Misc. Perspective on Video Games

This sort of controversy over violent video games is nothing new.  Ever since the invention of any new media, there has always been some outcry over it.  Elvis Presly hip gyrations were considered too risque for TV alongside rock'n roll.  The content of comic books was considered obscene for children, so much so that there was a book written by a Dr. Frederick Wertham called Seduction of the Innocent about the evils of comic books.  Jazz music was considered to be the devil's music around the time it was introduced.

Such panics are rerffered to as moral panics.  A moral panic is a societal response to any unfamilliar type of medium or societal phenomena.  It was coined by a sociologist named Stanley Cohen in 1987 in his seminal work, Folk Devils and Moral Panics.  In his work, he described how certain aspects of youth culture such as mods and rockers were considered devious people and troublemakers.  He noted how they were blamed for various societal ills and criminal activity.

Video games have undergone the same treatment, with video arcades being regarded as unsafe places to be.  Games like Doom and Mortal Kombat were considered to be desensitizing children to violence with their extreme content.  They have been used as a scapegoat to explain violent crimes such as school shootings and the London Riots.  However, such claims have been thoroughly debunked.  Most school shooters have been diagnosed with some type of mental issues and the London Riots were caused by social unrest and lack of job opportunities.

Much like most other media, moral panics are a phrase most societies go through when it comes to new media.  Rock' n roll and comic books went through the same phrase, and sure enough video games are going through the exact same phase.  Soon enough, it will pass as soon as the older generation dies off and our children will perhaps find another thing to fear  

A Global Perspective on Video Games

The general consenus around the world video games are a waste of time.  This kind of rhetoric is heard from politicians, parents groups, senators and so on.  They've on been blamed for tradegies such as school shooting and the London Riots.  Organizations such as the Parents Television Council have criticized the so called "billion dollar games industry"  Certain politicians in Australia have opposed the passage of an R18 rating in order to "protect the children."  Calls for violent game bans have been heard around the world from parents groups to senators, to teachers and so on.

People like Arnold Schwartzenegger (The former Guvernator) and California senator Leland Yee, have made calls for the selling of M-rated games to children to be prohibited.  Such arguments that children will be corrupted by such violent content have been proven to be false.  The PTC say that the video game industry is actively trying to destroy America's youth and that they support Arnold and Senator Yee in their efforts to protect children.

On November 3, 2011 in a Supreme Court Case called Brown V. EMA, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to restrict the sale of video video games to minors.  Although his proved as a victory for the gaming community, most parents and oficials still regard the SCOTUS decision as wrong.  The PTC says that "This ruling replaces the authority of parents with the economic interests of the videogame industry. With no fear of any consequence for violating the videogame industry's own age restriction guidelines, retailers can now openly, brazenly sell games with unspeakable violence and adult content even to the youngest of children."

A Personal Perspective On Video Games

Throughout my college career, I am planning to go into the field of game design.  As I have mentioned before on my previous posts, many parents organizations, senators, and politicians have blamed video games for everything including school shootings and riots.  When Mortal Kombat and Night Trap were realeased, parents were outraged and politicians called for a ratings board in order to inform parents about violent content.  The games industry was demonized as a monolithic collection of greedy, corporate overlords who were only concerned about profit instead of the welfare of children. 

Noting the violence of the games Joe Liberman said "We're not talking Pac-Man or Space Invaders anymore." he said, "We're talking about games that glorify violence and teach children to enjoy inflicting the most gruesome forms of cruelty imaginable." he said.  As a result of the controversy, the ESRB rating was established which exists to this day.

The Opposing Side's Views

The opposing side believes that video games are a waste of time.  They believe that video games can be training tools for murder and criminal activity.  Pundits such as the disabarred Miami lawyer, Jack Thompson have said that violent games such as Counter-Strike are "murder simulators", designed to train people to kill.  He says that games like Grand Theft Auto train people to commit violent criminal acts.

The first outcry for violent video games legislation was the release of a game called Death Race by a company called Exidy in 1976.  The game's objective was to run over stick figure like "gremlins" to earn points.  The depiction of the enemy characters were blocky humanoid stick figures.  The implication sparked an outrage and protests across the country occured which were led by an activist named Ronnie Lamm.  She appeared on CBS's 60 Minutes decrying the evils of video games.

The next controversy arose with the release of Mortal Kombat and Night Trap.  Mortal Kombat was a fighting game in the vein of Capcom's Street Fighter series but unlike Street Fighter featured large amounts of blood when fighters were struck by attacks.  The highlight of the game were the fatality moves. Fatalities were gory finishing moves that depicticted gruesome actions like ripping out someone's heart or spinal column.

Night Trap was a Full Motion Videogame that used footage of real actors and scenes.  It was criticized for being sexist and degrading to women.  Marilyn Droz, president of the National Coalition on Television Violence said:"The only thing I can say is shame on you.  How would you like your teenage daughter to go out on a date with somebody who just played three hours of that game." she said.  

Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned

I believe violent video games should not be banned because of its right to free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment.  The debate  of violent video games affecting society is part of a moral panic that has been going on ever since 1993.  Moral panics over new media are nothing new.  Stanley Cohen a psychologist states that a moral panic is "a condition, episode, person or group of persons [who] become defined as a threat to societal values and interests."   There have been moral panics over jazz, rock n roll, comic books, and tabletop games.  Ever since games like Mortal Kombat and Doom, bans for violent games have been supported by parental groups, politicians etc.  You hear about how the Columbine, V-tech, and Oslo massacres happened because the killers "trained" on video games.

However, the proof that they trained on them is practically nonexistant Cho-Seung-Hui hardly played video games, if at all. Anders Brevik was a lunatic even before the video blame game, with his affliction for right wing extremist political views.  The Columbine killers made Doom levels but they also victims of bullying, and teasing.  The point is there are multiple factors for tragedies other than video games.