Avid players of violent video games are likely to demonstrate an increase in aggressive behavior in their regular lives, according to a recent study. In addition, the video gamer community has experienced an uptick in hate speech and bigotry, while many games themselves are guilty of carrying on gender stereotypes.
A 2014 CBS News report cites a three-year study conducted by JAMA Pediatrics, which concluded that children who were highly exposed to violent video games were more likely to engage in aggressive behavior. The study’s subjects were between eight and 17 years old, and close to 75% of the subjects were boys.
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The aggressive behavior referred to in the study included a rise in violent fantasies, as well as an increase in attributing hostile motives to others. The study also found that the initial aggressiveness of the children was not a contributing factor in their observed changes in behavior.
The study’s co-author, Craig Anderson, said that violent video games couldn’t be considered as the sole reason for an increase in aggressiveness, but that there is evidence to believe they play a significant role in the behavioral change.
“At least one major reason aggressive behavior went up in children is because violent video games seemed to increase a child’s violent thought patterns,” Anderson said.
While Anderson noted that playing violent video games won’t “take a healthy kid who has a few other risk factors and turn him into a school shooter,” there have been multiple recent murders seemingly caused by such games.
In 2013, an 8-year-old Louisiana boy shot and killed his 90-year-old caretaker shortly after playing the violent Grand Theft Auto IV video game, in which players are awarded points for killing people.
Also in 2013, a New Mexico teenager killed his parents and three younger siblings after becoming upset at his mother. The teenager was unemotional when talking to authorities about the murders, but ‘perked up’ when discussing his love for violent video games.
Adam Lanza, the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter, was also allegedly obsessed with violent video games.
Women and sex featured as rewards, challenges, objects in gameplay tasks
Many violent video games are guilty of propagating the notion that women are sexual objects, or that their main purpose is to serve as sexual slaves for men.
Matthew Wysocki’s book, “Rated M for Mature,” cites some of these pornographic games, like God of War III, in which the player controls the Greek god Kratos and has a choice whether or not to have sex with the semi-nude goddess Aphrodite. If the player accepts the task, the camera pans to maidens, who observe the sexual encounter. If Kratos satisfies Aphrodite, the maidens become turned on, and if Kratos fails to satisfy her, the maidens frown and make funny remarks.
Wysocki also cites the game Bind Her, in which the sole task is to completely tie up and immobilize a nude woman, as well as the game Consensual Torture Simulator, in which the player uses various bondage and S&M tactics to punish a female slave until she cries, as other sex-based games.
Wysocki also links Nice Guy Syndrome, a belief that involves men thinking that if they are nice to women and meet their emotional needs they will be rewarded with sex, with the nonviolent video game Dragon Age: Origins.
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That game features a male protagonist trying to eventually date and have sex with various females by paying attention to them, giving them gifts, and choosing correct dialogue responses when in conversations with each female.
The Grand Theft Auto series is notorious for its depiction of women as sex objects ripe for the taking. The series came under fire in 2005 when hackers discovered an unreleased mini-game within Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas which allowed the main character to have sexual intercourse with his girlfriend.
These are just a few of the many violent, and in the case of games like Dragon Age: Origins, nonviolent video games that depict women as subservient and readily available for sex. It’s no wonder that the gamer community has a problem with misogyny.
One person who has made an impact in stopping misogyny in video games and the gamer community is Anita Sarkeesian. Sarkeesian received the Ambassador’s Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards in 2014 for creating a series of videos that challenged sexism and misogyny in gaming. However, the award ceremony’s organizers were threatened to be bombed if Sarkeesian was presented with the award.
Sarkeesian has received her fair share of threats from misogynist gamers. Sarkeesian herself has been sent images of her being raped by video game characters. Someone created a game called Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian, and Sarkeesian was forced to flee her home last August after a Twitter user posted her address and threatened to kill her.
Hate speech becoming more prevalent in violent online games
Another burgeoning problem in the gaming community is hate speech in online environments. Unsurprisingly, users playing violent games often make the hateful comments.
In 2012, comedian Sam Killermann started Gamers Against Bigotry, after being appalled by the amount of insensitive comments made by other players while he was playing violent games online.
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“My first time playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live…that was the first time I ever heard someone say the n-word during a video game,” Killermann said.
“It’s only gotten worse since then – or at least more common,” Killermann said.
However, Killermann’s website was bombarded with racial slurs and offensive images shortly after its debut.
The rise of hate speech during violent online video games was one of the hot topics at the 2014 Game Developers Conference. The conference, which previously had a reputation for being a technical-based event, added a panel on misogyny, racism, and homophobia in response to the growing bigotry in the online gaming community.
I thought u picked great major points to talk about. I've actually played most of these games you've talked about and learned a lot about things I may not have learned before. I thought you did a great job with the inverted pyramid. I think your main headline was pretty good, but you could have made it easier to read. Your first subhead was more of the same and was good but was hard to understand at first. The last subhead was very explanatory and made perfect sense right away and really intrigued me as soon as I read it. Good use of images within the paragraphs. Each picture went along great with what you were writing. The graph was hard to see. I'm not sure if it was my connection or if the graph is blurry. But once I looked into the graph really made it easy to understand. The contiguity of your writing was very good. I think it flowed very well and made it much easier to read. You also did a great job embedding links within your patagraghs.
ReplyDeleteI did a little bit more of research on this subject and I came up with more of the same data that you came up with. It says more of how violent video games have a direct correlation with aggressive behavior.http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/violent-video-games.aspx
Great job and Go Pack Go!