Media Debate
The wider media has played a huge part in the violent video game debate. Much like other similar moral panics - the penny dreadfuls, video nasties etc - the news often plays on the public's fears in the aftermath of national tragedies. After each of these terrible events (Columbine, Newtown, Sandy Hook etc) there is a rush to find answers as to how and why this happened. Video-games are almost always at the top of the list, especially when the suspect is a teenage boy and an avid player of violent games.
A lot of the most popular games are violent, particularly as the industry increasingly focuses on shooting games. Most of the biggest franchises have an element of violence in them and are played by millions of players for long periods of time. Whilst these violent games may have potential negative effects on youth and society, it is dangerous to view all violent games as evil. It is also dangerous to blame video-games for turning people evil like so many newspapers and TV stations claim after these violent acts. The news often plays on societies fears that our own children can be warped and twisted by immoral video-games and films, as seen in the Fox News screenshot.
There have been several cases which have led to a widespread media panic surrounding violent video-games. I have already discussed Columbine and the critcism of Doom in the aftermath for allegedly inspiring Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to kill their fellow students. The Sandy Hook tragedy led to a debate over violent games after it appeared the killer was obsessed with Call of Duty as seen in the sensationalist headline below. The issue is not that the game's arent violent, but that most teenage boys play violent video-games and never go on to show increased violence. Instead of looking at these tragedies as complex situations with a variety of potential causes, the tendency to immediately blame violent games often detracts from the truth and creates a potential scapegoat.
Often those in the media that criticise these games are not playing them and as such do not understand the context behind the game. They see a young teenager running civilians over or shooting an enemy in game and instantly relate that to real acts of aggression and violence. Almost all gamers will understand that the game isn't real, though there is an argument that these games will desensitise players to violence. The media's role in this debate is often fuelled by academic research that suggests their is a link between violence and real-world aggression, I delve deeper into the extent of this academic research and the ways in which this link is proven/disproven.