infographic: violence and video games
DESCRIPTION
Is there a connection between violent behavior and playing violent video games? Blaise Lanter explore the controversy in this infographic.TRANSCRIPT
10
20
30
40
50
60
20072006200520042003200220012000199919981997199610
20
30
40
50
60
200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Total Youth Crimes (ages 18 and under)
Authorities that say Violent Video Games do not Cause Violence
Christopher Ferguson, PhD, Professor of Behavioral, Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice at Texas A&M University
Is There a Correlation Between Violent Video Game Sales and Violence?
Number of Violent Game Units Sold
(in millions)Total Number of Youth Crimes
92% of the timethe parents of the child are
present when ANY video game is being purchased or rented because...
58% of Adultsthink violent games
cause violent behavior yet...
Only 13%minors are able to
purchase M rated games from retail outlets.
Pictures Courtesy of:Game Network EuropePixabayWikipedia Commons
Target Mature Games Policy (2000)Gamestop;Playground Parents (2008) Walmart: Mature Merchandise (2008)
Federal Trade CommissionUndercover Shopper Survey (2013)
Harris Interactive Polls (2013)
The Entertainment Software Association: The Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry (2009) These statistics were derived by taking the amount of all current
violent games (as of June 23, 2014) and dividing them by the amount of all games rated by the ESRB (as of June 23, 2014) then applying that percentage to every game unit sale per year. It should also be noted that this is not representing violent gamessold ONLY to minors.The ESRBThe Entertainment Software Association
Number of games with the subheading of “Violent” as of 2014 compared to all published games
Source Legend:
“We are no longer worried that children are missing school because of video games, though. We are worried that theyare murdering their classmates because of video games.”-Tom Bissel, critic and writer of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
US Surgeon General
“Psychological studies purporting to show a connection between
exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children do not prove that such
exposure causes minors to act aggressively."
"We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent peers were the strongest and most consistent risk
factors for youth violence across outcome measures. Parents' use of verbal cruelty in domestic relationships and the child's antisocial personality traits were also reasonably strong predictors of violent behavior. By contrast video game violence exposure and television violence exposure were not found to be
predictors of youth violence."
Dopamine Functions (January,2014) by Dr Ananya Mandal, MD
By: Blaise Lanter
The American Psychological Associationstates that playing violent video gamesincreases aggression
“Violent video games can increaseaggressive behavior in childrenand adolescents [...] according to an empirical review of the last 20 years of research.”
A group composed of about 230 experts sent a letter requesting the APA
retract said statement, on the grounds of flawed research.
“[...] communicating
results to the general public [...] scholars and the APA’s
previous policy statements [...] may be more misleading
than informative.”
A violent game is a game with the rating of “violence” within its game rating, described as “Scenes involvingaggressive conflict. May contain bloodless dismemberment” by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the official organization for rating any and all video games within the United States and Canada.
What is considered a violent video game?
To this day, Gamestop, Walmart, and Target require an adult to be present when an M rated game is purchased by a minor. This is not required by law.
FBI: Uniform Crime Reporting Program (1996-2013)
American Psychological Association“Review of Research Shows That Playing Violent Video Games Can Heighten Aggression” (2005)
1
2
2
The ESRB Ratings Guide
Number of Games With “Violence” on Average
80%
20%
1
With “Violence”
Without “Violence”
Some People are in Support...
What are the Parents Doing?
“Aurora, Colo., movie theater gunman James Holmes, Jared Lee Loughner, who killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabby Gi�ords, in a 2011 Arizona shooting, and Breivik, who killed 77 people in Oslo, all were active video game players.”-FOX News, 'Training simulation:' Mass killers often share obsession with violent video games
”Guns don’t kill people. Video games [...] kill people.” -Wayne LaPierre, executive vice-president of the NRA
Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likelyacting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 �rst gradersand six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently amounted to some kind of "score."-CBS News Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say
"If you shoot somebody in one of these games, you don't go to jail, you don't get penalized in some way — you get extra points!" -Dr. Phil, Children and Violent Video Games
@ # µ @ # µ
Let’s Get More Technical
“Media violence - specifically video games - are not a major risk factorfor violence.
We did find rising links between media violence, television violence, and short-term aggressive behavior.
But that is significantly differentfrom violent behavior allegedly caused by playing video games...”
US Supreme Court
So while the majority of people say that violent video games cause violence, there is little evidence supporting it.
Number of Violent Game Units Sold Per Year