Does Violence in Video Games Contribute to Real Life Violence?

The connection between video game and real world violence gets more attention with every passing month. Given that the video gaming industry is now larger than even the film industry in terms of revenue, this is not surprising. Add to this the too-frequent horrors of young people killing themselves or other people "because of a game" and public outcry is bound to be encouraged. As someone who has grown up with a profound love of gaming and who has also experienced many of the negative aspects, I feel it may be time to offer an opinion. The question here is not whether the games are to blame, but whether they contribute significantly to the violence.

For the moment, little psychological proof has been obtained. This is not surprising as such research takes a great deal of time and psychology is one of the most complex arts to manage - we're all such a mess of emotions that it's virtually impossible to make any sweeping statements. Nor is this in any way a derogatory comment: there is simply too little solid evidence to make a proper judgement at the moment. Until such time as someone very smart comes up with a way to measure the effects of such things, we are left with opinion and common sense to guide us.

When I was young (and dinosaurs roamed the Earth), the media were less sensationalist than they are now. Television and print news was concerned primarily with reporting important world events rather than seeking out the most offensive, shocking and disturbing stories possible. It is an undeniable fact that the world has changed a great deal over the last thirty years or so and our children are now watching Japanese anime, Batman in his Dark Knight reincarnation and MTV rather than the light, gentle programmes with which I was enamoured as a youngling. Yet, looking at the deeper changes in society rather than the surface effects can perhaps provide some insight.

The main difference I notice as an adult watching children play and hearing them talk on their way home from school is the way that the virtual and real worlds have moved closer. As children and adolescents, our imaginations are wild, unchained things, easily flitting from subject to subject, creating whole worlds of adventure with scenes worthy of any modern film. I think there are probably very few adults of my generation who didn't at some time tie their coat around their neck, pretend it was a cape and become Superman for an hour or two! However, the remarkable difference for me is in the manner of imagining, not the content.

I was lucky to grow up in a family with solid moral values, encouragement to read as well as play and a firm grounding in reality. This may have been because my parents were of an earlier generation than most or it may simply have been their psychological make-up. I don't know for sure. What I do know is that it was always very clear that there was a real and important difference between what happened between a book's covers or behind the illuminated screen of the TV (or monitor) and what was outside the front door. I played role-playing games with my brothers and friends as well - the previous target of frequent blame for increased violence in youngsters - but they never had a problem with this, despite my father being very religious. They understood that it was a creative form and passed this understanding to us. This is where, personally, I feel we have failed the younger generation as parents or as a society as a whole.

Quite some time ago, I remember reading an article about a school where they had decided to teach children "television grammar". The teachers had realised that more and more children were having difficulty distinguishing between the "reality" they saw on television and actual reality. With kids spending significantly more time in front of a screen, they had decided that it would be a good idea to actually educate an entire generation on the differences, the way television programs were written and the reasons why most programmes should be seen as entertainment and not life guidance.

And so, with that example, I come full circle: I do not personally believe that the violence in video games can be blamed for increased violence in youngsters. It is, without a doubt, a contributing factor, but no more significant than many others. I believe that the main cause of such disturbing occurences is that our society as a whole has failed to educate its children on the correct way to behave in real life and has left them to learn as best they can from the images that come into our homes through the screen of the TV and computer.