Video Games

Video games have come a long way since their humble beginnings of Pac-Man and Mario. In this day and age, it is not uncommon for video games to possess special effects rivaling even Hollywood cinema. As such, there has been a rising level of “realism” that more and more games have come to embrace, and that the audience has come to expect. In correlation, some have argued that this level of realism in violent games such as Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Doom is a direct and major contributing factor in the rise of societal violence, criminal or otherwise; a notion that is, quite frankly, absurd.

Many are quick to point out the violent lifestyles that certain games seem to condone and encourage in its players. Take, for example, the immensely popular Grand Theft Auto series by Rockstar games. In these games, players assume the role of several characters, usually portrayed as a typical “thug” made familiar by Western media. The goals of the game(s) usually centre on stealing cars and killing all who stand in your way. While this might seem anti-social at best, the argument here is similar to the “Silver Bullet” or “Hypodermic Needle” theories whereby any message transmitted by a source is received and absorbed by its audience without question. There is, however, a rather large assumption made for this theory to be accurate; namely that the audience is passive and interpret the information or message in a uniform way.

In reality, however, people are not passive and homogeneous in their interpretation and reaction to a message. Incidents of a lone Korean gunman mowing down schoolmates after playing certain games or two adolescents who drag toddlers in an imitation of Death Race are not representative of the much larger audience. They are merely isolated events, similar to how some can go their whole lives smoking ten cigars a day without succumbing to lung cancer. It is unfair to assume that because such acts were in some way or shape related to video games, those very games are the root cause of such violence. Not everyone grabs the nearest chainsaw to eviscerate their neighbour after completing Doom, not everyone attacks scientists and soldiers with a crowbar or wrench after installing Half-Life and not everyone kicks adjacent bikers into incoming traffic ala Road Rash. Most people simply put down the joystick and get on with their (non-violent) lives.

One might also view this issue by taking a step back from what is actually being reported and represented. While the relative ratio of violent to non-violent video games has been increasing in correlation to rising societal violence, one might also argue (more forcefully, it would seem) that the only reason for such a phenomenon is that video game producers are only giving the public what they want. Violence and violent video games are both on the rise, but is the former attributed to the latter? Hollywood cinema churns out blockbuster after blockbuster, and nearly every single one of them has aspects of violence brazenly displayed. In fact, fight, chase and action sequences of gory punches, high-speed crashes and loud explosions are usually the selling point of many movies in recent memory. Disney’s hugely-popular Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has countless scenes of death and fighting, many of which can be argued to be excessive, at best. Even Toy Story, also released by Disney, and targeted at a young audience, allows its main characters the use of guns and violence. In the opening half-hour of the movie, viewers can already see “Woody” dealing with the “bad guys” by using his imaginary guns. Other “kiddy” movies like Finding Nemo also have their own violent aspects. Classic Saturday-morning cartoons like Tom & Jerry or Road Runner have also been found to be at least as (if not more) violent than traditionally “violent” programs like televised professional wrestling events. Even in music, violence is condoned, if not applauded. Popular country trio The Dixie Chicks released the song Goodbye Earl, which was about a pair of women poisoning one of their husbands. Other acts such as Eminem and Story of the Year similarly address issues like vehicular homicide and strangling a loved one (in Stan and Until the Day I Die respectively). With so much violence and aggression in the air around us, how can video games be a major factor in this rise in violence in our society? If our societal climate is evolving (or degenerating) into a violent one, would it surprising at all that more and more people play violent video games?

Modern day video games are violent. This violence has existed almost as long as Pong has blipped across minds of gamers. The Jedi Knight series released by Lucas Arts, modeled after the epic Star Wars saga, allows its player to dismember enemies. In Battlefield 2 by Electronic Arts, gamers may fire round after round into hostile soldiers, watching blood spurt from their many wounds. The Mortal Kombat series released by Midway, still going strong, has allowed its fans the glory of virtual death via acid and the ability to rip the arms off unfortunate opponents. Unreal Tournament and Quake encourage their best players to take the heads from lesser warriors. Even in pixellated Wolfenstein 3D, players could kill their “German” captors in the comfort of Windows 3.1. But gamers are people and not merely passive subjects moulded by any one form of media or entertainment. In addition, many more people watch movies, cartoons and MTV which can be said to be more violent than video games by leaps and bounds. Can mere video games be a major cause of the rise of societal violence? Absurd.