Shall we prohibit violent video games?
Sunny Huang
(Please read this essay critically.)
The
potentially dangerous effect of video games on causing violent behaviour,
particularly among children, has long been the focal point of many popular
media. This article outlines that violence evolves through human history, and
it is rooted in our male-dominated society. By comparing with the horror film,
the essay also discusses the motivation of playing violent video games in
modern society. Then it argues that it may be fallacious to build the causal
relationship between exposure to violent video games and violent crime based on
laboratorial researches. Following from that, a criminal case study has been
introduced to inspect the environmental factor and the inner power behind the
real violence. Finally, the essay justifies that the negative concern of video
games can be defined as ‘moral panic’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p.331) and more
attention should be paid to the society itself rather than the video games.
Violence is
our tradition. The connection between violence and games is a recurrent issue
in human’s society. Since ancient Greek, violence has long been seen to be
embedded in at least two forms: war and
games, or war and sports. In some cases, sports and games are the same
activities, and full of warlike character, particularly after 776 B.C. when the
Olympic Games were traditionally founded (Miller 2004, p.2). Cornell (n.d.,
p.31) addresses, in Greek and Roman antiquity, ‘boxing has always been a brutal
activity, and in earlier ages bouts fought to a finish – that is, until one of
the fighters gave in, or was reduced to complete exhaustion or knocked
senseless’(Cornell, n.d., p.31). The gladiatorial games in Roman culture also
indicate its essence of ‘warlike entertainment’ through ‘brutality of the arena
and the cruel practices of Roman war-making’ (Cornell, n.d., p.34). Even Rome
has conquered Greek; the Romans still use the arena to keep an atmosphere of
violence by creating artificial battlefields for public amusement (Cornell,
n.d., p.34).
To
understand why our culture has embraced violence so much, a few factors must be
pointed out. Firstly, in a male-dominated society, to remain the masculinity
seems to have been favoured as the top priority, particularly in American
culture. And the masculinity is best
shown via the exercise of power either through idea or through force to conquer,
which is ‘the use of violence to get others to do what they want’ (Long &
Wall 2009, pp. 276 - 295). Cornell (n.d., p.29) also stresses, ‘both war and
sport have had an important social function as mechanisms for male bonding, for
the social construction of masculinity, and in reinforcing and perpetuating
male domination’. Secondly, competitive spirit has been penetrated into every
corner of civil life since ancient Greek; both the battle and the brutal game
were categorized to be competitive game with character of ‘agonistic spirit’ (Cornell,
n.d., p.33). When the purpose is to win whatever a victory, or a prestige, the
mean might be extreme. What we
can interpret from such history is that violence plays a dominant role through
human’s evolution; the major difference is only the form.
By comparing with watching horror films, we can also understand
the motivation of playing violent video games. Zillmann (Oliver & Sander
2004) and his team conducted a research on why the horror film holds the top
level of appeal among dating couples and romantic partners, and the result
helps to explain what the violent RPG player might be looking for:
…that gender-role
socialization, particularly as it relates to the expression of emotions, has
historically encouraged bravado and fearlessness among males, and encouraged
empathy and emotional responding among females. While historic times may have
offered ample opportunity for males to play the role of “protector” and females
to show dependence on males for protection, modern times are fortunately
relatively lacking in horrific or violent situations that would allow for these
stereotypical gender-role behaviours. Consequently, exposure to fictional
fears, such as viewing a horror film in the theatre, can serve as a substitute
that allows males and females to enact these gendered behaviours of “protector”
and “protected”, respectively.
(Oliver & Sander 2004, p.248)
Modern society is a highly “organized” system which might
lack of the hero being identified in Homeric poems, in which ‘the heroes are
engaged in an incessant competition for honour and prestige both on and off the
battlefield’ (Cornell, n.d., p.32). Entertainment somehow reflects what we are
after in reality. To say it’s kind of nostalgia for modern people to experience
‘primitive instinct’ through either watching horror film or playing violent video
games, might be exaggerated, but to some extents, it is like ‘catharsis’ (Mary
Beth, 2004. p.247), also it is zero risk due to the violence in video game is
safer than that in real world. Another analysis is captured in Gee’s
description (2005, p.27) by using the example of game “Castlevania”:
Each of us human beings has
a unique trajectory through life… Castelvania is a little second life, much
safer, saner, more ordered, and more understandable than real life. The game
offers the pleasure of making a life – of a making our own trajectory (but a
virtual-real one) – without the fears and pains.
(Gee 2005, p. 27)
Despite such pleasure is widely accepted
by game players, scholars, through laboratorial research, examines that playing
violent video games, particularly among kids, will increase the chances of dangerous
behaviour or even commit criminal behaviour through the harmful ‘wishful
identification’, such as ‘I wish I were a warrior’ and ‘because in this game
you can override people, kill people and shoot people, and I want to do that
too’, etc. (Konijn, Bijvank & Bushman 2007, p.1043). However, this kind of
‘wishful identification’ is not
compelling enough to be attributed to the cause of violent criminal
behaviour in real world. C J Ferguson et al. (2008, pp.311 -332) has specified
that the crux of the argument is to identify whether human’s behaviour is
transformed into violent action because of exposure to violent video games, not
merely being aroused or imagining violent scene.
According to
the general aggression model in Bushman & Anderson’s 2002 study (Ferguson,
CJ et al. 2008, p. 314), exposure to violent video contents such as video games
generates the ‘aggressive cognitive scripts’ (Ferguson, CJ et al 2008, p. 314) automatically
saved in human’s memory thus individual will rely on such scripts to provoke
aggressive behaviour. The hypothesis of this passive model is originated from
the social learning theories and to exclude other influences including genetic,
personality and family environment and assumes no one is able to immune to the
violent stimuli (Ferguson, CJ et al 2008, p. 314). This model implies that the
exposure to violent media reaching certain threshold may cause violent behaviour.
A more
dynamic model called “the catalyst model” is introduced by CJ Ferguson et al. (2008,
p.314-315) as an alternative theory relying more on biological motivation. CJ
Ferguson et al. argue that genetic factor shapes children’s personality
together with the environmental factors such as family violence, etc. (Ferguson,
CJ et al 2008). This model explains:
…individuals who have an aggressive personality are more
likely to engage in violent behaviour during times of environmental strain.
Thus, although the environment does not cause violence propensity, times of
stress may act as catalysts for violent acts for an individual already prone to
them. Such environmental strains could include financial and social problems
caused by divorce, legal troubles, and similar events.
(Ferguson,
CJ et al. 2008, pp.314-315)
If we follow
this track, we will agree that there are actually many factors correlated to
the violent behaviour; The media violent plays as catalysts merely when an
individual already lives in the ‘violence proneness’, the typical result is
this individual may imitate those violent actions in the video games; CJ Ferguson
et al. (2008, p.315) draw the robust conclusion that ‘video game violence does
not cause violent behaviour but may have an impact on its form’.
An appalling
but also heart-broken atrocity like Columbine massacre in 1999 could be an
example to further the analysis here. Popular media may blame violent video
games because one of the two killers, Erich Harris, used to be a fan of violent
game Doom. But given that there are
many other underlying reasons may have effect on violent behaviour, such as,
the culture of discrimination and favouritism in Columbine High School causing
bullying and revenge; the
personality issue that Erich might be an either sociopath or a psychopath
(Marsico 2011), so the accusation to violent video games seems not to be
convincing enough.
Both Eric
and Dylan used to be quite active kids in Columbine High School at spare time,
but later on each of them professed in
the journal with such expression ‘the lonely man strikes with absolute rage’. Despite
the victimisation is not worth to be sympathized, one can still sense from the
above claims that the violent behaviour is actually kind of last cry for help,
although from two desperate boys. Columbine High School is a ‘place of cliques
and the athletes were the biggest, toughest group’ (Marsico 2011, p.17). A clique-filled school environment might
be worse than a broken family particularly for teenagers who are always
striking for identifying themselves at this critical stage, because they
eventually need to fit in the society. Also the loneliness caused by social isolation,
or even philosophical depression would be the much deeper and powerful motivation
to push the people over the edge and none of these motivations come from
violent video games. Funk (1982) analyses as following:
All isolation is experienced as a threat to vital interests
and produce anxiety. Resistance to such anxiety normally provokes an aggressive
attitude toward the threatening objects, and if this attitude is not overcome
(as, for example, when such objects turn toward the individual with love), the
individual develops an inclination toward destructiveness that becomes constant
and governs all his relations to life.
(Funk
1982, p.41-42)
We might
have to arrive at an understanding of a relatively neutral perspective on human
nature, that is, human was born with certain primitive power. During the process of socialization also civilization,
the initial power may end up with two different orientations, one is
successfully achieving self-actualization, which is constructive; and another
way turns out to be the destructive power due to the frustration encountered.
This has been elaborated by Funk (1982) as following:
…it is only through the productive orientation in the process
of assimilation and socialization that an individual can realize the
possibilities and capacities that lie dormant within. Productive relatedness to
the world simultaneously implies and evokes the individual’s relatedness to
himself and to others and is an essential factor in the process of
individuation.
(Funk
1982, p. 37)
In Columbine massacre case, Erich Harris’ dream in real world
was about to enlist in US Marine Corps but then he was rejected. His
real dream is not about being a killer as any prototype in violent video games,
although he confessed in his journal that he only had “hatred”, but at least he
does not hate to be a marine. In fact, both the bullying from school and the
rejection from US Marine Corps symbolize frustration in real world; People like
Erich Harris who certainly possesses more inner power and a young heart without
experience to tackle frustration, will only choose extreme way. Hodge (2011, p.
6) argues that ‘violent rivalry is used to fill the hole created by the human
inability to pacifically come to terms with the other, resulting in a violent
mechanism that builds distorted identity’. Apparently, if Erich is lucky, his
life path might follow a productive orientation to actualize his dream. By
contrast, only when Erich cannot make the real dream come true, he then turns
to those destructively fantasy dream which might have been rehearsed many times
in violent video games – to execute his killing spree.
But to most
of people, what a game, even a violent game, offers is an escape from routine
life, but being a sensation seeker does not necessarily mean being a violent
seeker in real world. People will be interested in looking for unusual,
extraordinary experience in game world, and the line between virtual violence
and real violence still remains very clear. Holm Sorensen and Jessen assessed
(Goldstein 2005, p.345) that Danish Kids were capable of drawing the line
between fantasy and reality:
The children in the investigation, including the youngest who
were five years old, are fully aware and can account for the difference between
computer games as fiction and computer games as reality...It is also important
that this exact feature [interactivity], which is usually described as a
problem in relation to violent computer games – the fact that the player
himself must conduct violent deeds – actually makes children aware that their
actions take place in a fictitious universe. For children, computer games are
in fact “games” with their own rules. From an early age, they are aware that
these rules do not apply outside the realm of the game, with the exception that
children can include elements and rules from the games in their play.
(Holm
Sorensen & Jessen 2000, cited in Goldstein 2005, p.345)
Immersing in
the game world looks like being an actor or actress in the movie, when the game
(acting) is over, most of people are able to know it’s time to go home for
either cooking dinner or doing homework, being a mafia or an assassin for 45
minutes or so only means a 45 minutes escape from a probably boring daily life.
And this is supposed to be the function of entertainment. The key point here is
how to educate people to play video games critically and reflectively (Gee
2005, p.5).
Actually, the
fear to the popularity of video
games can be related to ‘moral panic’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p.331). McRobbie
and Thornton (1995, p.561 - 562) emphasizes that authorities always want to
ensure that there is a functional leadership from government body by
intervening the sphere of public opinion through acting as moral guardians.
However, such panic ‘is tempting to conclude that a difficult problem is caused
by an easily remedied issue’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p. 331). With regard to
crime issue, Gee (2005, p.5) argues that the 20th century was less violent than
the 19th century, back then when we actually did not have any video games to
play. Cornell (n.d., pp.29-40) also notes that ‘when the gladiatorial games
were at the height, the Roman world was largely at peace and the spectators in
the arena had no direct experience of war or military service’. Gee(2005, p.5)
suggests that the more efficient way to lower violence is to care more about
those contexts ranging from family issue to social or cultural conflict rather
than monitoring kids getting excited for video games.
As CJ
Ferguson et al. (2008, p. 331) summarise, ‘yet one generation’s violent media
becomes the next generation’s literature, and our fundamental biology, innately
aggressive as it sometimes may be, continues.’ If such a conclusion based on
human instinct sounds too desperate, we absolutely can condemn the malfunction
of entertainment to seek any possible solution in society, but before that, we need
to reflect on our education, parenting, policy making and value system, as entertainment
production is merely the mirror of real world, it should not become the
scapegoat. (END)
*This is my school assignment.
References:
Cornell, TJ
n.d., ‘On War and Games in the Ancient World’, Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research, pp. 29-40.
Ferguson,
CJ, Rueda, SM, Cruz, AM, Ferguson, DE, Fritz, S & Smith, SM 2008, ‘Violent video games and aggression:
causal relationship or byproduct of family violence and intrinsic violence motivation?’,
Criminal Justice and Behaviour, American Association for Correctional and
Forensic Psychology, vol.35, no.3, pp. 311 – 332.
Funk, R
1982, Erich Fromm: the courage to be
human, Continuum, New York.
Gee, JP
2005, Why video games are good for your
soul: pleasure and learning, Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltd., Australia.
Goldstein, J
2005, ‘Violent Video Games’, in Joost Raessens and Jeffrey Goldstein eds., Handbook of Computer Game Studies, The MIT
Press, Cambridge, MASS. & London, pp. 341 -- 357.
Hodge, J
2011, ‘Why do humans commit violence?’, Compass,
vol. 45, no.3, pp. 3 – 12.
Konijn, EA,
Bijvank, MN & Bushman, BJ 2007, ‘I wish I were a warrior: the role of
wishful identification in the effects of violent video games on aggression in
adolescent boys’, Development Psychology,
American Psychological Association, vol. 43, no. 4, pp. 1038 – 1044.
Long, P
& Wall, T 2009, ‘Media power’, Media
Studies: Texts, Production and Context, Pearson Education, Harlow, pp. 276
– 295.
Marsico , K
2011, The columbine high school massacre:
murder in the classroom, Marshall Cavendish, New York.
McRobbie, A
& Thornton, SL 1995, ‘Rethinking
‘moral panic’ for multi-mediated social worlds’, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 559-574.
Miller, SG
2004, Ancient Greek Athletics, Yale University, U.S.
Oliver, MB
& Sander, M 2004, ‘The appeal of horror and suspense’, The Horror Film. Ed. By Stephen Prince. New Brunswick: Rutgers Up,
pp. 242 – 259.
No comments:
Post a Comment