Violence in Video Games

JUST A QUICK NOTE BEFORE YOU START!
The book I referenced is "Grand Theft Childhood" by Cheryl Kutner and Lawrence Olsen.
All links are going to be green and underlined (once again, Blogger screws me up!), since goodness knows that Blogger can't show links in preview mode, it will be easier for me. This is an example of a link (It will take you to the Pittcat system, where you can checkout the book I just mentioned). Anyhow let's start!

To be honest, we all knew this was coming (even if it was in the back of your mind). I would make a post about violence in video games. I believe that in class Dr. Justus said not to do it, but I decided to do it anyhow. Why am I still going to do it?

1. I have used this same exact topic for several papers and presentations.
2. I have done both sides of the story, so I could easily construct the exact opposite of this paper.
3. Video games and violence is a hot button issue, but we have replaced video games with Isis/Terrorist groups. (I am focusing strictly on incidents before Isis had gained prominence).

We are not even going to start off by talking about video games this time! I would actually like to draw your attention to an indie film from this year, Hardcore Henry (As much as I would love to put it in here, I will just link to it since it has an age restriction). This film is considered by me to be a "Concept film", as it is filmed entirely in first person. (Yes, Cloverfield did come out earlier, but this is completely first person) This revolves around a hero named Henry, whom is awoken by his wife Estelle in a cryogenic lab (which is floating in the sky (and already we can not take the film seriously)). Unfortunately, the bad guy Akan comes in just as Henry is getting his vocal module, revealing that he is funding Estelle's research, and is about to start killing people. Henry escapes the lab, and becomes the target of a manhunt. This is only the beginning to a 90 minute festival of action. I would also like to mention that you only should watch this if the concept sounds interesting (Enough about the synopsis, onto the juicy stuff!).

So, how violent can it be? For one thing, the action and gore is relatively over-the-top, and is not intended to be a shock. However, there are quite a few moments that gave me a decent shock (and I will refer to these events with a second person perspective):

1. Part of your arm is revealed to have a tracker, and it is removed with pliers.

2. You rip an enemy's heart out, and using pliers, you take a device off of the top.

3. Said device is inserted onto your heart.

4. A guard is held hostage by squeezing his nose with pliers. 

5. You squeeze (and pop) a cop's testicle as he is about to rape a girl.

6. A man with a flamethrower sets your vehicle alight. 

7. You steal clothes from a skinny dipper.

8. You rip open a body cavity and steal some batteries, which are put into your body.

9. You inject yourself with 2 adrenaline shots (Simultaneously).

10. You write "EZ" on a wall with your own blood.

11. You slam a door on a girl in a helicopter.
12. You nearly fall out of a sky laboratory.

That's one way to get their attention

Why did I make the list in a second person perspective? Look at the list from the first and third person perspective. The film specifically immerses "you" (we refer to "you" as a noun in this paragraph) into Henry. All that you know is that you are named Henry and you are a male. "You" don't even get a voice (In one scene, "you" accidentally grunt after nearly falling from a building)! "You" (last time "you" are used as a noun) become Henry when you watch the film! In my opinion, using "You" as an example is simply effective because it sets the immersive tone, making you feel like this is not just a film, but an immersive experience.

 In my opinion, this film tests the limit of how much violence a "R" film gets before it becomes "NC-17". But am I here to talk about films? No! This is just a film that I feel like illustrates violence very well! I could just have easily cited a first person shooter, but you get no control over the character in Hardcore Henry, as if though you are the one who is disillusioned and goes on a blind rage. In first person shooters, the most you get is the ability to move around, shoot, and interact with objects. But now, onto video games. I actually will divide this up into 3 different sections for you guys. Violence in video games, my temper, and video game violence with a connection to mass shootings.

Violence in video games: 

Once again, we divide this up into 3 categories: Violence for fun, Violence as a story telling device, Violence a shock factor.

Violence for fun:

One of my favorite games to play when I am bored is "Crazy Taxi". The concept is that you are a taxi driver, and you drive passengers to their destination as fast as possible. This involves daring stunts, such as weaving and bobbing through traffic, drift maneuvers (like in a go kart racing game), jumping over traffic, off-road driving, cutting through parking lots, and pretty much any other thing that would fail your driver's license exam (road portion). Instead of penalizing you for these maneuvers, the game actually rewards you for these, and provided you do not crash your car, you can get a large tip. If you take too long, the customer will lower your tip or jump out.

Why is this violent? If you ever did any of these things on a road, you risk killing yourself and other people, your car would need extensive/expensive repairs, and the cops would probably skip the ticket and send you to the police station.

The taxi driver was probably high

Another game I like booting up from time to time is Grand Theft Auto, where players are given the option to go on rampages as they wish, and can be started up by just about anything. Rob a convenience store, cause a traffic hold up, stalk girls, or straight up murder civilians/cops (the list is far longer). Depending on the severity of the offense, players will get a wanted level, indicating how badly the cops want you gone. Wanted levels can be escalated provided your actions give the cops a harder time or you commit even more offenses. There are 2 ways to escape. Getting killed/arrested, or hiding (such as in the underground sewage system).

Why is this violent (with this game, the question is completely redundant)? The title of the game is "Grand Theft Auto". That is the crime of vehicle theft. As if this was not enough proof, you get to kill anyone, infiltrate military bases, perform torture, steal large quantities of money, and just about any other criminal activity you desire!

Let's try that rampage again!

Why I do this: Sometimes, I just feel better when I unleash my temper in a game, where there are no real-life consequences.

Violence as a story telling device:

I only bothered to choose one example, since for this category, one example is actually plenty.
Said example is "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2". If you scroll back a few posts to my top 10 games, this actually made the number 5 position on my list.
Let me give you a quick rundown of 3 events.

1. You partake in a terrorist attack in Russia, and thanks to your participation, the USA gets dragged into a war with Russia.

Suddenly, I feel like doing the mannequin challenge.

2. You retrieve valued evidence, but a rogue general loots and torches you.

Because Lego is the only good way to find a good photo without having to embed another video.

The third event is actually from the first Modern Warfare, where a nuclear bomb obliterates 30,000 soldiers. This ties into the second event, as the rogue general was intending to take vengeance personally.

From this game is one quote that summarizes the importance of war, and makes me realize all of the violence of the game was necessary:
"This is for the record. History is written by the victor. History is filled with liars. If he lives, and we die, his truth becomes written - and ours is lost." -John Price (or whoever wrote the lines for Modern Warfare 2.)

Violence as a Shock Factor:

Has your Mom ever walked in on you playing a violent video game? My mom has walked in on me playing "Dying Light", in the middle of slaying zombies (she had intentions to vacuum). I decided to have decency and pause the game while she was vacuuming in the room, as the game was considerably gory. "But it's just zombies!" "Well, at least turn off the screen if this is what you to want ruin your brain!" She has a fair point. Just because it is zombies it does not suddenly become excusable. Same thing goes for Doom and Wolfenstein with their Demons and Nazis! Germany did not take well to either of the games, temporarily banned the first two Doom installments (But Bethesda convinced them to lift the ban, as well as get the 2016 "Doom" into Germany uncensored) and as any intelligent human being would assume, they have also completely banned Wolfenstein up until a heavily edited version  of  "The New Order". The expansion pack, "The Old Blood" was edited similarly (They actually supposedly did not have a problem with violence against Nazis, but instead, Germany is very sensitive about the Swastikas being used). 

Going back to the subject of your Mother, sometimes, violence is exploited. Look at this advertising campaign for "Dead Space 2", where EA showed a focus group of mothers Dead Space 2 game-play, and recorded their reactions. Click here if you want to view the reactions.

My temper

This will be discussing my temper during video games. I have gone as far as to scream at other people in the room, slam my feet on the floor, throw controllers, kick walls, and even throw phones. All of this is thanks to our friend frustration! Do you recall the Friday where we went down to the zone to play games for our class? No? That was because you skipped class (your loss, you payed for that class)! While we were on the racing cabinets, I was relatively frustrated. You could easily see me white-knuckling the steering wheel, and almost kicking the wall above the pedals. Why is this? Some people/AI were getting unfair advantages, such as side-slamming me, and even using my car as a launch pad! Not all of this is their fault, as sometimes things will happen like I miss a shortcut (or my car slams onto the edge of a shortcut), or my car might land a jump backwards (and correcting a botched jump landing costs me enough time to push me from first to last). Even when I am at home, I am guilty of cursing at siblings due to lag, slamming controllers after having moments of "But I shot first!!!", flipping the bird for just about any reason, or even force quitting matches where I am at an obvious disadvantage. Why do these? No one likes to lose, and everyone has a temper. 

In fact, the game you play does not matter. This morning, I was trying to play Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare online, and failed miserably at getting more than 3 kills in a match. Out of rage, I flipped the bird, and decided to quit to a better game, Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed (good Mario Kart alternative). Everything was fine, except I could never finish one track in first place (courtesy of a shortcut near the end which I can not nail, but the AI always pulls flawlessly). I tried at least 13 times. Once again, I expressed my anger using nothing but one finger (This contains a middle finger gesture from a cartoon, but if you are offended by finger #3 or #8 in the air, don't click on it).

Video games and mass shootings

Adam Lanza (Sandy Hook shooting): Spent a good deal of his time playing computer games, a speculative theory claims Lanza was looking to top the Norwegian Labour Party incident.

Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold (Colombine Highschool shooting): Were into several first person shooters at the time of the rampage. (I get the idea that we should not cite wikipedia or wikias. However, this has a good deal of valuable information.)

Anders Behring Breivik (Norwegian Labour Party shooting): Used "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" to train himself for shooting. When in prison,  he started a hunger strike after being refused a Playstation 3 and suitable games.

Michael Carneal (Heath High School shooting): Used a method of only shooting each person once, as he had done in video games to optimize his score (which explains how he hit 8 students with the 8 bullets he had, but only killed 3). (Kutner & Olson, 193-195)

Dylann Storm Roof (Charleston Church shooting): Dropped out of high school to have more time for video gaming.

Evan Ramsey (Bethel Regional High School shooting): Claims "Doom" altered his perception of reality (How easy it is kill in real life, compared to a video game).

Common video game franchises among 13-year-old children

Boys:
Grand Theft Auto
Madden NFL
Halo
NBA
Tony Hawk
NCAA
Need for Speed
ESPN
Medal of Honor
The Lord of the Rings

Girls:
The Sims
Grand Theft Auto
Super Mario Brothers
Tycoon games
Mario
Solitaire
Tony Hawk
Dance Dance Revolution
Mario Kart
Frogger

Among the boys, one theme that the researchers noticed was that several of the games had a complex plot (Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Medal of Honor, The Lord of the Rings). However, since these are 13-year-old children in question, it is more likely that they are playing to release their violence. This was a poll from 2004, and at the time, these were the common franchises. If we were to conduct a similar poll today, we would get far different results (Minecraft and "Call of Duty" would certainly appear). Apart from Grand Theft Auto, it appears that a trend among girls is playing games for the sake of playing games (and today, we would likely get a load of mobile games such as Candy Crush). (Kutner & Olsen, 91-92)

What is my conclusion? 

Does playing Madden make you an NFL player? No.
Does playing Portal make you a lab rat? No.
Does playing Sonic suddenly make me a talking animal with super speed? No.
Does playing Rock Band transform you into the world's best musician? No.
Does playing Mirror's Edge give me the ability to run on walls? No.
Does playing Uncharted make me a treasure hunter? No.
Does playing Grand Theft Auto make me a criminal? No.
Does playing Call of Duty (or any other military themed shooter) make you a soldier? No.

I GET THE POINT!!

Violence in video games is a release valve for pressures in life. Remember when I mentioned about Breivik threatening a hunger strike due to having only a Playstation 2? He also complained about only being given games like "Rayman". Apparently, other inmates were getting more mature games. This man would only settle for a violent game. This is the only killer I will link directly to video games. He was trained by games, and demanded games while incarcerated. The other incidents had video games as contributing factors.

Let's conclude with this: Violence in real life being caused by video games? It's an afterthought. It is possible that video games can cause violence. What part causes the violence? The desensitization. I shoot thousands of living organisms (monsters, animals, humans) each year. If there is anything that is causing violence today, it would be extremists, but that issue is absolutely nothing I feel is needed/appropriate to be discussed on this blog. I do not mean to cause any controversy. I hope if you take away just one thing from reading this, it is that violence is essential to games. Games are not essential for violence.

-Jacob Bacci

You can find the works cited page here