THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 1

The Violent Crime Blame Game

Jeremy Bowne
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 2

Abstract

The author vehemently supports the idea that violent video-games have had a positive effect on

society, and therefore answers the question of whether this type of game genre has had a positive

or negative impact. The research in this paper shows that violent video-games are good for

society. A survey with 52 participants was conducted to visualize the implications of the public’s

thought on violent games. Several questions (see Appendix A1) involving the thoughts and

opinions involving violent video-games gave light that many people in the public have a much

different view of violent games affecting society than the journalistic media has reported.

Although there are many arguments for the benefits of violent games, three stand out: they can

be used as a tool for teaching positive behavior, they reduce crime in general because they’re a

distraction for criminals, and they generate massive revenues for communities that are

paradoxically making them a taboo subject. This research paper puts to rest many of the

questions and concerns that people have involving violent games, including the question parents

have about their kids playing, and news stories about violent criminals reenacting violent scenes

in real-life from fictional games.

Keywords: violent, video-game, blame, society, crime

THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 3

The Violent Crime Blame Game

The eradication of violent crime in communities has been an issue in all societies for

millennia. Community leaders have been trying to place the blame as to where this crime comes

from for just as long. Going back thousands of years, as the author of “Breeding Evil” (2005), an

article from The Economist states, “Skepticism of new media is a tradition with deep roots,

going back at least as far as Socrates' objections to written texts, outlined in Plato's Phaedrus”

(para. 3). In the middle ages, violent crime was blamed on theater and opera, which at the time

would have been considered “new media” (Kutner & Olson, 2010, p. 6) In the early 1900’s the

blame could have been placed on novels, such as Frankenstein, and theater productions like

Sweeney Todd (“Breeding Evil”, 2005, para. 4). As technology advanced, media advanced, and

so the blame was pushed towards whatever was popular at the time. It wasn’t until the 1980’s,

when 8-bit arcade games such as Pong, Tetris, and other crudely designed games were popular,

that researchers of the day had a so-called “proven link” to violence in real-life, and from video-

games (Ferguson et al, 2011, p.7). The late 1980’s was considered the peak of violent crime in

America, but no one could figure out where it was coming from (Kain, 2012, para. 9); video-

games became a convenient scapegoat for journalists to fearmonger the public. Crime is a major

aspect as to whether a society is functioning normally (Levitt, 1922, p. 90). In fact, the definition

of society is “the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community”

(Oxford Living Dictionary, n.d.). Since there must be order, and crime is something that puts

society in disarray, so eliminating it would be a logical step towards having a better standard of

living for everyone. Video-games have certainly influenced today’s culture, but it all boils down

to one question: have violent video-games positively or negatively affected violent crime in

society?
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 4

Player vs Player

Undoubtedly, as with any debate, there are going to be opposing forces. Both sides of the

argument have valid reasons for their points. Where one side of the argument states that violent

video-games should be blamed for violent crime, the other side says that violent video-games

can be beneficial to communities.

Anti-Violent-Video-Game

It was no surprise that parents are fearful of having their children fall into a life of crime,

and to them it is a fact that violent games are the missing link to all their woes. Parents are

usually not professional researchers themselves, and yet an astonishing 77% of parents believe

videogames are to blame for violence in society (Freeman, 2013, para. 1). Their argument is

simple: video-games are training kids to become cold-blooded killers. With more than half of

Americans playing video-games, the number of children playing is much higher. Although the

blame is put upon games by parents, even with them being the responsible parties which are

supposed to filter this violent content from their own children, there is a lot of research that tries

to back up their claims. The video-game industry itself hasn’t done much to deflect this blame,

and some would think that the industry uses all of this as its own form of publicity. This is called

the “Streisand Effect”, where something forbidden by one party becomes sought after only when

the original party makes the request for no one to view it; it becomes a taboo, and the other

parties make it popular by indulging in the forbidden desire (Conradt, 2015, p.1). Negative

publicity is still publicity, and so curious people will buy the product to see what all the hype is

about.
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 5

Pro-Violent-Video-Game

Pro-video-game enthusiasts have a much different perspective. According to researchers

involved in pro-video-game activism, they have submitted that it not only shows that there isn’t

an increase in violence from video-games, but that the anti-video-game research itself is flawed

(Ferguson, 2008). In one study, excessive playing of games in a one-month period had no

adverse effects on the volunteers ("Breeding Evil", 2005, para. 7). Violent crime levels

themselves have been falling non-stop since the advent of the video-game era, and many

researchers are themselves noting that “gaming actually makes people less violent, by acting as a

safety valve” (“Breeding Evil”, 2015, para.7). Another study showed that the group which

played violent video-games were much less aggressive than the group that played no game at all

(Kain, 2012, para.7). The author notes, “At the very same time as video games started going

mainstream, violent crime began to fall,” (Kain, 2012, para.11). Many video-game enthusiasts

argue that people who take fictitious violence into the real-world are psychopaths who would

feed off any violent action; violent media ends up being a conduit for their outburst (Cima et al,

2010). Pro-video-game enthusiasts don’t deny that there are some bad games out there, but try to

argue that the pros outweigh the cons (“Breeding Evil”, 2005, para. 8).

Asking Questions

A survey was conducted online on October 29th, 2017, consisting of 7 multiple choice

questions involving opinions related to social life with regards to violent video-games (see

Appendix A1 for survey questions). Of the pool of 1500 people the survey was distributed to, 52

participated (see Appendix A2). The survey group contained 16 male and 36 female members.

Of this grouping, 15 of the 16 male participants have played violent video-games. With the

female participants, 24 out of 36 had played violent video-games. Some of the answers on the
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 6

survey were surprising, but still led to the same result, that many people believe that violence in

games will create violence in real-life (see Appendix A4 for survey results).

Stance

Violent video-games are not to blame for real-life violence in society, there are more

positive roles they provide than have been previously recognized. Not only do violent games

teach players consequences for simulated real-life scenarios, but when violent video-game block-

busters are released, criminal activity in big cities have a noticeable reduction. These blood-

soaked games can be used as a buffer that pads actual criminal activity and absorb it into the

players experience in the game. Criminals aren’t the only ones who benefit from this, teenagers

also play games as a distraction from many woes of their lives. The benefits have been ignored

though, because there is a social stigma that the media has been playing into the fears of society.

Parents of gamers are painted an easy target, in which if their logic held true, would have never

allowed their kids to ever play games with blood and gore. There is a rating system for most

releases of games which should be considered.

Reasoning

The reasoning for keeping violent video-games around is simple: current evidence

suggests that people are wrong in their initial assessments that there is a link between virtual and

real-world violence crime. There are three major ideas being spoken of by experts in the field.

Right and Wrong

Being able to learn right from wrong is something that is taught from early on in life.

Video-games, even violent ones, train the users that there are consequences from their actions.

When players are involved in the actual "true purpose" of the game, instead of running amok in

the virtual world, they are forced to play out different missions that usually rely on the player
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 7

being guided by their own "moral compass". The missions must be accomplished to proceed

further through the game, and require the use of the player using their knowledge of "right from

wrong". Players are rewarded for doing good, not bad. Keeping to the script of the game is how

they can progress further.

The players are the ones who decide when to follow the storyline of the game, and they

know that if they veer away and start "breaking the law", most games will punish them

accordingly (Nguyen, 2017, p.1). According to Lisa Nguyen (2017), "The number of video

games with story based moral choices are increasing. Though some good and bad decisions are

black and white, developers are adding more gray areas. These gray areas are pulling in gamers

to feel as their choices matter" (p.1). This brings into account the fact that if the player starts

stepping outside of what's considered moral for society, they are punished accordingly. Virtual

assault, theft, and murder are not acceptable, and will all punish the player by setting them back,

removing items, or in some cases of online games, banning the player from being able to play at

all (Henry, 2017, p.1). Progression is one of the main aspects of video-games, and so when a

player doesn't follow the rules, they will come to a standstill. Seeing that violent games are being

developed with more realistic graphics than ever before, it's only logical that the rules of the real

world would eventually migrate into the rules of the game. Games are slowly becoming

simulators of real life; fortunately, criminals have realized this too and are now focusing their

violent attention away from the streets.

Lower Crime

When violent video-games are released, criminal activity in large cities have been having

a noticeable reduction (Sutherland, 2013). According to Rory Sutherland (2013), "There is

convincing data suggesting that computer games, even (or perhaps specifically) violent games
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 8

such as Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, have brought about a fall in crime levels. Expert

opinion differs mainly on the reasons why. The more sophisticated theories speak of people 're-

channeling violent urges' through game play" (para. 3). Of course, this is thought to be because

criminals love video-games just like everyone else, especially those of the most violent genre,

and that they are distracted at the time of release, therefore not committing felonies; this seems

like something to be taken advantage of.

Since there is a noticeable reduction in crime with the release of a violent game, more

releases should lower crime. Statistics have correlated that on release dates of popular games,

crime will drop in many high-crime areas; researchers have shown a link using statistical crime

data in rough neighborhoods, correlating with block-buster video-game release information

(Campbell, 2014, para. 13). Colin Campbell (2014) wrote, "The implication is that if violent

games did not exist, the crime rate might increase" (para. 15). If they were to ban violent games,

it could spell chaos for local neighborhoods. The truth has shown the opposite, more games are

being created and released every year, and yet, up to 2014, violent crime was seen lowering. Erik

Kain (2012), a correspondent for Forbes, summed it all up a bit more eloquently by saying "Why

are violent crimes down? It may not have anything to do with video-games. Still, it's also

possible that relatively cheap, accessible, and time-consuming electronic diversions keep people

occupied who might otherwise be out getting into trouble. Maybe the more time people spend

playing games, the less time and motivation they'll have to go out and commit crimes" (para. 17).

It is time for society to embrace video-games, to notice that criminals are distracted. Society

should use this to its advantage, to buffer real life crime by sending criminals into virtual worlds.
THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 9

Trickle-down Gaming Economics

There are many monetary benefits as well; the controversy of video-game violence

generates revenue not only for the video-game industry itself but for media news organizations

as well. Many news media companies know what people watch and read, so fearmongering is

one of the tactics they use to get more customers. Knowing that fear sells, they will promote

stories into their news-stream that instill a primal fear into the minds of people reading and

watching their media (Kain, 2012, para. 16). In the distant past, before there were violent video-

games, news organizations and politicians blamed other forms of mass entertainment media for

local violent crime (“Breeding Evil”, 2005, para. 4). Even when video-games were new and

becoming a popular form of entertainment, they were an easy target for media organizations

trying to instill fear into the public. Many of those games, such as Pacman, wouldn’t even be

taken as violent by today’s standards (Ferguson et al, 2011, p.7). The playing field has changed

quite a bit since then, and the amount of news stories that are anti-violent-game seem to be rising

in correlation with the amount of violent games being released. Surely the news media are being

paid well to keep the shelves stocked with new anti-violent-game material. One of the questions

on the survey conducted for this research paper asked, “Do you think that violent video-games

contribute to violence in society?” (Appendix A1), and 19 out of 52 people stated an answer of

yes (see Appendix A4). To put that in perspective of percentages, that is more than 36% of the

total. Some would conclude that these people are being fed this thought from somewhere; many

bystanders look to the news media as the most likely culprit. Fortunately, this is actually very

good for the economy, and even though most of the violent video-game sentiment is extremely

biased, it is generating revenues for communities across the United States.

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Misled Opposition

There are always going to be oppositional forces with something to say, and of course the

questions seem damning, but the evidence speaks volumes against accusations. In the case of

violence in video-games being detrimental, the public, with parents as their spearhead, are

generally those with the loudest voice on the matter.

Parental Obligations

Admittedly, some children playing violent games have been shown to have an increase in

aggression, a chief complaint by parents. When one thinks of video-games, they think of children

playing them, and so parents are the ones with the biggest reason for this concern. Being able to

maliciously assault, rob, murder, steal cars, all with a massive selection of different weapons are

just some of the actions that can be taken by a child in violent video-games. Many people would

say that sheltering their kids from all that virtual criminal activity would be justifiable seeing that

children at age 17 and under may act out what they see in video-games (Harvard, 2010), and that

psychologists have shown that children under the age of 8 cannot tell reality from fantasy

(Shtulman et al, 2007). The flip side is that the Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB,

although not required by law for citizens to follow, was created as a set of guidelines for parents

to follow concerning the content of video-games and other forms of electronic entertainment

(ESRB, 2017). Game retailers on the other hand, generally have store policies in which the

promotion of the ESRB rating system is supplied to their customers; some policies include age

restricted sales. Being that these games are usually restricted to specific age groups, children

with access to violent video-games should not be an issue. In 2013, the U.S. House of

Representatives introduced H.R. 287, a bill which would make it against the law for game

retailers to sell games to children for which they are not meant to have (Orland, 2013).
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Unfortunately, no action has yet been taken by the house to formalize this bill into a statute.

Even without a federal law, parents are solely responsible for the content their children are

consuming. Whilst complaining about children playing violent video-games, many parents are

the ones supplying them with the source of their grievance.

Public Emulation

Of course, the public might also object that there have been many news stories about

criminals copying what they’ve seen in a video-game into their real lives. In one case, a man

went on a rampage by stealing a truck and kidnapping a woman (Moran, 2013). He said that he

had wanted to experience Grand Theft Auto in person (Moran, 2013, para 4). Experts do say that

many violent criminal behaviors that are seen on the news is learned behavior (Jeffery, 1995,

p.294), but if the knowledge of violent behavior wasn’t obtained from a video-game, the blame

would be put elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that violent people will always find an

inspiration for whatever sick act they commit (Surette, 2017). These notable cases happen in

such a small percentage of the millions of people that play violent games that it would be

illogical if situations like this didn’t happen. There is a certain percentage of people in society

known as psychopaths, people who show no empathy towards others (Bonn, 2014, para. 5). Scott

A. Bonn (2014) says “Psychopathy is the most dangerous of all antisocial personality disorders

because of the way psychopaths dissociate emotionally from their actions, regardless of how

terrible those actions may be” (para. 8). These people are out in society right now, some of them

a timebomb waiting to go off. Violent criminal acts caused by psychopaths will happen whether

violent games exist or not.

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Conclusions and Final Thought

Unless a so-called utopia arises in the distant future, eradicating all forms of violent

crime from society, there is always going to be a stigma against mass entertainment containing

violent content. In this age though, violent video-games are the current scapegoat for everyone’s

woes whenever a person commits a violent act. In the future, people will probably find

something else to blame as technology advances and violent video-games being the cause for all

of societies anguish will be set aside in the same way the current generation views taboo items of

the past. Being able to recognize that violent games are positive for society is only the first step

towards this so-called utopia, and the sooner they get accepted by everyone, without guilt, the

better. From using violent games as a training device for people to learn right from wrong,

lowering of crime on game release dates due to distraction, all the way to generating massive

amounts of monetary revenue for communities around the world by various means, these games

are here to stay. Society should accept these games into its mold, but even if it doesn’t, the

positive forces will continue to benefit everyone regardless. Acceptance doesn’t change whether

violent video-games have been helping everyone, the factual results are the only proof that is

needed.
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THE VIOLENT CRIME BLAME GAME 14

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Appendix A

Video-game Violence Survey

A1. Survey Questions:

1. How old are you?

2. What is your gender?

3. Have you played violent video games?

4. Have you ever committed a violent crime?

5. Do you think violent video games contribute to violence in society?

6. Are you a parent?

7. If you are a parent, have you allowed your children to play violent video games?

A2. Participants:

52

A3. Date:

October 29, 2017

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A4. Survey Results Table:

If you are a parent, have you
Do you think violent video games
How old are you? What is your gender? Have you played violent video games? Have you ever committed a violent crime? Are you a parent? allowed your children to play violent
contribute to violence in society?
video games?
25-34 Male Yes No No Yes No
25-34 Male Yes No No Yes Yes
25-34 Female Yes No No Yes Yes
15-24 Female Yes No No No Not a parent
35-44 Female Yes No No Yes Yes
25-34 Female No No No Yes Yes
55+ Male Yes Yes Yes No Not a parent
45-54 Male Yes No No Yes Yes
15-24 Female No No No No Not a parent
15-24 Female Yes No No No Not a parent
15-24 Male Yes No No Yes Yes
15-24 Female Yes No No No Not a parent
45-54 Male Yes No No Yes No
55+ Male Yes No No Yes Yes
35-34 Female Yes Yes Yes Yes No
45-54 Female Yes No No Yes Yes
35-44 Female Yes No Yes No Not a parent
25-34 Female Yes No No Yes No
35-44 Male Yes No No Yes Yes
55+ Female No No Yes Yes No
25-34 Female Yes No No Yes Yes
55+ Female Yes No No Yes Yes
55+ Female No No Yes Yes No
25-34 Female Yes Yes No Yes Yes
35-44 Male Yes No No Yes No
45-54 Male Yes No No Yes No
35-44 Male Yes No No Yes Yes
45-54 Male Yes No No Yes No
35-44 Female Yes No Yes Yes Yes
25-34 Female Yes No No Yes No
55+ Female No No Yes Yes Yes
25-34 Female Yes No Yes Yes No
35-44 Female Yes No Yes Yes No
35-44 Female Yes No No No Not a parent
35-44 Male Yes Yes No Yes Yes
25-34 Female Yes No No Yes Yes
35-44 Female No Yes Yes Yes Yes
55+ Female No No Yes Yes No
55+ Male Yes No Yes Yes Yes
55+ Female Yes No No Yes No
25-34 Female Yes No Yes Yes Yes
15-24 Male Yes No Yes No Not a parent
55+ Female No No No Yes Yes
35-44 Female Yes No No No Not a parent
45-54 Female No No No Yes No
55+ Male No No Yes No Not a parent
45-54 Female No No Yes Yes Yes
55+ Female No No Yes Yes Yes
55+ Female No No Yes Yes No
25-34 Female Yes Yes No No Not a parent
45-54 Female Yes No No Yes No
35-44 Female Yes No Yes Yes Yes