The History of Violent Video Games and their Association with Criminal Activities - Research Paper Example

The History of Violent Video Games and their Association with Criminal Activities The exposure to media has greatly increased over the years and media now holds a strong authority over the lives and the thinking of the people. Video games are an essential component of media and with time, the popularity of the video games has greatly increased. It has become a form of entertainment for a large number of children and adults. The engagement of individuals in the playing of video games has led to the revelation that these games can result in criminal activities. Following the advent and the popularity of video games there have been many debates owing to the fact that a strong association has been shown between violent games and the promotion of crime and violent activities. This paper will serve to explain the popularity and the history of the video games and it will also highlight the association between the violent video games and acts of crime. Video games have become increasingly popular and there has been a striking rise in the number of people who play video games. Anderson et al state that even children who are only 2 years tend to play video games for one hour on a daily basis. They further state that children between the ages of 8 to 13 years are engaged in playing video games for about 7.5 hours in a week. The nature of these games ranges to different types and a research has put forward the fact that the games that are bought by the children are not supervised and seen by their parents (Anderson et al 2001). The video games came into the market after the year 1970. The video games did not spark any controversies until the release of the game “Death Race 2000”. The aim of the game was to drive over bodies by driving a car. The game became a subject of debates as it was argued that the game was based on a violent idea. Following the year 1990, many other video games entered the market. The games which again led to the initiation of arguments were Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Wolfenstein 3D and Night Trap. The games were based upon violent ideas. These debates led to intervention of the Senate into the matter and Joe Lieberman who was an important member put forward a suggestion that there should be limitations placed on video games. At this stage, the video game industry intervened and formed a body in 1994 to review the violence and sexual themes of the video games. This was known as the Entertainment Software Rating Board (Greenberg 2007; Suddath 2010). This step was essential as a survey indicated that violent video games were more appealing for the children. A study which was conducted amongst students who were studying in fourth grade of their elementary school revealed that 59 percent girls and 73 percent boys preferred playing violent video games than the other kinds of games (Anderson et al 2001). In 2010, the Supreme Court took notice of a law which was passed in California in 2005 against the playing of violent video games that carried the theme of killing the opponents. The Supreme Court started considering the debate against the playing of violent video games. Experts indicated the fact that the involvement of the Supreme Court into the matter may result in the imposition of bans on certain violent video games owing to the negative impact that they would lay (Suddath 2010). The negative effects of video games have been denied by a few groups who do not believe that there is any association between violent video games and crimes. The chairman of Interactive Digital Software Association, Doug Lowenstein gave a press statement in 2000 by denying any negative effects of video games by saying, “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). Other researchers also upheld this belief and explained that video games have no negative impact and they can only promote violent behavior in children who suffer from certain behavioral issues (Reaney 2010). The proponents of the fact that video games promote crime and violence provide for their own stand and explain that video games have a very strong association with violence. Anderson and Bushman carried out a study which explained the effect of video games in leading to aggressive behavior as well as in the development of an anti-social attitude amongst the players. They used different previous studies and analyzed their results to reach to a final conclusion with regard to the effects of violent video games. A total of 4262 participants were a part of these studies. The conclusions of their study explained that violent video games provoke antagonistic behavior amongst the players and it makes them adopt an isolated life pattern. This was revealed as 676 participants adopted an anti-social attitude and 3033 participants showed aggressive behavior. The study also presented that the players of the games had a susceptibility to engage in criminal acts which were similar to those performed in the games (Anderson et al 2001). There have been many cases of criminal acts which have resulted owing to the offender being influenced by the violence in video games. These criminal activities range from robberies to murders. The case of a group of 15 teenagers who were involved in snatchings in New York upholds the fact that video games have an influence on crimes. These teenagers used sticks and bars as their weapons. They stopped the cars on the road and carried out acts of snatching. They were caught by the police while they were carrying out a similar act by stopping a van. These teenagers claimed that they had been strongly influenced by the game Grand Theft Auto which showed these ways of conducting robberies. Thus, the video game served as a push for these teenagers to carry out criminal acts (Cochran 2008). The case of Daniel Petric also portrays the link between violent video games and crimes. Daniel used to play a game known as Halo 3 on his X box for 18 hours in a day. His parents were disturbed by his extreme indulgence in the game and they took the game away from him. Daniel searched and found where his game was. He then shot his parents. His father survived the attack but his mother died. The judge who was assigned the case of Daniel Petric believed that the video game Halo 3 had influenced Daniel to perform this act. The game was based on the theme where the player had to kill aliens who then became alive again. The judge believed that as Daniel used to play the game so much, he had psychologically become involved in the game. Under this influence, he tried to kill his parents as he may have thought that they became alive again. The case of Daniel Petric was shocking and it clearly highlighted the strong association between violent video games and crime (Mike 2009). Mortal Kombat entered the market in 1992 and it was a game which was argued to be very violent. This game can also be proved to have an influence on criminal activities with the assistance of the case of a young girl, Zoe who was 6 years old. Zoe was killed by her sister and her boyfriend who targeted Zoe and started practicing the moves and techniques used by the fighters in Mortal Combat on her. It resulted in the breaking of her bones and she died. It was a dreadful event where the impact of video games resulted in the death of a young child (McPhee 2007). Many researchers uphold the fact that violent video games are not associated with criminal activities in all cases. They explain the fact that violent video games lead to the carrying out of criminal activities only by those individuals who suffer from behavioral problems and have other psychiatric issues like depression. They indicate the fact that these games may be useful for other people and a few health benefits of these games have been put forward to uphold this claim. Experts explain that playing these video games can serve to relieve pain as well as prevent problems like diabetes (Reaney 2010). These researches which explain the benefits of violent video games are not very well documented and they do not carry enough evidence to support these claims. Furthermore, the demarcation between normal and children with behavioral problems may pose certain problems and it would be difficult to distinguish that who should be allowed to play these games. Therefore, it would be a better step to put a ban on the violent video games for preventing the indulgence of the adolescents in criminal activities. Video games were created after the year 1970. They attained much popularity amongst the people in the United States. Violent video games became subjected to many debates as they were considered to promote crime. The different cases of criminal acts that have occurred serve to prove a strong associated between violent video games and criminal activities. These games tend to push the players towards performing heinous crimes and kill the members of their own family. There should be strict regulations and checks imposed on video games to prevent the occurrence of such crimes. In most of the cases where criminal acts are associated with violent video games, it has been seen that the players tend to play the video games for long hours without any checks. This was seen in the case of Daniel Petric. The lack of parental supervision is also associated with the involvement in criminal activities. This is highlighted in the case of the death of Zoe where she was killed by her sister and her boyfriend owing to the lack of regulation and supervision by their mother. Thus, it is essential that over indulgence of adolescents in the video games should be prevented and there should be checks on the games that are played by them. Unsupervised and extended periods of involvement in video games can result in serious criminal offences owing to the promotion of aggressive behavior due to this. Bibliography Anderson, Craig A, and Brad J. Bushman. "General Article: 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. 12.5 (2001): 353-359. Print. Cochran, Lee.“Teens Say: Video Game Made Them Do It.” ABCNEWS. 27 Jun. 2008. Web 10 Oct. 2011. Greenberg, Andy.“A History Of Virtual Violence.” Forbes.com. 18 Jun.2007. Web 10 Oct. 2011.< http://www.forbes.com/2007/06/15/games-violence-columbine-tech-cx_ag_0618videogames.html> Harvey, Mike. “Teenager Daniel Petric shot parents who took away Xbox.” Times Online .13 Jan. 2009. Web 10 Oct. 2011. McPhee, Mike. “Sister charged in "Mortal Kombat" death of 7-year-old.” Denver Post. 20 Dec. 2007. Web 10 Oct. 2011. Reaney, Patricia. “Violent videogames harmless for most kids.” Reuters. 9 Jun. 2010. Web 10 Oct 2011 Suddath, Claire. “Brief History: Video-Game Violence.” Time. 10 May 2010. Web 10 Oct. 2011. Read More