Critics view on violent computer games

Gaming is very similar to horror movies. They provoke unnecessary moral panic. Back in the 80s, unregulated horror movies were seen as such a threat that people were sent to prison for copying or distributing them. According to the tabloid press, the country was awash with filth that would twist our children's minds and turn them into killers and cannibals.

Charlie Brooker described CoD:MW2 as "the Citizen Kane of repeatedly shooting people in the face" concluding: "Don't worry, it won't turn anyone into a killer." People believe him. Why? Because he knows his subject. The game is rated 18, is not intended for kids and as far as I'm concerned it is no more of a threat today than The Evil Dead was 25 years ago.

BBFC rejects criticisms of Byron Report

BBFC Rejects Criticism Of Byron Games Classification Proposals


The BBFC’s Director, David Cooke, today rejected criticisms from some quarters of the games industry of the Byron Report proposals for games classification.

He said:

“We are disappointed and concerned about attempts by one or two video games publishers to pre-empt, through recent press statements, the forthcoming public consultation on video games classification. Their statements are misleading in several respects:

The BBFC’s current average turnaround time for games classifications is eight calendar days. In terms of international comparisons, this is notably quick. There is no reason why the increased role for the BBFC envisaged by Dr Byron should lead to delays.

BBFC classifications are already cheaper for many games than those under the Pan European Games Information System (PEGI). Because the BBFC currently deals mainly with the most problematic games, BBFC costs will fall if, as Dr Byron recommended, we take on all games, physical and online, rated ‘12’ and above.

It is absurd to imply that the BBFC could not cope, or would need “a building the size of Milton Keynes”. The BBFC is a larger and better resourced organisation than PEGI, and is well used to gearing up, and to providing fast-track services where appropriate.

We reject any suggestions that the Byron proposals for dealing with online games are not future-proof. Countries such as the USA and Germany already classify such games in a way which reflects national cultural sensibilities. The BBFC has made clear that we are prepared to work through PEGI Online, which already recognizes BBFC symbols. But, with online games, the real need is not a pan-national grouping of markets, but rather soundly based and independent initial classification, full information provision, and responsible self-regulation of online game-play backed by properly resourced independent monitoring and complaints mechanisms.

“The games industry really does have nothing to fear from a set of proposals which would provide more robust, and fully independent, decisions, and detailed content advice, for the British public, and especially parents. The Byron proposals, far from envisaging the collapse of PEGI, specifically provide for a continuing PEGI presence in UK games classification. They also provide significant opportunities to reduce duplication of effort and costs. And they would make wider use of a system, the BBFC’s, which British parents recognize, trust and have confidence in.”


June 30th 2008

Byron Report Key Points

The internet and video games are very popular with children and young people and offer a range of opportunities for fun, learning and development. But there are concerns over potentially inappropriate material, which range from content (eg violence) through to contact and conduct of children in the digital world.

· Debates and research in this area can be highly polarised and charged with emotion.

· Having considered the evidence I believe we need to move from a discussion about the media "causing" harm to one which focuses on children and young people, what they bring to technology and how we can use our understanding of how they develop to empower them to manage risks and make the digital world safer.

· There is a generational digital divide which means that parents do not necessarily feel equipped to help their children in this space - which can lead to fear and a sense of helplessness. This can be compounded by a risk-averse culture where we are inclined to keep our children "indoors" despite their developmental needs to socialise and take risks.

· While children are confident with the technology, they are still developing critical evaluation skills and need our help to make wise decisions.

· In relation to the internet we need a shared culture of responsibility with families, industry, government and others in the public and third sectors all playing their part to reduce the availability of potentially harmful material, restrict access to it by children and to increase children's resilience.

· I propose that we seek to achieve gains in these three areas by having a national strategy for child internet safety which involves better self-regulation and better provision of information and education for children and families.

· In relation to video games, we need to improve on the systems already in place to help parents restrict children's access to games which are not suitable for their age.

· I propose that we seek to do that by reforming the classification system and pooling the efforts of the games industry, retailers, advertisers, console manufacturers and online gaming providers to raise awareness of what is in games and enable better enforcement.

· Children and young people need to be empowered to keep themselves safe - this isn't just about a top-down approach. Children will be children - pushing boundaries and taking risks. At a public swimming pool we have gates, put up signs, have lifeguards and shallow ends, but we also teach children how to swim.

Article from the Daily Mail

Violent video games DO make people more aggressive
By Stephanie Darrall

Last updated at 7:55 AM on 28th November 2011


Violent video games can alter the brain in just one week and make players more aggressive, according to researchers.

A study has found that key areas in the brain suffer reduced activity, and leave it physically altered.

The findings will fuel the debate over the impact that violent games have on regular players and links to anti-social behaviour.

Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis took a group of 22 men aged 18-29 and performed MRI scans on them.


They then divided the group in half, and while one group was asked to play violent video games for at least 10 hours a week while the second group played none.

According to the Sunday Times, the researchers found that the effects on the brain were discovered in the left inferior frontal lobe and the anterior cingulate cortex.


An abstract of the report which will be published at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America later this week said subjects experienced alterations to their brain.

The report said: 'Subjects showed relatively less activation in prefontal regions associated with executive function following one week of violent video game playing.

'This investigation provides the first longitudial, experimental investigation of video game play on brain activity.'


The results could be concerning as they seem to show that the games cause brain plasticity - where the brain alters to accommodate demands put on it.

However they found that when gamers stopped playing, their brains returned to normal.


The research comes after another study by from Texas A&M University which monitored 165 young people over three years to evaluate the effects of video games on anti-social behavior.

They found no connection between the players behaviour and game playing.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066803/Violent-video-games-DO-make-people-aggressive.html#ixzz1ezfmraYR

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Modern Warfare 3: Tom Watson leaps to game's defence

Tom Watson has hit back at his fellow Labour MP Keith Vaz over claims about Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Nick Cowen

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 23 November 2011 17.19 GMT

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has found itself at the centre of a confrontation between two Labour MPs in the ongoing debate surrounding violence in video games.
Labour MP and prominent anti-video games campaigner Keith Vaz has tabled a motion in the House of Commons, condemning Modern Warfare 3 for its violent content and calling on the British Board of Film Classification to take "further precautions" over violent video games.

In his motion, Mr Vaz said: "This House is deeply concerned about the recently released video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, in which players engage in gratuitous acts of violence against members of the public; notes in particular the harrowing scenes in which a London Underground train is bombed by terrorists, bearing a remarkable resemblance to the tragic events of 7 July 2005; further notes that there is increasing evidence of a link between perpetrators of violent crime and violent video games users; and calls on the British Board of Film Classification to take further precautions when allowing a game to be sold."

But Labour MP, Tom Watson added an amendment to the motion, drawing attention to the game's 18 certificate from the BBFC and criticising the claim that events in the game are similar to those of the 7/7 bombings.
"Keith, for many year, has been very critical of adult content in video games and he's homed in particularly on the Call Of Duty franchise," Watson says.
"He's tabled a motion, about a week ago, condemning the game. I just amended it to make the point that the game has an 18 classification and that the BBFC said in a statement that it bore no resemblance to the July 7 bombings in London – which is what he refers to in his motion.
"There may be disturbing or unsettling content in that game, but adults should have the choice as to whether they want to play those sorts of games or not."
Watson says that he hasn't played Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 yet, but he has booked time to play it during the Christmas recess as he's a massive fan of the franchise. He's currently playing Portal 2.

Neither Vaz nor the game's UK distributor, Activision, were available for comment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/nov/23/modern-warfare-3-tom-watson-keith-vaz

Publicised incidents that were associated with gaming.

Several incidents speculated to be related to video games in recent decades have helped fuel controversy.

• On November 22, 1997, thirteen-year-old Noah Wilson died when his friend Yancy stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife. The mother of Noah, Andrea Wilson, alleges that her son was stabbed to death because of his obsession with the Midway game Mortal Kombat.
• In April 2000, 16-year-old Spanish teenager José Rabadán Pardo murdered his father, mother and his sister with a katana, proclaiming that he was on an "avenging mission" by Squall Leonhart, the main character of the video game Final Fantasy VIII.
• In November 2001, 21-year-old American Shawn Woolley committed suicide after what his mother claimed was an addiction to EverQuest. Woolley's mother stated, "I think the way the game is written is that when you first start playing it, it is fun, and you make great accomplishments. And then the further you get into it, the higher level you get, the longer you have to stay on it to move onward, and then it isn't fun anymore. But by then you're addicted, and you can't leave it."
• On June 7, 2003, 18-year-old American Devin Moore shot and killed two policemen and a dispatcher after grabbing one of the officers' weapons following an arrest for the possession of a stolen vehicle. At trial, the defense claimed that Moore had been inspired by the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.
• On June 25, 2003, two American step brothers, Joshua and William Buckner, aged 14 and 16, respectively, used a rifle to fire at vehicles on Interstate 40 in Tennessee, killing a 45-year-old man and wounding a 19-year-old woman. The two shooters told investigators they had been inspired by Grand Theft Auto III.
• On February 27, 2004 in Leicester, UK, 17-year-old Warren Leblanc lured 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah into a park and murdered him by stabbing him repeatedly with a claw hammer and knife. Leblanc was reportedly obsessed with Manhunt, although investigation quickly revealed that the killer did not even own a copy of the game. The victim's mother Giselle Pakeerah has been campaigning against violent video games in the UK ever since. The police investigating the case have dismissed any link, as discussed in the relevant articles.
• In October 2004, a 41-year-old Chinese man named Qiu Chengwei stabbed 26-year-old Zhu Caoyuan to death over a dispute regarding the sale of a virtual weapon the two had jointly won in the game The Legend of Mir 3
• In June 2007, 22-year-old Alejandro Garcia from Texas shot dead his cousin after arguing over whose turn it was to play the game Scarface: The World Is Yours. He pleaded guilty for murder at his trial on April 6, 2011, and will serve 15 to 30 years in prison.

• On August 2, 2008, Polwat Chinno, a 19-year-old Thai teenager, stabbed a Bangkok taxi driver to death during an attempt to steal the driver's cab in order to obtain money to buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV. A police official said that the teen was trying to copy a similar act in the game. As a consequence, officials ordered the banning of the series, which led its distributor, New Era Interactive Media, to withdraw it, including the aforementioned, then-upcoming installment, from shops across Thailand.
• In December 2009, after losing three consecutive games of FIFA 2008, a 17-year-old schizophrenic boy named James Callaghan went on a drunken rampage in which he attacked several teens with an axe, threatened a cyclist and finally bludgeoned and stabbed to death a 65-year-old-woman. He also used to play Grand Theft Auto.
• On July 22, 2011 in Oslo and Utøya, Norway, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik shot and killed 69 people on the island Utøya and also planted a bomb in the centre of Oslo, which killed 8 people, Breivik had been planning the attack for 9 years and claimed that he had used Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as a "Training-Simulation".

Studies to test video game affects on aggression

Video games have been studied for links to addiction and aggression. Earlier meta-analyses (an analysis of several studies) were conflicting. A 2001 study found that exposure to violent video games causes at least a temporary increase in aggression and that this exposure correlates with aggression in the real world. A decrease in prosocial behaviour (caring about the welfare and rights of others) was also noted. Another 2001 meta-analyses using similar methods and a more recent 2009 study focusing specifically on serious aggressive behaviour concluded that video game violence is not related to serious aggressive behavior in real life. Many potential positive effects have even been proposed. Recent research has suggested that some even some violent video games may actually have a prosocial effect in some contexts for example, team play. It has been argued there is generally a lack of quality studies which can be relied upon and that the video game industry has become an easy target for the media to blame for many modern day problems. The most recent large scale meta-anlysis-- published in Pychological Bulletin in March of 2010, and examining 130 studies with over 130,000 subjects worldwide-- has concluded that exposure to violent video games causes both short term and long term aggression in players and decreases empathy and prosocial behavior.