Do Video Games Incite Violence?

THE PROBLEM

Video games and real life violence have been topics of scrutiny in the public eye since the release of Death Race in 1975. Death Race’s gameplay was the first in the new medium to feature virtual human death as the way to win the game, with each person the player successfully runs over giving the player points. Parents rose up in arms, terrified that the violent manner of the game would cause children who played it to become violent themselves and they called for the game to be pulled off of the shelves. Psychologists claimed that they believed that a violent video game would serve to desensitize players, therefore increasing physical violence and bringing out the worst in people. In the end, the controversy only served to increase sales and the popularity of Death Race.

This conversation and controversy has resurfaced countless times over the course of video game history. There is a lot of emotionally charged rhetoric out there for both sides, and both arguments have convincing points, but it’s rare to find a person who has gone out and read through the case studies and science that has been conducted to find out the truth of the psychology behind these games.

To people who don’t play video games, they can look terrifying and gory from the outside, and with games like Grand Theft Auto, you can’t really blame the people worried for their effect on society. And when “rage quitting” and toxic communities have been normalized in the gaming community, it becomes even more difficult to excuse video games as completely harmless. On the other side of the controversy sit the gamers themselves, the ones who are adamant to insist that virtual violence is completely different from the real thing and there’s no mistaking the two. You can shoot people in a video game and still be a totally functioning, sane member of society.

WHERE’S THE TRUTH?

So, which one is right? For our answer, we have to look to psychology to see how perceived violence in media affects the brain. In a case study done by Whitney DeCamp and Christopher J. Ferguson, they found proof of correlation, not causation. This case study shows that video games sometimes do show increased rates of agitation, but these were found to be statistically insignificant and are not driving people to physical violence. Home dysfunction, stress, and mental illness have shown a stronger influence over a person’s violent compulsions. This means that while video games may increase stress hormones and adrenaline, they only make people angry in the moment; video games do not create killers.

We have to keep in mind that although there have been studies done, video games as a medium as still new to our society, and science is constantly evolving as well as our understanding of the human brain. New research may be released in the future that completely invalidates this data, and therefore, my assertion. However, these case studies are the most accurate insight we have into human psychology right now, and it’s important that we listen to them. I’m not an expert. But there are many out there who are; listen to our scientists and psychologists. They don’t blame video games for violence in our society; neither should we.