Do Violent Video Games Create Violent People?

 On June 7, 2003, 18-year-old Devin Moore shot and killed three police officers. Moore stole the gun of officer Arnold Strickland, fired upon him and two other officers, then proceeded to steal a police cruiser, only to be arrested moments later. At the time of his arrest, Moore said, "Life is like a video game: You got to die sometimes."

Moore claimed that he had been inspired by the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and many people felt that the makers of the game should be held accountable for influencing this horrible crime. However, did Moore commit the act because he played the game, or was he drawn to the game because of a longstanding attraction to violence? Should games be allowed to depict acts of violence if people can potentially mimic that violence in real life?

Video games are a part of everyday life for people of all different ages. In fact, according to the NPD Group, a leading North American market research company, the video game industry generates more income than the movie industry in the United States. Since their conception, video games have become a significant part of popular culture in America. At first, these games were limited by technology. But as technology advanced, so too did the ability to create more advanced games. In the world of modern gaming, players can find themselves in a variety of situations that challenge them mentally as well as emotionally.

That is where many people find a problem with modern gaming. Games create a paradoxical sense of verisimilitude in the player. But even the most realistic games bend the rules of reality to create a compelling narrative, much like films do. It is for this reason that many parents feel outraged to know that some video games contain graphic depictions of violence. They worry that their children are becoming desensitized.

The problem originates with the seemingly random violent crimes committed by teenagers. News of school shootings, stabbings, and other incidents of violence amongst students flooded the media after the mass popularization of video games in the mid-1990s. Parents demanded to know why these teenagers were committing such horrible crimes. When the police examined the lifestyle of the people responsible for these crimes, they found that the perpetrators often shared the same traits.

First, they were all alienated from the people around them. Secondly, they all showed signs of strange behavior before the acts were committed. And finally, these teenagers all played and owned at least one violent game. In a few cases, the people who committed such violent crimes claimed to be inspired by the video games they played. As a result, the media put video game developers under extreme scrutiny, with Florida attorney Jack Thompson as the self-proclaimed spokesperson of outraged parents.

Thompson argued that violent video games caused an increase in aggressive behavior and thoughts in the individuals who played them. He directed people to a variety of research which allegedly demonstrated his arguments.

One such study attempted to see how players familiar with a violent game would react compared to people unfamiliar with the game, as well as whether those players were susceptible to desensitization. The study found that players familiar with a particular violent game were less likely to react negatively to violence committed on computer-controlled characters onscreen. Players who were not familiar with a game could also enjoy the game when they were reminded that it was just a game and that their actions did not actually affect anyone.

The study noted this as sign of "moral disengagement," yet the study failed to take into account the fundamental way gamers interact with games. Players are not killing actual people. In games such as Grand Theft Auto, the violence committed by the player makes sense in context if the character they are playing is a violent character motivated by self-interest. Many times, when the character presented is "evil," the player often feels disconnected from the character. This is a tool developers use to create meaningful experiences within a game.

Thus, as Henry Jenkins, a professor at USC, points out, much of the research done on subject of video game desensitization and effects on aggression is fundamentally flawed:

…most of [the studies conducted on aggression as a result of playing games] are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That’s why the vague term “links” is used here.

Jenkins represents the majority of gamers who argue that games do not cause an increase in violent behavior, nor do they desensitize people to violence.

One of the first things children learn is the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Without this ability, bedtime stories and movies would destroy a child’s perception of everyday life. It is this ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality that every gamer utilizes when they play a game. People who commit violent crimes do so because they believe their acts are somehow justified and because their perception of reality is warped. The fact that they play violent video games just demonstrates how popular games are and that violent people gravitate towards violence.

But so do a lot of people who are not violent. The rise of slasher films in the mid-1980s did not come about because people suddenly wanted to go out and commit murder. People are fascinated by violence, but they prefer to observe it in a fantasy setting where the people watching understand that what they are seeing is not reality.

It is this very argument that a recent episode of Penn and Teller: Bull Sh*t attempted to tackle. On the show, magicians Penn Jillette and Teller discuss popularly held beliefs and take apart the arguments supporting those beliefs by examining research and consulting with scientists and other experts. In the episode, Penn and Teller talk to nine-year-old Harrison Nicks. Harrison is allowed to play violent video games by his parents, who have faith in their child’s ability to differentiate between video games and reality. He plays first-person shooters, games that simulate war and combat situations. Harrison is an attentive and hardworking student at school, is not socially alienated, and does not, despite all those hours of gaming, know how to fire a weapon, nor does he have any desire to do so.

So to debunk the theory that war games teach children how to become desensitized killing machines, his parents agree to allow Harrison to take a trip to a gun range, where, under heavy supervision, he will fire a military grade 5.56 millimeter M16 assault rifle, the child’s choice of gun in Modern Warfare. Harrison is given the gun, points it down range, and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. The National Guard officer present informs Harrison that the gun’s safety is still on. Harrison stares at the gun fruitlessly, finally asking the officer to remove the safety. The officer does, and again the child aims the rifle down range to the target set up for him. He pulls the trigger once, firing a three shot burst and getting hit in the shoulder by the butt of the rifle; he was not prepared for the gun’s recoil. Down range the target is completely untouched. When the officer asks Harrison if he would like to make another attempt, he refuses. Minutes later Harrison is seen in the arms of his mother, weeping while he informers her that he never wises to fire a gun again.

Harrison was not turned into a killing machine by video games. The reason military programs that implement virtual reality to train their soldiers are effective is because the military spends a great deal of time preparing a soldier’s mind for wartime situations. Games do not simulate actual warfare any more than action movies do. In fact, since the rise of violent video games, the number of violent crimes committed by people under the age of 21 has gone down.

So it is clear that video games are not training children to become killers, but do games have any other harmful effects? One study attempted to see if language in video games was affecting players. Dr. James D. Ivory examined the games that sold the most in one year. Of these games, he and his colleagues discovered that games that contained the most profanity were rated M for mature and were intended for adult gamers. "Generally, profanity was found in about one in five games and appeared primarily in games rated for teenagers of above," Ivory wrote in his findings. "Games containing profanity, however, tended to contain it frequently. Profanity was not found to be related to games’ sales or platforms."

The most important part to note is that profanity was not found to be related to game sales. During the year the study took place, the highest grossing video game was not a violent and profane shooter. It was Wii Sports, a game that uses a motion controller to allow players to simulate sports such as bowling and baseball. Games that contain the most profanity are regulated by retailers and cannot be purchased by anyone under 18.

If games are not responsible for these acts of violence, how does one explain this rise of violence seemingly by video games? Dr. Maria Cole, a sociology professor at Stony Brook University, argues that such violence is a result of the progressive educational movement. In her Sociology 105 class, she discusses that such acts of violence are the result of conduct disorder. Conduct disorder results from parents who raise their children so permissively that they end up developing sociopathic behavior. These people are morally underdeveloped because the adults in their lives withheld elementary moral instruction in order to allow them more freedom of expression. The result is a young person who believes his actions have no consequences.

Do these people play video games? Of course they do. But they also watch movies and television. The simple act of doing something does not mean that the action caused a person to become violent.

When students decide that they are justified in picking up a weapon and hurting another human being, something is very wrong. But one cannot blame violent entertainment just because it is convenient. Saying that a video game caused a person to brutally kill another human being is an insult to the creative process that goes into making a game.

 On June 7, 2003, 18-year-old Devin Moore shot and killed three police officers. Moore stole the gun of officer Arnold Strickland, fired upon him and two other officers, then proceeded to steal a police cruiser, only to be arrested moments later. At the time of his arrest, Moore said, "Life is like a video game: You got to die sometimes."

Moore claimed that he had been inspired by the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and many people felt that the makers of the game should be held accountable for influencing this horrible crime. However, did Moore commit the act because he played the game, or was he drawn to the game because of a longstanding attraction to violence? Should games be allowed to depict acts of violence if people can potentially mimic that violence in real life?

Video games are a part of everyday life for people of all different ages. In fact, according to the NPD Group, a leading North American market research company, the video game industry generates more income than the movie industry in the United States. Since their conception, video games have become a significant part of popular culture in America. At first, these games were limited by technology. But as technology advanced, so too did the ability to create more advanced games. In the world of modern gaming, players can find themselves in a variety of situations that challenge them mentally as well as emotionally.

That is where many people find a problem with modern gaming. Games create a paradoxical sense of verisimilitude in the player. But even the most realistic games bend the rules of reality to create a compelling narrative, much like films do. It is for this reason that many parents feel outraged to know that some video games contain graphic depictions of violence. They worry that their children are becoming desensitized.

The problem originates with the seemingly random violent crimes committed by teenagers. News of school shootings, stabbings, and other incidents of violence amongst students flooded the media after the mass popularization of video games in the mid-1990s. Parents demanded to know why these teenagers were committing such horrible crimes. When the police examined the lifestyle of the people responsible for these crimes, they found that the perpetrators often shared the same traits.

First, they were all alienated from the people around them. Secondly, they all showed signs of strange behavior before the acts were committed. And finally, these teenagers all played and owned at least one violent game. In a few cases, the people who committed such violent crimes claimed to be inspired by the video games they played. As a result, the media put video game developers under extreme scrutiny, with Florida attorney Jack Thompson as the self-proclaimed spokesperson of outraged parents.

Thompson argued that violent video games caused an increase in aggressive behavior and thoughts in the individuals who played them. He directed people to a variety of research which allegedly demonstrated his arguments.

One such study attempted to see how players familiar with a violent game would react compared to people unfamiliar with the game, as well as whether those players were susceptible to desensitization. The study found that players familiar with a particular violent game were less likely to react negatively to violence committed on computer-controlled characters onscreen. Players who were not familiar with a game could also enjoy the game when they were reminded that it was just a game and that their actions did not actually affect anyone.

The study noted this as sign of "moral disengagement," yet the study failed to take into account the fundamental way gamers interact with games. Players are not killing actual people. In games such as Grand Theft Auto, the violence committed by the player makes sense in context if the character they are playing is a violent character motivated by self-interest. Many times, when the character presented is "evil," the player often feels disconnected from the character. This is a tool developers use to create meaningful experiences within a game.

Thus, as Henry Jenkins, a professor at USC, points out, much of the research done on subject of video game desensitization and effects on aggression is fundamentally flawed:

…most of [the studies conducted on aggression as a result of playing games] are inconclusive and many have been criticized on methodological grounds. In these studies, media images are removed from any narrative context. Subjects are asked to engage with content that they would not normally consume and may not understand. Finally, the laboratory context is radically different from the environments where games would normally be played. Most studies found a correlation, not a causal relationship, which means the research could simply show that aggressive people like aggressive entertainment. That’s why the vague term “links” is used here.

Jenkins represents the majority of gamers who argue that games do not cause an increase in violent behavior, nor do they desensitize people to violence.

One of the first things children learn is the ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Without this ability, bedtime stories and movies would destroy a child’s perception of everyday life. It is this ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality that every gamer utilizes when they play a game. People who commit violent crimes do so because they believe their acts are somehow justified and because their perception of reality is warped. The fact that they play violent video games just demonstrates how popular games are and that violent people gravitate towards violence.

But so do a lot of people who are not violent. The rise of slasher films in the mid-1980s did not come about because people suddenly wanted to go out and commit murder. People are fascinated by violence, but they prefer to observe it in a fantasy setting where the people watching understand that what they are seeing is not reality.

It is this very argument that a recent episode of Penn and Teller: Bull Sh*t attempted to tackle. On the show, magicians Penn Jillette and Teller discuss popularly held beliefs and take apart the arguments supporting those beliefs by examining research and consulting with scientists and other experts. In the episode, Penn and Teller talk to nine-year-old Harrison Nicks. Harrison is allowed to play violent video games by his parents, who have faith in their child’s ability to differentiate between video games and reality. He plays first-person shooters, games that simulate war and combat situations. Harrison is an attentive and hardworking student at school, is not socially alienated, and does not, despite all those hours of gaming, know how to fire a weapon, nor does he have any desire to do so.

So to debunk the theory that war games teach children how to become desensitized killing machines, his parents agree to allow Harrison to take a trip to a gun range, where, under heavy supervision, he will fire a military grade 5.56 millimeter M16 assault rifle, the child’s choice of gun in Modern Warfare. Harrison is given the gun, points it down range, and pulls the trigger. Nothing happens. The National Guard officer present informs Harrison that the gun’s safety is still on. Harrison stares at the gun fruitlessly, finally asking the officer to remove the safety. The officer does, and again the child aims the rifle down range to the target set up for him. He pulls the trigger once, firing a three shot burst and getting hit in the shoulder by the butt of the rifle; he was not prepared for the gun’s recoil. Down range the target is completely untouched. When the officer asks Harrison if he would like to make another attempt, he refuses. Minutes later Harrison is seen in the arms of his mother, weeping while he informers her that he never wises to fire a gun again.

Harrison was not turned into a killing machine by video games. The reason military programs that implement virtual reality to train their soldiers are effective is because the military spends a great deal of time preparing a soldier’s mind for wartime situations. Games do not simulate actual warfare any more than action movies do. In fact, since the rise of violent video games, the number of violent crimes committed by people under the age of 21 has gone down.

So it is clear that video games are not training children to become killers, but do games have any other harmful effects? One study attempted to see if language in video games was affecting players. Dr. James D. Ivory examined the games that sold the most in one year. Of these games, he and his colleagues discovered that games that contained the most profanity were rated M for mature and were intended for adult gamers. "Generally, profanity was found in about one in five games and appeared primarily in games rated for teenagers of above," Ivory wrote in his findings. "Games containing profanity, however, tended to contain it frequently. Profanity was not found to be related to games’ sales or platforms."

The most important part to note is that profanity was not found to be related to game sales. During the year the study took place, the highest grossing video game was not a violent and profane shooter. It was Wii Sports, a game that uses a motion controller to allow players to simulate sports such as bowling and baseball. Games that contain the most profanity are regulated by retailers and cannot be purchased by anyone under 18.

If games are not responsible for these acts of violence, how does one explain this rise of violence seemingly by video games? Dr. Maria Cole, a sociology professor at Stony Brook University, argues that such violence is a result of the progressive educational movement. In her Sociology 105 class, she discusses that such acts of violence are the result of conduct disorder. Conduct disorder results from parents who raise their children so permissively that they end up developing sociopathic behavior. These people are morally underdeveloped because the adults in their lives withheld elementary moral instruction in order to allow them more freedom of expression. The result is a young person who believes his actions have no consequences.

Do these people play video games? Of course they do. But they also watch movies and television. The simple act of doing something does not mean that the action caused a person to become violent.

When students decide that they are justified in picking up a weapon and hurting another human being, something is very wrong. But one cannot blame violent entertainment just because it is convenient. Saying that a video game caused a person to brutally kill another human being is an insult to the creative process that goes into making a game.

I dunno, after all the shit I did in Thailand...it wouldn't be far to say that a lot of those actions were due to inspiration from playing video games.

Ppl will be desensitized, well with the exception of me, since I have no feelings towards a game or violence. However they won't act on it and if they did, they probally are psychotic and videogames are a scapegoat. We had violence throughout history without the need for videogames. It's a very violent world, ppl thinks are they so civilized with democracy, the rest of the world doesn't work like that. I'm just saying that whole arguement videogames creates violence is b.s. There is no scientific proof and crime actually went down 50% thanks to videogames. Besides, who will be fooled by videogame violence when everything looks like a semi realistic cartoon. We don't have the graphics yet to be desentized to a point where we feel a moral conflict because everything doesn't look real enough.

" I dunno, after all the shit I did in Thailand...it wouldn't be far to say that a lot of those actions were due to inspiration from playing video games. "

Bangkok lady boys have nothing to do with videogames. 

I don't think violent video games create violent people, but I do think a lot of violent people enjoy violent video games.

Triangles make me angry.

No, they don't (if your IQ is over 40).

No. If a video game or any form of entertainment makes you violent then you have a deeper mental issue, or you are just easily lead on by things.

No and if you as any different il CUT YOU!

" I don't think violent video games create violent people, but I do think a lot of violent people enjoy violent video games. "

All I got from this thread was KaosAngel enjoying the company of lady boys in Bangkok.

No, just like listening to Elvis doesn't make you more promiscuous and watching movies doesn't steal your soul (or whatever people thought when movies were first released.) It's just a backlash against a new form of media that, comparative to others, has been around for such a short time. Everyone will get over it and move on eventually.

"

Ppl will be desensitized, well with the exception of me, since I have no feelings towards a game or violence."

" @HitmanAgent47 said:

"

Ppl will be desensitized, well with the exception of me, since I have no feelings towards a game or violence."

Um, "having no feelings" is exactly that.
 
Sorry, but I couldn't resist.
 
Y'see? I said sorry. I have feelings. "

He's clearly not mentally healthy^^

In attempting to decode the human genome, something that scientists have discovered, to their chagrine, is that it's very difficult to determine the effects of genes on mental illness (I think we can agree that killing someone for no reason other than inspiration by a video game qualifies as mental illness).   This is because the effect of genetics is conditional on exposure to the environment.  Rather than a strict 1:1 relationship between genes and behavior/personality, a gene makes one predisposed to react in a certain way *if* they encounter certain environmental factors such as their upbringing or a high level of stress.  We can expect that similarly, video games can exert some negative influence, but only on those with a certain maladaptive genetic makeup. 

People like that are psychos to begin with.  
Games are just an easy excuse since they're right there...  
 
I blame the parents though.

Violent games probably effects you in some way, but is not making you a dangerous person.

It desensitizes people, for sure. But only idiots and already dangerous people end up killing because of them. In fact, I think it's more of an excuse than the actual reason.

Video games don't desensitize you to violence.  Video game desensitize you to virtual violence.  
 
There's a pretty big difference.
 
On an episode of Penn and Teller they meet a kid who spends all day playing violent, military shooters on his Xbox.  So they took him to the gun range to see if video games taught him how to accurately fire a gun.  He ending up crying and quitting.   
 
End of story.

Why are people still debating this? Lets move on. Its whether or not games turn you into psychotic sex perverts thats the issue now.

No. All the science says no. End of thread. 

I for one think that desensitization argument is bullshit.  I've seen plenty of death in video games, but I know for a fact if I saw a real dead guy, gruesome or not, I'd be fucking disgusted.  In fact, I have seen real death.  It's kind of terrifying.

" Video games don't desensitize you to violence.  Video game desensitize you to virtual violence.    There's a pretty big difference.  On an episode of Penn and Teller they meet a kid who spends all day playing violent, military shooters on his Xbox.  So they took him to the gun range to see if video games taught him how to accurately fire a gun.  He ending up crying and quitting.     End of story. "

I would have to wonder...would Hitler have been worse if only he played a little Grand Theft Auto? How many more millions would Mao have killed if he played Soldier of Fortune? Would Stalin have killed an additional 10M more with a few games of Postal?

Crazy people will always be crazy not everyone who plays Modern Warfare 2 will go out and kill 3 police officers all while shouting: "GIRAFFE IS MY FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ICE CREAM!!!"

Apparently, the thought that some people are just really, really bad people is just foreign to some folks.

Basically echoing what everyone else is saying. Violent games don't make people violent.
 
There is no empirical evidence to show a direct correlation between video game violence and actual violence like what some politicians are trying to claim.  

I have played some of the most violent games over the years growing up, and to be honest I couldn't hurt a fly. I guess it's because I have way too much regard for human life and feelings.

Your post was far too long to read, but my thoughts are that violent people play violent games, but violent games do not make people more violent, unless the person is already mentally unstable. 

Violent video games do not make violent people.  Hold on let me toss this dead body in my trunk.

What makes ppl thinks violent movies doesn't desensitize other ppl. You don't see ppl killing other ppl after a movie. That's no a basis of a good arguement. I never seen anyone leave a theater and start shooting up the place, that don't make any sense because ppl knows the violence is entertainment and not real.
 
I am also making a reference to  schwarzenegger vs ema. Here was a governer that made more violent movies than anyone else, is going against violet videogames? Hypocrite.

no, i don't think playing violent games make people violent. i just think it is something wrong with people if they have to kill someone. there are also movies that are more violent i think. they should a lot more gore than video games.

Heaven forbid anyone actually read my post and look at the research behind it that I did. Oh well.  
 
I agree with you all. I just made a much better argument than any of you in my post. Read it if you wish. Or don't. I love the internet. 

I think they do. I just got done playing Assassins Creed 2 for 5 hours and I'm going to go murder my family and rape their corpses! Or maybe it was Giant Bomb that made me do it...

"Life is like a Hammer, sometimes you just gotta nail someone."

" Heaven forbid anyone actually read my post and look at the research behind it that I did. Oh well.   I agree with you all. I just made a much better argument than any of you in my post. Read it if you wish. Or don't. I love the internet.  "

I imagine it would take an extraordinarily weak minded individual to be influenced by a game to the point of hurting someone.

" I imagine it would take an extraordinarily weak minded individual to be influenced by a game to the point of hurting someone. "

Since I'm sure by now there has been a mature answer to this in this forum I'll go for another angle.... *clear throat for dramatic effect*  
 
Ohh yeah. I go around ripping people's heart out Kano style but instead of crushing them and throwing them on the ground I consume them. I mean why have the perk and not use them. But only with my back turned away from that imaginary camera because even though this world is M rated there are things you just don't do. Regardless I pretty much go around smacking babies around with Shoryukens and  running over old ladies with my trans am I just stole from some fat stuttering slob. Don't worry though I beat him in the head with that blunt object I jacked from Gordan Freeman. He didn't put up much of a fight since I threw him through the atmosphere where he consequently died a horrible death.  
 
P.S. I eat little baby chickens like Shin does chocobis.

" No, just like listening to Elvis doesn't make you more promiscuous and watching movies doesn't steal your soul (or whatever people thought when movies were first released.) It's just a backlash against a new form of media that, comparative to others, has been around for such a short time. Everyone will get over it and move on eventually. "

" @joeq1159: Did you expect us all to write essays? "