At My Limit: Violence in Video Games

This is something that has always bothered me. It used to bother me because it was just a really pointless circular argument between gamers and activists. Now, it bothers me because its just gotten monotonous and annoying. Every time someone goes out into public with a gun and shoot someone, the whole media goes on a crusade blaming video games, or movies. Just in case you're too lazy to read my whole post, or don't have enough time to at the moment, here's a summary: VIDEO GAMES DO NOT CAUSE VIOLENT BEHAVIOR.

The Origin

This argument dates back to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. After the shootings reports came in  that the killers were avid Doom and Wolfenstein 3D players. The media then began to have a hay day, speculating that these shooters inspired them to kill. This is when we as gamers face-palm. In case you don't know, Doom looked like this: 

In 1999, they were talking about how this realistic gameplay caused a level of immersion that made the person numb to the violence in the game, and numb to violent behavior in general. To sum up, playing video games makes you a sociopath. Now today, since the level of realism is even higher, it seems to help the anti-violent video game cause. But lets not overlook the other facts about the Columbine massacre. The two shooters had been bullied for 4 years, but this obviously has nothing to do with creating an atmosphere of hatred for their fellow students. Then the FBI investigated and determined that one of the shooters was depressed, and the other was an early stage psychopath. Obviously video games caused these two to go out and shoot their school mates. 

The Modern Argument

Craig A Anderson, a psychologist from Iowa State University has written several books, condemning  video games for causing violent behavior. He claims that a video game player that denies that games cause violence is like a cigarette smoker denying that it causes lung cancer. He also states that violent media causes increased aggressive behavior. Why do I bring this up? You'll see in a little bit.

Recently, there has been another school shooting, which has again spurred the argument against violent video games. Adam Lanza, shot and killed his own mother, before going to a school, killing several teachers and children, then killing himself. This is a tragedy, I do not take it lightly, but the media certainly seems to. Instead of focusing on the obvious poor psychological state of the killer, they target video games once again. Apparently, Lanza was part of a tech club at his school, where they played a video game called Star Craft. Yes, the gamers are face-palming yet again. Star Craft is a real time strategy game in which you command one army, against another. I've played this game since I was 8. In case you don't know, it looks like the picture above. Doesn't it look so realistic?

Now, in today's video games, we have fairly realistic graphics, and a large arsenal of first person shooters. In fact, that is one of the most popular genres in video games. So why don't we see more random killings from the gamer audience? Well, lets look at some statistics.

The Facts

Sources are linked at the end of each factoid.

•  In 2011 consumers spent a total of $24.75 billion dollars on video games.1
• The average age of a video gamer is 30 years old, and he/she has been playing for 12 years.1
• 47% of all gamers are women. 30% of gamers are women over the age of 18. Only 18% of gamers are boys under 18.1
• The average US household has at least 1 video game system.1
• 73% of all games sold were rated E for Everyone, E10+ (everyone 10 and up), or T for Teen.1
• There are roughly 4 murders per 100,000 population per year in the USA.2
• Roughly 60% of all murders in North America involve fire arms.2
• The total population of the USA is approximately 314,985,562.3

So there's the facts. Now let's do a little math of our own. There are roughly 12,599 murders involving fire arms per year. Now if we factor in that the average household has a game system, and that 17% of all video games bought per year are rated M. That means that potentially 272 of those murders involve people that play violent video games. But this would also mean that potentially 128 of those murders would be caused by female gamers. My math might be off, but it looks like the facts don't add up. Either way, here's a clincher for you:

Numerous authorities, including the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Surgeon General, Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission have examined the scientific record and found that it does not establish any causal link between violent programming and violent behavior. The truth is, there is no scientific research that validates a link between computer and video games and violence, despite lots of overheated rhetoric from the industry's detractors. Instead, a host of respected researchers has concluded that there is no link between media violence and violent crime.4

Now, I realize that I'm only 22 years old, and I have potentially 68 years of life left, but I haven't killed anyone, nor do I plan to. I have been playing video games for 14 years, and you could ask anyone, I don't have a very violent attitude. The media needs to stop focusing on violent media being the cause. Could it be a factor, yes. But the consumer has to already have some sort of psychological trauma or violent tendency to push them to the point of actually committing murder.

Now that I've pretty much voiced my view of the matter, you can take it however you want. But I'd like to ask for a favor. If you're a gamer, don't get all pissed off when the media targets us. We're easy targets, and lashing out at them just makes us easier targets. And to the rest of you, stop believing everything that the news says. Do research on your own, and not just one sided research, but actually look at both sides objectively. Thanks for tolerating my rant, but now I'm at my limit, see you on Tuesday.