The modern-age old argument has raged for years with verbal outcry and accusation giving way to many scientific studies; but only in recent years has the debate entered the public domain, regularly serving as a talking point on daytime television or radio shows. The majority of accusers are above the age of 30, whilst most opposers to the notion are either avid gamers or workers within the industry, which brings around a certain degree of bias, particularly in relation to the latter category. In September, Metro conducted a survey, in which “61% of people questioned believed video games caused violence.” The study also outlined that “non-gamers and older people are the most dismissive.” With no solid proof and conflicting arguments and statistics, this argument shows no sign of ceasing.
Accusers want simply to stop violence in video games – that is their aim. They believe that it does not have a place in such an interactive form of media that “influences” children so much. Some studies do support that playing violent video games influences the child in certain, negative ways. One study, conducted in Iowa earlier this year on juvenile offenders, concluded that “both the frequency of play and affinity for violent games were strongly associated with delinquent and violent behavior.” In addition, another study done prior to the earlier investigation, claimed “Teenagers who play violent video games over a number of years become more aggressive towards other people as a result.”
Away from the scientific, there have been cases that support video games influencing real-world violence. In 2008, at the release of Grand Theft Auto 4, one of the most infamously violent video games of all time, one fan was stabbed whilst queuing for the game, after a dispute about the video game itself escalated. While this can be put down to a number of catalysts and reasons, another incident is perhaps more difficult to dismiss. Within the last month or so, GTA 4’s successor was released, Grand Theft Auto 5. One customer, who was leaving a major retailer was stabbed and left for dead. All that was taken was his copy of the game, his wallet and car keys were left behind. This could again be put down to petty crime and is completely subjective to the assailant’s circumstances, but the one thing that is indisputable is that they were a fan of the video game. In scenarios like this, it is difficult to decide what caused the attacker to do what they did and is a debate in itself.
It is this reasoning that many defenders use. How can you put violence in real life down to playing a video game? Does a country invade another country because they have played a fictitious game depicting so? Many video games are based on real life stories or experiences, sometimes exaggerated or adapted. Call of Duty, one of the biggest video game franchises ever depicts real life events and offers you the chance to relive historic moments. Only recently has it become more fictitious, but the concept remains the same.
Whilst many arguments of people disagreeing with the accusers rely on defending, some remain offensive. Video games can often be a useful way to let out anger and frustration. It cannot be denied that there are more teenagers gaming than ever before; it also cannot be denied that it in addition to biological problems that teenagers face, there are also financial, social and political problems. Gaming is a very useful way of shutting off the real world and immersing yourself into something more enjoyable and stress relieving. Some video games are designed exactly for this reasoning. Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, and others aim to be therapeutic. Many exercise games exist in order to aid the body, mentally and physically, improving the performance of each. So even though violent video games exist, there are always alternatives.
Thousands, if not millions, of gamers do enjoy the violence in video games. Gamers will speak of the satisfaction that being overly violent brings. Many have described it as breaking the rules in safe and controlled way. Be it blowing up a car or picking off an enemy with a perfectly timed headshot, there is a certain sense of achievement that these things bring that cannot be achieved by either doing or seeing it happen in real life. Not all games offer these kinds of experiences, and in some cases that is a good thing. One could argue that chain sawing an evil alien to death discourages from violence towards humanity. Education can be learned through these games, such as compromise and teamwork. Assassin’s Creed has been proven to increase history student’s understanding of past events and visualising what could not otherwise be done so.
Student’s represent a large proportion of gamers and, as teenagers, often say that they can do what they want and play what they want. This is where the real, and eventually decisive argument, lies. Video games have age ratings, something that some parents and adults are, surprisingly, unaware of. It is against the law to provide a game rated above the age of the customer and is punishable by a hefty fine. This argument is backed up by comparing it to the film industry. Many films not only include violence, but are created solely for the purpose to expose the audience to graphic and incredibly gory scenes. These go by the name of ‘torture-porn’. Saw, one of the most profitable film franchises in history managed 7 films and kept a huge audience entertained. Meanwhile, Hostel remained popular for many years. Away from films designed for one purpose, hundreds of films include violence, most notably Tarantino’s productions. Not only do we accept these movies, we applaud and actively seek them out. If we are to tone down or eradicate violence in video games, should we not do the same for films? Both have exactly the same precautions in place, yet video games come under much heavier fire.
Video games offer so much to a vast amount of people. To tell some stories, violence is needed, and story-telling is one of the most ceremonial and traditional things that humanity has retained throughout its history. Complete censorship would be communistic to art and a crime. In the Vatican, one Pope chiseled off all the penis’ of the statues and covered with leaves. We now laugh at this act of stupidity and juvenileness, which is exactly what would happen if violence was removed from video games. We cannot simply ban violence in video games without blocking and restricting the creativity it has to offer – and that is a crying shame.
http://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/23/gamers-less-worried-about-violence-video-games/
If you want more facts, statistics or discussion on the topic, this page is the most beneficial and informative, outlining just why this debate is so important and popular.