Any time that there is a social concern that becomes the attention of the media and political realms, there seems to be a uniformed necessity to find something or someone to blame for the rise of the issue. It does not appear to matter whether or not there is scientific evidence or supported rationalization towards the object of accusation but merely enough of a general consensus that there could possibly be a link between the object of blame and the social issue. Granted, there is generally some logical connection between the two which allows enough of a correlation to trigger mass agreement on a course of action. This has been viewed through the bandwagon effect of the general public blaming violent video games for the actions of the gamers and the presence of violence within society. This is especially targeted towards violence in the young generation as school shootings and bullying have found their way to the forefront of the media. However, there is little to no unbias scientific evidence to support these accusations and, to the contrary, there is evidence to refute these accusations. It is the intention of this author to show that society has overreacted to violent video games and that these games do not influence the actions or personalities of the gamers.
First and foremost, it is important to note that there has always been violence and there has not always been video games. There are documented cases of violent acts long before the presence of video games. Walker (2014) explains that video games did not even exist prior to the 1970s and that these games were generally housed in amusement arcades where people would socialize and communicate. However, prior to the actual video games, these social venues housed pin-ball machines which somehow also caused panic in society. In fact, in an effort to eliminate these “evil” pinball machines, a drastic measure was taken “in 1942, when New York Mayor Fio-rello LaGuardia sent his gendarmes to seize the city’s pin-ball machines. They brought in more than 2,000 on the first day, and newsreel crews filmed the mayor smashing some of them with a sledgehammer” (Walker, 2014). Recognizing that these pin-ball machines were merely a scapegoat used to diminish the fact that societies have issues, such a drastic measure seems outrageous by today’s standards.
Granted, modern video games are exceptionally more violent than one would envision the pin-ball machines of the 1940s but the concept is still the same. McGrath (2014) explains the differences in the gaming industry as individuals can now sit in the comfort of their own home and “pretend, in the most vivid way possible and often for hours on end, that they’re professional killers” without any social consequences. But is this truly any different than the teenagers spending countless hours at amusement arcades and competing for the top score on the newest pin-ball machine? Truly this was the understood concept as the courts system has claimed that society should look for a causation rather than correlation as it is not possible to directly link pin-ball nor video games as the cause of violence (Wood, 2009). In fact, it seems nearly absurd to jump to blame one industry for the issue that is so deeply rooted within society.
Ferguson, Garza, Jerabeck, Ramos, and Galindo (2013) further establish the cases within the court system that show a lack of scientific evidence in support of these accusations. According to the researchers, there is no direct evidence which links the violent video games as the cause for aggression in the younger generation but is merely based on the correlation between the two. Without an actual study that shows that violent video games are the sole cause of these aggressive behaviors, there is no way that society should be able to place the blame nor a restriction on this form of expression (Fergusson et al., 2013). After all, it has been established that violence was prevalent long before the video games were developed and there are numerous studies that suggest that other changes in society could just as likely have led to the increase of violence in society.
Additionally, there is substantial evidence to support the positive impacts that video games have on gamers. Specifically, Fergusson et al., (2013) notes that “despite that much attention has focused on the potential negative influences of violent games, considerable attention also has focused on their potential positive influences particularly related to visuospatial cognition.” Although the article points out that these findings are also based solely on correlation rather than causation, this deserves as much focus on future studies as does the negative research on the effects of violent video games on the gamers. After all, would it not be nice for society to find the good in something rather than continuously focus on potential negatives?
Violence is a frightening element within society that everyone would love to find the cause of in order to eliminate such actions. However, focusing on correlations will not lead society to a cause nor a solution. This tendency only alleviates the feelings of guilt and responsibility among members of that society. Video games are a form of expression and entertainment just as their pin-ball predecessors. There is a need to get to the root of the problem of violence but the focus on video games has proven to not be the answer. It is time that society moves on and looks elsewhere. Perhaps the solutions will be found much closer to home than members of society are comfortable with acknowledging.
- Ferguson, C. J., Garza, A., Jerabeck, J., Ramos, R., & Galindo, M. (2013). Not worth the fuss after all? cross-sectional and prospective data on violent video game influences on aggression, visuospatial cognition and mathematics ability in a sample of youth. Journal Of Youth And Adolescence, 42(1), 109-122. doi:10.1007/s10964-012-9803-6.
- McGRATH, T. (2014). WHEN KILLING IS A GAME. Men’s Health, 29(5), 120.
- Walker, J. (2014). A Short History of Game Panics. Reason, 46(2), 30.
- Wood, R. H. (2009). Violent Video Games: More Ink Spilled than Blood – An Analysis of the 9th Circuit Decision in Video Software Dealers Association v. Schwarzenegger. Texas Review Of Entertainment & Sports Law, 10103.
