VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

Karla Rios
English
04/07/2012
VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR
If art imitates reality, at what point does it need to stop? Video games may appear to be
positive because they can improve a players manual skills and computer knowledge, and the
technology may also brings better graphics that give a more vivid virtual experience. However,
it can be more harmful than entertaining. There are many video games that show improper
content that increases crime and violence amongst teens, aggressive behavior, and an increase in
sexual activity. There should be a stop for these kids to be exposed to inappropriate games by
creating stricter video game regulations. Through numerous studies, I am convinced that video
games can desensitize gamers and can cause adverse social behaviors to develop.
One of the most controversial effects of video games is that it promotes violence and
crime amongst the youth. Several major evaluations on violent or aggressive video games by
groups such as The Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health, the Journal of Adolescent
Health, and the British Medical Journal have shown an increment in bullying. In a 2010 survey
of 40,000-plus teenagers, the Josephson Institute on Ethics asked teens about their experiences
with bullying. About 50% admitted that they had bullied others and 47% said that they had been
the victims of bullying (Swearer, 2011). As an example, in the game "Bully", players control a
character in a school setting who abuses and tortures students and teachers, becoming empathetic
and depraved bullies for the duration of their gaming session. Kids killing others are another
concern, and that is why Lt. Col. David Grossman, a former West Point psychology professor
wrote a book called Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill, where he has used the term murder
simulator (Grossman and DeGaetano, 1999) to describe first-person shooter games. He

VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

corroborates that video games train children in the use of weapons and toughen them emotionally
to the act of committing homicide by pretending the killing of hundreds of thousands of rivals.
One example is a video game that promotes racist hate crimes called Grand Theft Auto:
Vice City, which constitutes of a gang war between Haitians and Cuban refugees, with the
players character getting engaged and provoking the inter-ethnic violence using verbiage such
as Kill the Haitians dickheads. There is a publicized incident on April 9, 2011 in Alphen Ann
Den Rijn in The Netherlands, where a 24 year old opened fire in a shopping mall, releasing
more than a hundred bullets with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun, killing six people and
wounding seventeen others, after which he committed suicide (Corder, 2011). It was found after
investigating the crime, that he had been playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and to the
attributed similarities between the incident in Alphen Ann Den Rijn and the polemic No
Russian mission in the game, also known as the Airport Massacre. In it, the player can choose
to participate in the killing of a large group of naive people inside an airport terminal. There is
enough evidence that shows violence in video games is a developing problem, and it clearly
influences gamers to commit acts of violence.
Aside from increasing violent tendencies, it can also influence negative social behaviors
amongst people who play these types of games. It is common to see in games that players
eliminate, intimidate and asphyxiate others, intentionally crash into them with cars and rip each
other apart. Even if there is a debate over these brutal video games play in promoting real-life
violence, recent scientific evidence shows a correlation between the two. Besides promoting
violence, video games build up excessively solitary behavior, since they engage people to remain
in their own homes instead of going out and socializing in person. Glenn Sparks, a Purdue
University communications professor, has made a connection with the isolating effects of

VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

people and the prevalence of disaffected, lonely criminals such as the 2007 Virginia Tech shooter
who killed more than thirty people. (Lee, 2011). With all this evidence, we note that the
constant exposure to graphic content in video games is conducive to extreme anti-social
behavior, leading to either social aggression or reclusion.
Not only do video games promote disruptive behavior, but it also stimulates sexual
activity. A good example was found within the main script of the video game Grand Theft Auto:
San Andreas, allowing the player to simulate sex with the main characters girlfriends.
Characterizations of women tend to be stereotypical; greatly sexualized, stunning beauty with
large breasts and hips. As another example, there is a game called RapeLay, which describes a
teenage girl on a subway platform. She notices you are looking at her and asks, "Can I help you
with something? That is when the player can choose the method of assault. After a series of
graphic, interactive scenes, the player can corner the woman and rape her many times. The game
even allows them to impregnate a girl and urge her to have an abortion. There is no doubt that
this stimulates any person playing the game to possibly imitate actions seen on the video. Taina
Bien-Aime of women's rights organization Equality Now says calls for the Japanese government
to ban all games that promote and simulate sexual violence, sexual torture, stalking and rape
against women and girlsthere are plenty of games like that (Lah, 2010). During adolescence,
sexuality should be introduced to youth by responsible adults, but video games can teach the
youth reckless sexual practice with no regard to consequences.
There should be a reconstruction in the regulation of video games to control the graphical
content exposed specially to the youth. Rating is not appropriately assigned. There are five
ratings; the first one is Early Childhood (EC) where content should be suitable for children 3
years and older and contain no objectionable material; the next one is Everyone (E), suitable for

VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

persons ages 6 and older. The game may contain minimal violence and some comic mischief;
Teen (T) is suitable for persons ages 13 and older, the content is more violent than (E) rating
and contains mild or strong language, and/or suggestive themes, Mature (M), and Adults Only
(AO) (ESRB, 2012), which increase the level of sex language and violence in the game. I feel
that the categories of Teen and Mature should be merged with Adult Only, as all of these
categories expose violence, sexuality and unruly behavior. If movies or films prohibit selling
tickets to children that exhibit similar themes, then why are video game regulators allowing them
to see it? There should be a thinner line between what is considered appropriate for the youth and
adults. I do not believe that it is okay for a child to be subjected to vulgar language and sexuality.
As a parent, seeing all of these appalling publicized incidents of video game influence, I
worry about their overall effects on children as they develop into adults. Crime and violence,
aggressive social behavior and sexuality in video games are damaging our society. There has
been enough evidence to show that video games have a direct negative influence on young
people, but I feel that people should now influence the Entertainment Software Rating Board to
reconsider their current classification. The Entertainment Merchants Association and the
Entertainment Software Association main priority is to make monetary profits, regardless of the
harmful social consequences. Their primary motives should be to promote positive reasoning
versus destructive thoughts among the youth. I believe that the youth are at an age where
technology plays an integral and influential role in their lives. Children enjoy playing interactive
games through video game consoles or handheld devices such as smartphones and other mobile
game devices. They spend so much time playing these games that, subliminally, I feel that the
images and situations depicted in these games are influencing the way they think and behave. I
am convinced that video games can desensitize gamers from acts of violence and sexuality, and

VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

can validate and encourage negative social behaviors of aggression or even reclusion to develop.
Although it may not be scientifically proven, but my belief is a risk that I am willing to take,
before it is too late.

VIDEO GAMES MAY INFLUENCE ADVERSE BEHAVIOR

WORKS CITED
Corder, M. (Writer) (2011). 7 killed, 15 wounded in dutch mall shooting. Amsterdam,
Netherlands: CBS news. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/ International/wireStory?
id=13335971
ESRB. (2012, January 01). Entertainment software ratings board.
Grossman, D. and DeGaetano, G. (1999). Stop teaching our kids to kill. New York,
NY: Crown Publishers.
Lah, K. (2010, March 31). Rapelay video game goes viral amid outrage. CNN World. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/30/
japan.video.game.rape/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Lee, M. Finley, Laura. "Counterpoint: Video Games Are Addictive And Promote Irresponsible
Behavior." Points Of View: Video Games (2011): 3. Points of View Reference Center.
Web. 18 Nov. 2011.
Swearer, S. University of Nebraska, Department of Education. (2011). Risk factors for and
outcomes of bullying and victimization. Retrieved from Secretary of Education website:
http://www.stopbullying.gov/at-risk/groups/lgbt/white_house_conference_materials.pdf