Game Myths Debunked: Grand Theft Childhood
Myth: The growth in violent video game sales is linked to the growth in youth violence -- especially school violence -- throughout the country. So claims a new book on the verge of publication by Drs. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson, co-founders and directors of the Harvard Medical School Center for Mental Health and Media. With $1.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, the pair set off in 2004 on a research odyssey to determine the effects of video games on young teenagers. What they found, according to the book's promotional site, "surprised, encouraged, and sometimes disturbed them."
The real risks, say Olson and Kutner, are subtle, and not just about violence, gore, and sex. Games don't affect all kids the same, and some children are at "significantly greater risk" than others.
Some of the book's eye-opening "facts" and "myths," from the promotional site:
Fact: Video game popularity and real-world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions. Violent juvenile crime in the United States reached a peak in 1993 and has been declining ever since. School violence has also gone down. Between 1994 and 2001, arrests for murder, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assaults fell 44 percent, resulting in the lowest juvenile arrest rate for violent crimes since 1983. Murder arrests, which reached a high of 3,800 in 1993, plummeted to 1400 by 2001.
Myth: Girls don’t play violent video games like Grand Theft Auto.
Fact: Our survey of more than 1200 middle school students found that 29 percent of girls who played video games listed at least one M-rated game among the games they’d "played a lot" during the previous six months. One in five specifically listed a Grand Theft Auto game. In fact, among these 12- to 14-year-old girls, the Grand Theft Auto series was second only to The Sims in popularity.
Myth: In August 2005, the American Psychological Association issued a resolution on violence in video games and interactive media, stating that "perpetrators go unpunished in 73 percent of all violent scenes, and therefore teach that violence is an effective way of resolving conflict."
Fact: The allegation that "perpetrators go unpunished in 73 percent of all violent scenes" is based on research from the mid-1990s that looked at selected television programs, not video games.
Myth: School shooters fit a profile that includes a fascination with violent media, especially violent video games.
Fact: The U. S. Secret Service intensely studied each of the 37 non-gang and non-drug-related school shootings and stabbings that were considered “targeted attacks” that took place nationally from 1974 through 2000. (Note how few premeditated school shootings there actually were during that 27-year time period, compared with the public perception of those shootings as relatively common events!) The incidents studied included the most notorious school shootings, such as Columbine, Santee and Paducah, in which the young perpetrators had been linked in the press to violent video games. The Secret Service found that that there was no accurate profile. Only 1 in 8 school shooters showed any interest in violent video games; only 1 in 4 liked violent movies.
Game Couch conducted an interview with Dr. Olson in late February. A few of the choicer responses from the interview:
Until now, the most-publicized studies came from a small group of experimental psychologists, studying college students playing nonviolent or violent games for 15 minutes. It’s debatable whether those studies are relevant to real children, playing self-selected games for their own reasons (not for cash or extra credit!), in social settings, over many years. But media reports and political rhetoric often ignore that distinction...
The most-published researchers have built their careers around media violence. Their studies were designed under the assumption that violent video games are harmful, which dictated the questions they asked and how they framed their results. Media violence is just a small part of what we do, so we could look at the issue with fresh eyes and no agenda...
One of the biggest draws of GTA [Grand Theft Auto] seems to be not the violence but the open environment and array of choices: “You can be a good guy and a bad guy at the same time.” Every child will play the game differently...
It may take a new generation of researchers and advocates, open to both pros and cons of video games (and who’ve played video games themselves!), to start truly productive discussions...
I'll reserve commenting until I've read the book, but while we're waiting, you can read excerpts from the book here, about the authors here, and some of the academic papers that led to the creation of the book here.
Grand Theft Childhood is available April 15, 2008.
Replay
Agree? Disagree? Have your say below in comments, visit Wake the Happy Words for expanded dialogue, or pelt me with emails here
PC World's Marketplace
PC World's Free Whitepapers
tech news tech blogs community & forums laptop prices software reviews downloads
how rediculous. people are just looking for an excuse to blame everything in childhood on videogames. you dont know what causes people to go off the wall and kill each other. videogames do nothing to drive this problem.
boo! books!
yay! videogames!
"The most-published researchers have built their careers around media violence."
Just as Jack Thompson builds his career around being a so-called "School Violence Expert" (as billed on FOX and CNN news), yet the first words out of his mouth every single time (no matter the factual circumstances) is that it's due to "video game murder simulators."
Hopefully, this new, unbiased research will gain some momentum in the media, but it's doubtful. Newscasters want higher ratings just like any other television program and they know that sex and violence are their "bread and butter" when all is said and done.
With Elliot Spitzer we now have to sustain a constant focus upon prostitution and the particular prostitute "Kristin." It's no longer about the ex-governor, but about her instead. Whenever there's a school shooting, it invariably tries to find any lurid detail about the perps regardless of the truth. If a perp has "Doom" installed on his PC, so much the better for the ratings.
I play many video games, but am still concerned about the violence in some games. Most people that play these games can distinguish fantasy from reality and probably are not seriously affected. However, I do wonder about the few who are tending to be violent or unstable, and whether or not the games adversley affect them.
I have played violent video games for many years, i own rifles and handguns, I guess im a prime suspect to go on a shooting rampage, cuz I have been corrupted into a muderous and blood thirsty mindset by all those GAMES.
/sarcasm
How about we put the blame on lazy @$$ parents? A little education and discipline goes a loooong way. Im only 22, been on my own since 18. I think this is sad how the media works. I soon loose my hobby because people think that taking guns away from law abiding citizens will stop violence... right. How about parents step up and... well be a parent. Teach your kid some reality and fiction. It'll pay off... I swear. Ohyeah.. pull your kids away from the bloody TV and give'em a book or have a family outting to the park.
@masxt2
I couldn't agree more. I am 30 years old, but I have been playing video games since I was practically a toddler. My first "violent" video games were Wolfenstein, Doom, Heretic, etc. I turned out great I think. I had great parents that disciplined me when they should have, were interested in what I was doing, and made sure I knew the difference between games and real life.
I have children of my own now and they play games. My oldest son is 5 years old and the most violent game he plays is Lego Star Wars. When he is mature enough to understand what is going on, I will let him play other games, but that is up to the PARENTS to decide, not the likes of Jack Thompson.
If these parents whose kids shot up the school were doing their jobs as parents, it would have never happened.
I'd have to agree with masxt2 on his post, Especially the part about parent's stepping up in these cases. I wonder if the research involved actually delved into parent involvement with the perpetrators. In the case of columbine one of the students supposedly kept a machine pistol in his room at home. I know growing up I had to hide my porn, much less an automatic weapon. It would seem to be glaringly obvious that the issue's were caused by detached parents and attitudes vs. what they may choose to do with their recreational time. But as stated above that doesn't make big headlines, or make for great speeches by political opportunists.
People are always looking to find a scapegoat for their poor parenting. There are these ratings systems out there, and I know the stores don't always follow the rules, but there are a lot of places that require you to be of the age of 18 to purchase "M" rated games, or that you have a PARENT present. I know their are ways around this like having your buddy by the game. But it boils down to parents not talking and keeping up with their kids. I mean WHY IN THE WORLD are kids in middle school playing mature rated games? Parents need to pay attention to what their kids are doing. Just because you suck at being a parent doesn't mean that the rest of us should have to deal with the results of your actions. If you don't like it, or agree with it, don't buy it. Same goes with porn, if you don't like it, don't view it. Keep track of your kids so they don't get exposed to it.....do your parenting job.
People are always looking to find a scapegoat for their poor parenting. There are these ratings systems out there, and I know the stores don't always follow the rules, but there are a lot of places that require you to be of the age of 18 to purchase "M" rated games, or that you have a PARENT present. I know their are ways around this like having your buddy by the game. But it boils down to parents not talking and keeping up with their kids. I mean WHY IN THE WORLD are kids in middle school playing mature rated games? Parents need to pay attention to what their kids are doing. Just because you suck at being a parent doesn't mean that the rest of us should have to deal with the results of your actions. If you don't like it, or agree with it, don't buy it. Same goes with porn, if you don't like it, don't view it. Keep track of your kids so they don't get exposed to it.....do your parenting job.
Idiots. How the hell do they know it's definitely the video games? It could be a factor, but not always. I do see some pretty bad things sometimes, for example, the first time I played Half-Life 2 I was thoroughly disgusted by the zombies and bodies and stuff, but number 1, usually games aren't that bad, and number 2, they have no idea if it's THE GAMES that influence kids. Maybe sometimes, but who are they to know what drives murderers?
As a retired social worker who also worked in juvenile corrections I know it takes more than a video game to make a child violent. A big part of turning out a violent child is accomplished by parents, family friends, and other relatives modelling violent and/or ausive verbal and physical behavior and often inflicting it on the child as well as each other. Most violent children are exposed to "real life" people doing horrendous things to adults and children. This can be greatly intensified by subtance abuse in the family.
I have also seen children who just seem to be wired wrong by their heredity. They can be drug effected before birth which can damage their impulse control and judgement center of their brains. Sometimes it is a simple matter that many mental illnesses only clearly emerge as a child enters adolescense.
A small minority of already damaged children should not be stimulated by any violence, real or fantasy, but the vast majority will not be greatly effected.
once again we see the "experts" trying to help people avoid even the appearance of taking responsibility for their actions. this is the same crap they said about D&D, tv, Judas Priest, and God knows what else.
it's always some external factor, not the lazy parents who can't be bothered to raise their own damn kids. it doesn't take a village, it takes
parents who give a damn. i played D&D, video games, watched violent movies, and yet never shot up a McDonalds. some people will snap because their pizza had 2 less slices of pepperoni on it than it did last week. it's not the games.