Video Game Violence vs. Societal Violence

by XiPPiLLi

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went to their high school, in Littleton, Colorado and killed 12 classmates and one teacher before turning their guns on themselves. The Columbine High incident raised a panic level already high in the United States, and, most would say, rightfully so. People realized then, if they hadn't already, that kids have access to guns and that the results can be grim. The Rocky Mountain News covered the incident in depth, reporting on August 22, 1999, "His [Eric Harris] nickname, Reb, was inspired by a character in one of his favorite computer games, Doom, where the goal is to score high body counts." The paper pointed out "one of the game's slogans: 'Doom -- where the sanest place is behind a trigger.'" It was widely publicized that police had found a videotape that showed either Harris or Klebold with a sawed-off shotgun on his lap that he called "Arlene"--a Doom reference.

People wanted answers, and as with any such incident of violence before or after Columbine, video games would take the heat until, if ever, people understood what actually went wrong. Harris was also on Luvox, an antidepressant, and was also rejected from the military--getting in apparently meant a lot to him, according to the Rocky Mountain News. But Doom gave the media a direct hit: Harris played Doom, he shot and killed people, therefore, Harris was influenced to team up with his friend and kill 13 people and themselves.

Video game violence is what this is about. Society and its higher influences believe that violent video games are the cause of violence in today's society. It's not the violent video games that influence violence in this society; its violence in this society that influences the violent video games and the creation thereof.

Midway released a video game on June 8th, 2004 called The Suffering, which included many characters based on various societal death penalties, such as the guillotine, firing squad, hanging, lethal injection, electrocution, and gas chamber. ASC Games published another popular video game on February 8th, 1998 called Grand Theft Auto, where you spend most of your time driving a little virtual car through city streets, collecting points for committing crimes. In society, the things that take notice the most are crimes that are committed. Whether it is from gang shootings or car theft, this game is clearly inspired by the society that consumes it.

In late 2003, a public interest group in Washington State made a word to describe the graphic depiction of brutal violence. Soon after, the media had only one word for violent video games across the world, now described as "Killographic". Cheesy perhaps, but going so far as to make up a new word in the English language to further stereotype all video games, they must be serious.

At the University of Rochester, research is being conducted on select "gamers." Research to determine the undisputed answer to the question: Do violent video games cause violence in society? It isn't surprising when the university reports such obvious facts such as "Two students competing against each other in a violent game act aggressively towards each other." With facts like that, there must be a very, very good reason to put out an attack on video games and their influence.

Effective since September 4th, 2002, the government of Greece has banned all computer games from the entire nation. This includes console, cell phone, and handheld games. With up to 3 months in prison including a 10,000? fine, the Greek government is making quite a heroic effort in humiliating its own nation.

In 2001, Circuit City has effectively banned the sale of M rated games to minors. Target, K-mart, and Wal-Mart have set up similar policies, while Montgomery Ward and Sears have agreed to stop selling games altogether. This is to support the argument that parents are the absolute primary authority as to what their kids play.

New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, parts of Europe, and several states within the United States have banned several of these `Killographic' games. It's hard to believe that several video games can actually desensitize kids, or to quote the news paper The Herald from Everett, WA, "Training children to kill."

On April 21, 2004, the entire nation of China has cleared its television airways of all video game television shows. All shows promoting video games have been officially cancelled.

The censorship influence also reaches Great Britain, where several popular titles have minor tweaks, such as green blood or inhuman sprites to act as victims.

HeraldNet, the online resource for Washington State's news resource "The Herald", made a comparison with video game logic, and the logic of that of a serial murderer's. Gary Ridgeway, confessed killer of at least 48 women, had given descriptions of his killings to the King County Sheriff's Dept that were so brutally descriptive, that the cover page warns that the report "...contains graphic and disturbing descriptions which may not be suitable for every reader." (The Herald)

Ridgeway remembered where he dumped bodies, how he planned his killings and tricked people into his traps, the descriptions of his many cars, and the floor plans of his several homes. He does not remember the faces or names of the 48 victims he admitted killing. In his words, "Like I said, they didn't mean anything to me."

The Herald reports that, "This is largely what some well known video games do. Make victims into something much less than human," and even "The video game scripts could be culled from Gary Ridgeway's confession. (The Herald)

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-XiP