Games as Part of the Media - Coursework Example

Do the games ‘Grand theft auto IV’ and ‘Call of duty- Modern warfare 3’ promote violent behaviour or are they simply a harmless form of escapism? Games have become an increasingly important part of the media. As an industry, it has also influenced the film industry, with various claims indicating that ‘video games will pull in ‘$74 billion in 2011 alone and are projected to rake in a staggering $115 billion a year by 2015’i. The availability of portable consoles has also made the playing of these games even more convenient for the users as they can now easily play their games in their homes and anywhere else they would be. Games have become a huge part of modern life and have led to a variety of benefits; a 2006 BBC report indicates that a third of teachers use computer games in the classroom and majority of them believe that it improves pupils’ skills and knowledgeii. However, as games have become a more powerful industry, some people have suggested this may also have some negative effects. Games such as Grand theft auto IV have been reported as being responsible for adverse effects on players and various tabloid newspapers have said that violent games are deliberately based on reality. In general, the impact seen from video games has been credited to the mimicking of violence seen and played during the games. Studies also indicate how gamers playing violent video games are also more likely to act aggressively or engage in violent or aggressive behaviour towards other people. These gamers, especially those of younger ages, would be more likely to fight with their parents, their peers, or with their classmates. They would also be less likely to have executive control over their temper or emotions, making them easily prone to angry outbursts and aggression. Video games also have a desensitizing effect to violence, making players less reactive or less likely to be shocked by violence they would see in the news or in their daily life. When games such as Grand Theft Auto IV are closely analysed, it is easy to see why they can be accused of encouraging violent behaviour. Grand Theft Auto is the video game notorious for allowing a player to hire a prostitute, kill her, and then retrieve the money giveniii . This game also gives the player a chance to shoot cops, run over pedestrians, and bludgeon passersby with a baseball bat. To many gamers, this series is gripping because not only does it allow the player to perform violence, but it also offers an immense environment where all violent possibilities can be played outiv. These games also seem to reinforce gender stereotypes, that of men being the natural aggressors and women being the submissive personalities. In other words, there is a disconnect between reality and gaming fantasy for these gamers. These gamers explore the fantasy world of aggression and play out violent scenarios – kill prostitutes, beat-up bystanders, hijack cars, and kill rival criminals. The challenge during their games is on how fast and how clever they can be in pulling out these acts. Translating these acts to the real world has not become a distant possibility for these gamers. The Daily Mail reports that Grand Theft Auto IV was pulled out by Nintendo after a Bangkok teen murdered a taxi driver apparently because he wanted ‘to see if it was as easy as it was in the game’v. Incidents like this indicate a lack of moral responsibility on the part of the gamer, and also on the part of the creators of the game who create an environment where killing a taxi driver is judged for its speed and efficacy, not for its moral implications. Medical experts have cited various studies that reviewed the impact of video games on human behaviour. In one of their studies, they observed that adolescents who were exposed to longer hours playing violent video games usually manifested behaviour that is more aggressive and were more likely to be confrontational with their teachers or to engage in fights with their peers. The repeated nature of the violent acts also seems to increase aggressive behaviour among gamers and it has long been accepted that repetition is an effective teaching method for young learnersvi. Video games provide opportunities for repetition in order to achieve mastery in the games. However, these repetitions also place an individual’s mentality in an automatically aggressive mood and though processvii. As a result, players with prior exposure to violent video games also responded with higher levels of aggression as they also received confirmation and approval of their activities. Various medical associations across the United States also express their concerns over video games and the violence they often portray. These medical professionals opine that exposure to violent media also increases aggressive thoughts and feelings, especially among impressionable childrenviii. These effects can sometimes carry on as they grow into their adolescent years, especially when these children are not guided by their parents or guardians in their video gaming habits. The attraction of the games for various players is based on various factors, including ‘informational graphics and non-diegetic displays combined with game play’ [which also] ‘requires input from the player whether by mouse, joystick, trackball, gun, head-mounted display or keyboard’ix. This form of participation can affect player’s actions in real life as they now use the games as a source of escape from reality. This view is supported by the hypodermic needle theory, which highlights ‘the power of the mass media on their audiences’x. The interactive nature of video games, the possibility of exploring various outcomes, and the illusion of power attributed to the player can make these video games, as compared to passive media, potentially more attractive to people. Indeed, video games have even been shown to be clinically addictivexi. ‘The latest instalment Modern warfare 3 released on November 8th 2011 set a record of its own by accumulating $750 million in its first five days’xii. With people practically buying these games in droves, concerned parents and critics believe that there is not enough bureaucracy placed on the gaming industry in terms of deterring the production and sale of graphically violent games to children. The Daily Mail claims that video games like Call of Duty: Modern warfare 3’xiii should be banned because of scenes that explicitly replicate 7/7 bomb attacks; moreover, victims of the actual attack should support the banning of the game. ‘In Japan Call of Duty: Black Ops was edited for its portrayal of high impact violence; the same was done to other games like Battlefield 3, Resident Evil 4, Bulletstorm and Dead Island.’xiv Moreover, the whole ‘Grand Theft Auto series was banned in the United Arab Emirates due to the high impact of violence and cruelty’.xv These drastic measures were implemented in order to protect audiences; these measures support the hypodermic needle theory, which basically declares that ‘the media is like a hypodermic needle injecting messages to its consumers’. A study by Funk and colleagues also provides a crucial consideration in evaluating the link between video games and violencexvi. These researchers were able to establish that exposure to violence in video games, as well as in the television and movies have desensitized individuals to violence. Desensitization refers to the elimination of cognitive, emotional and behavioural reactions to a stimulus, in this case, violent stimulusxvii. Their study declared that individuals with a chronic exposure to violence eventually become desensitized to it; in turn, the possibility of their engagement in violence is also increasedxviii. In the study, children exposed to violence were observed on how they would react to violent acts in their neighbourhood or in their vicinity. Their study also revealed that these children, in comparison to children who have not been exposed to a violent movie or video game, often took longer to report to adults about what they have seenxix. Their study confirms the argument that exposure to violence in the media increases tolerance for violent behaviour. Moreover, the authors declared that the usual process of moral evaluation is disturbed for these gamers and as a result, they may not normally respond to cues, which would have triggered moral judgmentsxx. On the other hand, strong arguments have also been given opposing the relationship between violence and video games. In fact, tabloid publications like Daily Mail seem to be causing a moral panic about violent gaming and their effects on audiences. The Daily Mail is a tabloid newspaper that prides itself in having a female orientated audience. It is a paper that is considered as one that appeals to the female audience and their conservative ideologies. The Daily Mail seems to specifically target their news values towards women and their mature, conservative audience in order to shock them into paying attention. Headlines in their paper like, ‘Video games-obsessed submariner killed officer after threatening to go on 'Grand Theft Auto-style’ shooting spree’xxi are just some of the articles that they publish. These articles heavily criticise video games because they spur people towards violence. However, there are hundreds of violent activities in the world which are not attributed to video games; these incidents include the 9/11 terrorist bombing and the 2005 London bombings. And yet, papers like Daily Mail seem to believe that violent acts attributed to video games deserve the same moral indignation as the 9/11 attacks. On deeper evaluation, these articles are not morally driven, but are profit-driven as they attempt to generate the most controversy in their news in order to increase their revenues. ‘In research, where factors are taken into account, there is no link between video games and aggression’xxii. This proves that tabloid papers are basing their reports on the link between violence and video games as a means of creating a moral panic. In these instances, ‘the media are placed in a position of becoming an agent of social control’xxiii. This momentum and social control is therefore used by tabloid newspapers, such as the Daily Mail, in order to attract readers and feed their readers’ wrong perceptions of issues. The theory of uses and gratification also highlights the fact that the ‘the audience uses media to gratify, meet or satisfy individual needs. Games like Grand Theft Auto seem to have become scapegoats in modern society, as they are being blamed for violent and deviant behaviour among the youth gamers. The media cites 18-year-old Devin Moore from Alabama who had no previous criminal record and was caught for stealing a car. Dr Goodson says that ‘Devin’s defence was that he was acting out on a mission from Grand Theft Auto, a video game’. In this case, the media seems to want us to believe that Devin’s actions were the result of playing video games for hours, isolated from society, however, with about 30 million Grand Theft Auto games sold worldwide, our streets are hardly choking with gamers, spurred on by their desire to live out their video game fantasy of stealing a car and committing similar crimes. These are isolated incidents that may or may not be attributed wholly to video games and video game violence. However, the media sensationalization of this incident makes the incident seem widespread and ominous. What is ignored by the media is the fact that games like Grand Theft Auto VI have numerous benefits. ‘Harshly criticized for its social responsibility, GTA IV in fact encourages players to spend substantial amounts of time nurturing social relationships; GTA IV has a remarkable capacity in making players queasy with emotions rarely touched by video games- including remorse, melancholy, and self-doubt’xxiv. The reception theory supports this view as it ‘suggests that the individual members of the audience themselves help to create their own meaning of the text’xxv. This invalidates the view that players are passive and are not able to control their own decisions while interacting in the real world. ‘Fans of the game are socialising with each other – in the virtual and the real world. People are forging bonds and friendships over games, relationships which they may often have difficulty creating and maintaining in their real life. The beauty of this kind of social interaction, both virtually and in reality, is that it is driven by individuals, not by corporations. The size and scale of the GTA sub-culture also offers a powerful warning in resisting ongoing arguments on videogames being bad and corrupting influences on children’xxvi. Games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Call of Duty involve social interactions with other players, as well as options for multiplayer gaming. They use the games to help each other reach goals and to move on to new levels of the game. Moreover, they use the games as a source of entertainment. This is supported by the Uses and Gratification theory where the audience can socially interact with each other and use games as a source of entertainment. ‘New York (in which GTA is set), provides a venue for the discussion of tactics and of means to win the game. They also provide avenues for the critical analysis of the game. In social media discussions, various threads discuss the game. One thread was titled ‘How I lost all faith in this game series’. There are endless threads and topics of conversation related to the game and under this set-up, players can explore all matters surrounding the game. This enables players to learn about the game and to engage socially with various types of people and a larger group of people which these gamers would not normally connect with in the real world’xxvii. Both sides of the issue are thoroughly discussed above and legitimate concerns and arguments are presented for either side. On one hand, it is important to note that video games like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty present gamers with opportunities for executing violence, opportunities which they would not normally see in real life. Studies also seem to indicate that video games promote aggressive behaviour and prolonged exposure to these violent games desensitize these gamers to violence, reducing their moral discernment of violence and making them more capable of using violence in their daily activities. Articles from the Daily Mail also highlight incidents where violent acts have been carried out because of these video games. On the other side of this discussion, the relationship of violence of video games is considered vague and weak, and mostly credited to media sensationalism and revenue generation by tabloid papers. These incidents of violence related to video games are considered to be isolated incidents, because many more gamers are exposed to violence but are not actually engaging in violence. It is therefore not logical to use isolated incidents to make generalized assumptions on certain issues, and to use these assumptions to dissuade other individuals from using these media for their entertainment or learning purposes. Based on the discussions above, it is logical to note that although games like Grand Theft Auto do provide opportunities for gamers to explore violence, their violent acts in their lives cannot wholly be attributed to their gaming habits. In effect, games like Grand theft auto IV and ‘Call of duty- Modern Warfare 3’ do not wholly promote violent behaviour, but they are forms of escapism which, in some instances, may lead to violence. Read More