Research Project 2nd Draft

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Ever since the first shooter games were released, they have used them as scapegoats to why anyone commit mass murder at any school. After such claims, research was funded to decide whether any of this was true or not, later these claims were proven false. But not only were they false, it was the complete opposite, violence was in fact at an all time low, going down by 40% since video games were first became popular. After the Sandy Hook shooting, these claims have risen once again.

These claims are made because everyone likes to point fingers or get rid of what they don’t like. So instead of find a what could’ve have really been the cause of the incidents, they just blame video games and move on. Video games are clearly not the cause of violence in children and there is no reason to try to ban video games for those under the age of 18.
It is unclear as of why people choose to blame video games for any violent acts carried out by others because they have nothing to gain by doing so. Christopher. J. Ferguson, believes  videogames should not be blamed for violence and makes this clear in his article, “Don’t Blame Videos Games For Real World-Violence” After the Virginia tech shooting, politicians and TV’s Dr.Phil stated videogames were one definite cause for this tragedy, “...TV’s Dr.Phil and politicians like Mitt Romney stated emphatically that video games were one cause of the tragedy. Later, in the official investigation, it emerged that the shooter did not play video games.” (Ferguson) Even after this, once the Sandy Hook shooting took place, scholars have still chosen to blame video game! “But even though we know little about Adam Lanza’s media use, and despite an absence of research linking video-game violence to societal violence or mass shootings, a number of scholars have drawn direct links between video games and the Sandy Hook event specifically.” (Ferguson) These claims are probably made because of their views and known information about video games, especially regarding what the media shows about videogames.

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Of course, there are people who disagree  that videogames are not scapegoats, but

really are the cause of violence in youth. Jack Thompson is no friend of gamers, oftenly referring to them as “knuckleheads” and even going so far to say that video games are “mental masturbation”. Alongside Jack Thompson is Dr.Phill McGraw who appeared on Larry King Live to discuss a recent tragedy, “The problem is we are programming these people as a society. You cannot tell me common sense tells you that if these kids are playing video games, where they’re on a mass killing spree in a video game, it’s glamorized on the big screen, it’s become part of the fiber of our society. You take that and mix it with a psychopath, a sociopath, or someone suffering from mental illness and add in a dose of rage, the suggestibility is too high. And we’re going to have to start dealing with that.” (Dr. Phill McGraw) Later, The Washington Post made an article addressing the shooting where scholars claimed the shooter had been a fan of video games, then later removed this when his suite-mate told the investigators that he never saw the shooter play video games on his computer. Even after everything Thompson said was shown to be wrong, he still said, “This is not rocket science. When a kid who has never killed anyone in his life goes on a rampage and looks like the Terminator, he’s a video gamer.” (Thompson) then sent a letter to Bill Gates stating, “Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable for the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill.” (Thompson) Thompson is clearly using videos games as a scapegoat, and still chooses to deny all evidence that goes against his belief.

In another article, Kevin Schut talks about videogames and that they don’t cause violence in children. Later in the article he clearly shows his opinion on the whole thing, “Of course, ending a digital life is not the same as ending a physical one...When gamers go violent in the

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physical world, there’s almost certainly something else going on there. Millions of gamers play violent games, and most do not engage in seriously violent actions. Destruction games are certainly arousing, but to be honest, even chess can have that effect. Competition of any kind can get out blood boiling.” (Schut) As previously stated, any competition of any type can anger you, it doesn’t have to be videogames and can be so much as a friendly game of tag. If anyone ever gets the urge to commit any violent act, they clearly have some type of mental problem.

John Hinderaker also realizes the problems of trying to ban videogames, not for the reason that most people believe, but for reasons of his own, “I think the world would be a better place, and a safer place, without violent video games. But I don’t want to ban them, not only because they are constitutionally protected-that could change- but because only a criminal is responsible for his crime. If we start regulating all the influences to which we think the demented may be subject, there will be no room left for freedom.” (Hinderaker) John makes a very good point here, even if his notion that videogames make the world more violent has been proven false by studies, it is true that not everything should be restricted just because a few mentally-ill people can or may not become violent because of it.

While most people steer to one side or the other on the videogame debate, Richard Rende is currently studying the effects of videogames on the behavior of children and teens and has decided there is no definite answer to this question, “This seemingly simple question does not have a simple answer.” (Rende) There can be many attributes to anyone’s behavior such as environmental effects, event effects, etc. So Rende is correct, there is no definite answer to the question of videogames causing violence.

Sources Used:

“Were video games to blame for for massacre” NBCNews. NBCNews.com, 20 April. 2007. Sat. 9 Mar. <http://goo.gl/Z75b6>
“Don’t blame video games for real-word violence.” Chronicle. Chronicle.com, 10 Jan. 2013. Sun. 10 Mar. <http://goo.gl/YIGgl>
“Do video Games Cause Violence?” Relevant. relevantmagazine.com, 20 Feb. 2013. Mon. 11 Mar. <http://goo.gl/YdyMN>
“What about banning violent video games?” Neo-Neocon. neoneocon.com, 12 Jan. 2013. Mon. 11 Mar. 2013. <http://goo.gl/OwFpD>
“Does Playing Violent video Games Cause Violence?” Parents. Parents.com, 25 Jan. 2013. Mon. <http://goo.gl/0JGwD>

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While everyone points fingers to what causes what, Jason Della Rocca looks at past events and the reactions of the people who experienced it. Apparently a lot of what we have now has been where videogames are now. Jazz, movies, paintings, comics, you name it. It’s all been
blamed and used as a scapegoat for what causes what, “People are essentially feeding off the fears of those who don’t understand games.” (Rocca) This shows that for whatever reason, someone blamed a problem on anything that would make sense at first, for their own personal gain, or maybe out of confusion and anger.

It’s quite clear that the blame game will linger on videogames for quite some time and until the next victim is chosen for this blame game, video games will be blamed for anything and everything that included any type of violence.