The History of Violent Video Games and its Effect on Crime - Essay Example

THE HISTORY OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND ITS EFFECT ON CRIME Institute Discuss The History Of Violent Video Games And Its Effect On Crime. Media plays an important role in developing the culture and educating the society. Media has the power of transforming the choices and attitudes of the whole society by merely portraying things in a manner they wish to. The heavy exposure to the media in today’s world proves the fact that it can lay a great influence on the lives and personalities of the individuals. Video games also form an important form of this media and there has been a great increase in the use of video games as a form of entertainment for children. The increased involvement of the people in the playing of video games has portrayed the negative effects that they can lead to. This is particularly true of violent video games as there has been a strong association between the playing of violent video games and increase in crime amongst youths. It has been analyzed that the playing of violent video games has resulted in many criminal acts which include robberies as well as murders. This paper will serve to explain the history of these violent video games and their strong association with acts of crime that have taken place owing to the negative impact of these violent video games. There has been a great rise in the popularity of video games and the number of people playing these games has widely increased. It is believed that children of the age group from 8 to 18 years in the United States have an exposure of 40 hours out of seven days to different forms of media. There has been a sharp increase in the exposure to video games by the children and the teenagers. It has been analyzed that children even as young as two years play video games on an average of one hour every day. In the age group of 8 to 13 year old boys, it has been seen that they tend to play video games for more than approximately 7.5 hours in a single week. Another very important aspect that has been highlighted is that a research among teenagers explained the fact that the games that they purchased were not reviewed and analyzed by their parents and hence there is no check on the nature of the video games that are played by these children (Anderson et al 2001). It has been found out that 75 percent of the teenagers actually purchase and play video games that are meant for adults and these games have very high content of violence and negativities portrayed in them (Adams, 2010). The extent of the violence exposure has been explained by the statistics in a study which shows that in the United States, the young generation is exposed to 40,000 killings by some form of media by the time they acquire the age of 18 years (Anderson 2005). The history of video games dates to the years following 1970. But the video game that became a matter of debate was the game which was named "Death Race 2000". This game was based upon a car which was to be driven over bodies that were made of sticks. The game did not have good graphics but still the violent theme of the game sparked many debates. The last decade of the twentieth century came with many new games which were far more violent than the Death Race. These games included Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Wolfenstein 3D and Night Trap. All these games were based on violent themes. The Mortal Kombat was particularly a game which received much attention and became the favorite of young children. It was based solely on killing the opponents. This led to major controversies and the matter became a national issue. The matter also reached the Senate and a prominent member from the Senate Joe Lieberman presented the idea that restrictions should be imposed on video games. Night Trap was removed voluntarily by the shop owners following these issues and the video game industry also became aware that such games could result in blows to their industry. Thus, the video game industry formed a body which is termed as Entertainment Software Rating Board in the year 1994 to check on the violent and sexual material of the video games. This was important because a research highlighted the fact that violent games served to attract more children and a study carried out on students in their fourth year of school presented the fact that 59 percent of the girls and 73 percent of the boys liked violent video games over the other games. The issue of violent video games was taken to the courts and the Supreme Court of the United States announced in the year 2010 that it may put bans on the violent video games owing to their harmful effects (Anderson et al 2001; Greenberg 2007; Suddath 2010). There are opponents of the theory that violent video games are in any way associated with the acts of crime. This opposition is mainly provided by the people of the video game industry. In the year 2000, Doug Lowenstein who was the head of the Interactive Digital Software Association provided a very strong statement on CNN and denied any associations of video games with any forms of crime. He said, “I think the issue has been vastly overblown and overstated, often by politicians and others who don’t fully understand, frankly, this industry. There is absolutely no evidence, none, that playing a violent video game leads to aggressive behavior.” (Anderson et al 2001). This claim was upheld by different researches which were carried out with regard to the impact of violent video games. Many researchers analyzed the fact that violent video games increase the criminal susceptibility of those individuals who are already having certain behavioral problems and are in a state of depression or are upset. But for the other people, these games can prove to be very helpful by preventing the occurrence of behavior problems in children. Certain researches have also highlighted health benefits of these video games by explaining the fact that these games can be beneficial in relieving pain symptoms and preventing conditions like diabetes (Reaney 2010). The proponents of the fact that video games are linked to violence also have many strong points to present. A research conducted by Anderson and Bushman also highlighted many aspects to uphold their claim that video games were related to violence. The results of their research presented the fact that violent video games made the players vulnerable to development of anti-social behavior accompanied by the induction of hostile behavior. The research explained that these games could push the person to perform criminal acts as presented in the games (Anderson et al 2001). Another research on this subject was published in SAGE and was carried out by Brad J. Bushman and Bryan Gibson from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA and VU University, Amsterdam, the Netherlands respectively. The result of their research explained the findings that if the player of violent video games thinks about the game, it can result in a violent behavior even one day after the game was played. This research tried to explain the long lasting effects of playing violent video games (Bushman et al 2011). Many cases of crimes which include robberies and murders have proved to provide with a strong connection between these criminal acts and the heavy exposure to violent video games. This is true despite of the strong claims made by the video game industry that the video games have no association with these criminal offenses. A very good example is that of a robbery that took place in the year 2008 and was carried out by a group of teenagers in New York. The group comprised of approximately 15 teenagers out of which 6 got caught. These teenagers carried bars and sticks and they surrounded cars and carried out their criminal acts of snatching money and valuables. They were caught red handed while they were trying to carry out a robbery on a van. This was only possible after the complaint of a woman who got fell victim to their act of snatching. The police reached the crime scene and they caught the group while they were trying to stop a van. The six teenagers who were caught were in the age group of 14 to 18 and were all studying in schools. After this gang of teenagers was caught, the group claimed that they carried out these robberies by getting influenced by a video game known as Grand Theft Auto which also revolved around similar themes of carrying out similar snatchings. This claim was strongly denied by the makers of the game Grand Theft Auto who presented a statement with regard to this incident claiming the fact that the game was used just as an excuse by the teenagers and such criminal actions should be dealt with according to the law (Cochran 2008). But the similarities between the snatchings and the presentation in the game could not be denied and upheld the fact that violent games could lay an impact on the children. Another very important case is that of Daniel Petric who killed his mother and shot his father as well in an attempt to kill him. This incident took place in the year 2009 when Daniel was only 17 years old. The reason for the killing was very shocking as Daniel Petric chose to kill his parents rather than staying away from his video game Xbox on which he played the game with the name of Halo 3. His father, Mark Petric took the game from Daniel due his long hours of playing and hid it. Petric found out where his game was kept and with it also got his hands on his father’s gun. He went to his parents’ room and asked them to close their eyes and said that he had a surprise for them. This surprise turned into a shock as he shot his parents there and then. His father survived but his mother died as a result of the gun shot. His case is indicative of the severe psychological impact that violent video games can lay on the minds of the teenagers and drive them to perform such brutal acts. It was identified that Halo 3 is basically a game series which involves the killing of aliens. It is also seen that after these aliens are killed they are become alive again. The judge who was handling this case presented that Daniel might not have been in his senses and he lived in the world of the game and considered that probably even after shooting his parents they would come back to live like the aliens in the game Halo 3. It was also found that Daniel used to play his game sometimes for as long as 18 hours in one day. This laid a long lasting impact on his mental thinking. The case of Daniel Petric presents a clear association between the violent games and the criminal acts carried out by the young teenagers. His addiction with the game drove him to shoot his own parents (Harvey 2009). Another incident was reported from France in which a man named Julien Barreaux whose age was 20 years old chose to kill an opponent who killed his player in the game named as Counter Strike that is played virtually. Barreaux’s player was killed in the game by means of a knife by the opponent. This put him in rage and he started looking for the person who killed his player in Counter Strike. After seven months he located the person and found out that his name was Mikhael. His house was not very far from Barreaux and he went to his house with a knife. As soon as the door was opened by Mikhael, Barreaux attacked him with the knife and he only survived because the knife missed his heart by a very small margin. Barreaux was jailed for his act. This incident served as another happening to uphold the aggressive behaviors that can result due to playing violent games (The Telegraph 2010). Mortal Kombat which was released in the year 1992 was also a subject of debates and it was considered to be a game which promoted violence and acts of hostility. This was supported by a very shocking incident in which a six year old girl name Zoe was killed by her sister and her boyfriend. Her sister Heather Trujillo was 16 years old whereas her boyfriend Lamar Roberts was 17 years old. They were both taking care of Zoe and Heather’s other little siblings while their mother was gone for her job. They made Zoe a target and started practicing the moves and techniques used in the game Mortal Kombat by the fighters in the game. This was a regular practice but on that particular day, Zoe was beaten very severely which led to the breaking of her bones and she eventually died. This presents with a very shocking event and explains the extent to which the games can lay an impact on the personality of the teenagers (McPhee 2007). The death of Damori Miles who was a 9 year old boy was also considered to be connected with his obsession for the game WWE Smack Down vs. Raw which is a game based upon wrestling. He jumped off his roof with a parachute in an attempt to copy the style of his favorite wrestler in the game with the name of Jeff Hardy. He died in his act and it was his friends who explained this act of Damori. It was a sad occurrence and portrayed the effect that video games can have on the minds of children (Gendar et al 2009). The incident at the Columbine High School in which two students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot 13 other students and then eventually committed suicide is also a very good case of game induced violence. These two teenagers were found to be obsessed with the violent video game with the name of Doom. These killings were considered to be greatly connected with their obsessions of playing this hostile video game (Anderson et al 2001). The different cases of violence all across the world that have been promoted by the violent video games uphold the arguments of the proponents who argue that violent video games have been linked to serious criminal activities. The history of video games dates back to the 1970s but with the advent of games that promote violence like Mortal Kombat and Doom heinous acts of killings have been reported where young teenagers tend to kill their family members due to their obsessions with video games. Such criminal acts make it very important that strong measures should be taken by the state and other regulating agencies to stop the circulation of these games. At the same time, more researches should be carried out to confirm this stand. Parents should also be educated and trained regarding the impacts of these violent games and they should be asked to keep a check on their children to prevent them from buying adult games that are not meant for them. References Adams, Jill U. (May 03,2010). Effects of violent video games. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/03/health/la-he-closer-20100503 Top of Form Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (January 01, 2001). Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature. Psychological Science: a Journal of the American Psychological Society, 12, 353-359. Top of Form Anderson, J. (2005). Dealing with crime. London: Franklin Watts. Top of Form Bushman, B., & Gibson, B. (January 01, 2011). Violent Video Games Cause an Increase in Aggression Long After the Game Has Been Turned Off. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 2, 1, 29-32. Cochran, Lee. (June 27, 2008). Teens Say: Video Game Made Them Do It. ABCNEWS. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/story?id=5262689&page=1 Gendar, A. and Lysiak, M. (April 17, 2009) 9-year-old Damori Miles dies in jump off Brooklyn apartment, may have been imitating video game. NY DailyNews. Retrieved from: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2009/04/15/2009-04-15_a_9yearold_wrestling_fan_jumped_off_his_brooklyn_apartment_roof_wearing_a_homema.html  Greenberg, Andy.( June 18,2007). A History Of Virtual Violence. Forbes.com. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/15/games-violence-columbine-tech-cx_ag_0618videogames.html Harvey, Mike. (January 13, 2009). Teenager Daniel Petric shot parents who took away Xbox. Times Online. Retrieved from: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5512446.ece McPhee, Mike. (December 20, 2007).“Sister charged in "Mortal Kombat" death of 7-year-old.” Denver Post. Retrieved from: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7760927 Reaney, Patricia. ( June 09,2010). Violent videogames harmless for most kids. Reuters. Retrieved from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/09/us-videogames-anger-tech-idUSTRE65841B20100609 Suddath, Claire. (May 10, 2010). Brief History: Video-Game Violence. Time. Retrieved from: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1985999,00.html Video game fanatic hunts down and stabs rival player who killed character online. (May 27, 2010). The Telegraph. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7771505/Video-game-fanatic-hunts-down-and-stabs-rival-player-who-killed-character-online.html Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More