Does Playing Video Games Lead to More Violence?
“I got two on me”. “He’s dead”. “I’m flanking from the side”. No, these are not military callouts, rather common discourse that can be heard when observing players of violent video games. Since their inception in the 1970s, video games have often been subject to their criticism of violent content. Activists, politicians, and especially parents have claimed that violence in video games can be tied to violent behavior, especially in children. Over 85% of games contain some violence, and approximately half of video games include serious violent actions¹. Violence within video games can lead to more violence for several reasons: youth exposure to violent media tends to yield more aggressive adults as well as a desensitization of violence, and the impact of video game competitiveness on violence.
As a young child, I was prohibited from playing violent video games, until I was a certain age. However, as I began to notice, I seemed to be one of the only people of my peers with this restriction. I began to question the reasoning as to not only why I was not allowed to play such games, but also why other children my age were allowed. As Stephanie L. Partridge delineates within the paper, Pornography, ethics, and video games, virtual murder is not murder. However, the act of virtual murder can lead to the desensitization of murder within itself. For example, desensitized people might be less likely to notice aggressive events, perceive fewer or less severe injuries, feel less sympathy for victims of violence, believe that the world is a less safe place, and have a less negative attitude towards violence².
The term desensitization has been used by scholars, public policy analysts, politicians, and the public to mean effects as varied as an increase in aggressive behavior, a reduction in physiological arousal to real-life violence, and a flattening of affective reactions to violence³. A clearer definition of desensitization to violence is a reduction in emotion-related physiological activity to real violence. The main public concern with this is not that viewing media violence lowers responsiveness to other media violence, rather it lowers responsiveness to real-world violence.
From the diagram above, “desensitization”, can be seen as a process by which initial arousal responses to violent stimuli are reduced, which change the individual's “present internal state”. The diagram shows how exposure to violent video games will start to desensitize those who have repeated actions in which such violence is normal. This will lead to effective outcomes such as decreased perception of injury, attention to violent events, sympathy, and decreased negative attitudes towards violence. This can lead to behavioral outcomes such as a lower likelihood of intervening towards violence or a higher likelihood of initiating aggression and more severe levels of aggression. In other words, the constant exposure to such themes can not only lead a person to believe that such things are “normal” but might entice the consumer of such content to act as if they would in the video game, in terms of the same level of aggression, if not more.
Ask yourself how many times you have seen a violent fight on social media, whether it is the likes of World Star or other outlets. So many times it can be seen within social media, that when a fight breaks out, the first reaction of those within the vicinity is not to stop the fight, but rather to record the fight as a form of entertainment. The question then becomes, is this desensitization correlated to playing violent video games?
Certain studies show that playing a violent video game, even for just 20 minutes, can cause people to become less physiologically aroused by real violence. Within a specific study, participants that were randomly assigned to play a violent video game had relatively lower HR (Heart Rate) and GSR (Galvanic Skin Response) while watching actual footage of violent instances than did those randomly assigned to play a nonviolent video game⁴. These results can be seen below:
Ok, so what is this graph really trying to show? First, it is important to delineate that the Galvanic Skin Response, GSR, much like the Heart Rate, is a measure of physiological arousal. But why does this matter? Essentially, the graph above, from the study by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, compares the different levels of physiological response, and shows how someone, on average, exposed to violent video games, is less likely to have a sensitive, or larger physiological reaction, to violence compared to someone who has played a nonviolent video game.
This study ultimately shows, that on average, someone that is exposed to violent video games will react less sensitively to viewing or experiencing real violence, which can lead to desensitization to violence, as a whole. But someone might ask, “What is the problem with being desensitized to violence”? From my own experiences, having seen fights break out in real life, or having been exposed to guns from a virtual media standpoint, make it less of a shock when I was introduced to them in real life. For example, I started playing Call of Duty Black Ops when I was 14. But, I never went to a real gun range till I was 19. However, when I went, I was accompanied by a friend who had never played a violent video game, and our reactions to holding a gun in real life were completely different. Although this may be personal bias, I remember my reaction being one of less shock and fear, and more normal, when shooting the gun at the range, compared to my friend who was not only visibly scared but quite nervous. When I look back at it, I am sure there are several factors, but I can attribute, personally, that having played violent video games for nearly half my life, made me desensitized to holding a gun in real life. Moreso, the violence within the games is one aspect, but another is the fact that many games, especially violent ones, are in a multiplayer format.
Have you ever heard of Ninja? Twitch? Another reason why playing violent video games can be seen to increase in violence is the competitiveness and culture of these games as well, as well as the streaming and availability of these environments. Many violent games today are played online, with random strangers or with friends, who generally tend to communicate over voice chat features during gameplay. Speaking from experience, I have seen and observed the level of violence and aggression that is a result of these voice chats. Players begin to speak as if they are not even talking to adults, as hurling insults is the best of the experience. It becomes commonplace, from my experience, to be victim to death threats and threats of violence in real life as a result of the competitive nature of these video games. Voice chats, or voice lobbies, are also unregulated in terms of the age of the players and their interactions. Especially, for younger children, this can impact them severely by hearing certain things or even being victim to threats of violence by older players.
Do you remember when a sixteen-year-old kid won more than a million dollars for winning a Fortnite championship? Well, it happened, and it led me to feel an array of emotions. For one, I thought to myself, “Wow, it must be nice to make that kind of money playing a video game”. And this thought was quickly followed by the realization, “This competition was being watched by millions”. This made me realize not only how competitive violent video games have become, but also how wide the age ranges for these players are. In a game, you can have teenage professionals playing against adult amateurs and vice-a-versa. And, you would think that this would create a suitable and inclusive environment, but in most cases, this is not true. Not only has the competitiveness in violent video games led to a new profession in itself, where E-sports is now a billion-dollar industry, but the accessibility to play and lack of restrictions has created an ease for any age to play such violent video games.
I mean who actually follows the video game recommendation of rated M for mature or rated T for teens? I can say countless times where I was playing violent games such as Grand Theft Auto, and I could hear someone that was clearly not older than 17. This increase in competitiveness goes hand-in-hand with the ease of access. Because of the level of difficulty within such games, younger generations are exposed to more hostile environments where they could be playing for fun, but be in the same lobby as someone playing professionally. This leads to environments where aggression is misplaced on newer or even younger players, and this, in turn, can lead to aggressive behavior in the younger generation that is exposed to such environments.
A recent study in Japan concluded that playing violent video games increases hostility for boys but not for girls, mainly because boys are more likely to be exposed to violent video games than girls are⁵. This study had findings where unjustified violence was positively correlated with later hostility and physical aggression for boys, where the correlation factors were: .13,.11, p<.05⁶. Okay, so I threw some numbers at you, but what do they mean? Essentially the study found that there was a positive correlation between boys playing violent video games with unjustified violence and later aggression and hostility. Unjustified violence in video games can be classified as the type of aggression in games such as Grand Theft Auto V, where a player can aimlessly go around shooting or running over people, for no good reason. In fact, Grand Theft Auto V, when it was released, broke 6 sales records, and became the highest-selling game in a span of 24 hours⁷. A game this large, played by people of all ages, despite the age restriction, is a prime example of the popularity of unjustified violence within video games.
But back to the main point, which is that the unjustified violence in video games had a positive-, and relatively strong correlation to physical aggression and hostility later in life. The study also found that eight context variables, unjustified violence, graphicness, availability of weapons, reality, rewards, depicted pain or harm, interactivity, and activity — were all linked to increased aggression for boys and girls⁸. Not to harp on GTA (Grand Theft Auto), but this game is a prime example of content that includes all of the eight aforementioned context variables. A player can be rewarded for shooting and killing civilians, and the availability and reality of the game is something that the video game producers pride themselves on. Games have been increasingly realistic, with the development of graphics and playing maps beginning to look like real humans and real cities. Furthermore, the role-playing violent video games were linked to an increase in aggression as well, and the humor built into the violent norm was linked to inducing emotions compatible with aggression and realistic behavior⁹.
In conclusion, the increase of accessibility and relevance of violent video games in popular culture has made it easier for younger children to be exposed to such violent media. The violence in video games can lead to violence in the real world as it promotes the desensitization to real-world violence, can lead to aggressive behavior from younger consumers, and the competitiveness of these games can contribute to hostile and violent environments. I am no proponent of having no violent video games altogether, but I do believe that it is important to have stricter regulations-, and for larger monitoring of the content of the games that are released and consumed by the larger public. With E-sports being such a large and profitable industry, with so much influence on the younger generation, it is imperative to weigh the impacts of such media. From my own experience, my little cousin, who is in middle school, only plays Fortnite and GTA. When I was a kid, I used to play with Legos, but now it seems that the younger generation is not only drawn to video games-, but violent video games.
Footnotes
- Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, Brad J. Bushman, The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 3,2007, Pages 489–496, ISSN 0022–1031,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003
- Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, Brad J. Bushman, The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 3,
2007, Pages 489–496, ISSN 0022–1031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003. - Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, Brad J. Bushman, The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 3,
2007, Pages 489–496, ISSN 0022–1031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003. - Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, Brad J. Bushman, The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 43, Issue 3,
2007, Pages 489–496, ISSN 0022–1031, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2006.05.003. - Shibuya A, Sakamoto A, Ihori N, Yukawa S. The effects of the presence and contexts of video game violence on children: A longitudinal study in Japan. Simulation & Gaming. 2008;39(4):528–539. https://doi:10.1177/1046878107306670.
- Shibuya A, Sakamoto A, Ihori N, Yukawa S. The effects of the presence and contexts of video game violence on children: A longitudinal study in Japan. Simulation & Gaming. 2008;39(4):528–539. https://doi:10.1177/1046878107306670.
- Lynch, Kevin. “Confirmed: Grand Theft Auto 5 Breaks 6 Sales World Records.” Guinness World Records, Guinness World Records, 8 Oct. 2013, https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2013/10/confirmed-grand-theft-auto-breaks-six-sales-world-records-51900.
- Shibuya A, Sakamoto A, Ihori N, Yukawa S. The effects of the presence and contexts of video game violence on children: A longitudinal study in Japan. Simulation & Gaming. 2008;39(4):528–539. https://doi:10.1177/1046878107306670.
- Shibuya A, Sakamoto A, Ihori N, Yukawa S. The effects of the presence and contexts of video game violence on children: A longitudinal study in Japan. Simulation & Gaming. 2008;39(4):528–539. https://doi:10.1177/1046878107306670.
