Violence in Video Games

Like in other forms of media, video games have been said to be a main cause of the violence we see in children at school, in people at home, and just in the general public. There are multiple effects playing video games can have on a person, positive and negative ^[1].

Facts from the Family Media Guide:

These are some facts from the Family Media Guide about video games. Boys aged 8 – 18 surveyed in this research spent 40 minutes a day playing video games. The number of violent interactions in a 10-minute play period ranged from 2 to 124. Boys who play Teen or Mature-rated games for a minimum of 40 minutes a day may witness over 180 incidents of aggression per day, or 5,400 incidents per month. In 98% of the games surveyed, aggression went unpunished. In fact, in more than half the video games the perpetrators were rewarded for their aggressive actions. The basic example for aggression in Mature-rated video games involves human perpetrators who engage in repeated acts of “justified” violence involving weapons. 78% of all violent interactions in the first ten minutes of game play featured lethal violence. In almost a quarter of the violent interaction in mature games, players recognized themselves as stalkers. 78% of the violent action was shown up close. Almost half of all violent video game segments featured humor. Only 10% of all video game perpetrators have “good” qualities.

Content of a Popular Video Game

Some video games have educational content in them. These are not the popular games, or the games that are bought the most by gamers. The popular games consist of: killing people or animals, the use/abuse of drugs and alcohol, breaking the law, sexual exploitation and violence towards women, stereotypes, and inappropriate language and gestures.

Top 10 Most Violent Games

• Resident Evil 4: Player is a Special Forces agent sent to recover the President's kidnapped daughter. During the first minutes of play, it's possible to find the corpse of a woman pinned up on a wall--by a pitchfork through her face • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas: Player is a young man working with gangs to gain respect. His mission includes murder, theft, and destruction on every imaginable level. Player recovers his health by visiting prostitutes then recovers funds by beating them to death and taking their money. Player can wreak as much havoc as he likes without progressing through the game's storyline. • God of War: Player becomes a ruthless warrior, seeking revenge against the gods who tricked him into murdering his own family. Prisoners are burned alive and player can use 'finishing moves' to kill opponents, like tearing a victim in half. • NARC • Killer 7 • The Warriors • 50 Cent: Bulletproof: Game is loosely based on the gangster lifestyle of rapper Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson. Player engages in gangster shootouts and loots the bodies of victims to buy new 50 Cent recordings and music videos • Crime Life: Gang Wars • Condemned: Criminal Origins • True Crime: New York City Read about the other games listed and their content ^[2].

Statistics and Behavior

Violent Crime Rates ^[3]. Previous research that had been done about violent video games effecting behavior came out and stated it was not rationale. Recent research proves that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior in the short and long term. It can also be stated that not all video games increase this aggressiveness. Research into the effects of violent video games needs to become more refined and take into account the point of the game being studied. It seems that some graphic games where the game's characters display violence and players rehearse violent behaviors can lead to an increase in real world violence. Other video games, for example role playing games, may not have the same effect. There have been debates about whether or not these violent video games can increase the violence in day to day real life ^[4].