors of entertainment containing depictions of violence will likely be found to be unconstitutional.”
In my eyes our course of action has been made clear. We should encourage studies into the effects of violent video games so that our country is educated on the issue. But it is up to the video game industry to properly rate their games and parents to properly teach their children. Limiting guns may be the role of the government, but limiting what children see in movies and games is the responsibility of the parents.
Zach Pearson can be contacted at
zpearson@keene-equinox.com