This essay, an early work, was assigned as part of Professor Lawrence Checkett’s ENG 096 class, October 15, 2003. Three pages, three part thesis.
Virtual Violence
Electronic entertainment has gone a long way since the early days of Atari and Nintendo. An epic battle between two glowing lines vying for control of a bouncing dot has now become a dizzying array of 3-dimensional polygons and stereo sound effects. The amount of options programmers have when building videogames is multiplied exponentially; games have become more and more realistic and diverse. From saving princesses to slaughtering zombies, there exists a wider variety of game content than ever. But, like movie companies, gaming companies must produce products for all demographics; therefore, games involving fighting or soldiers all out to kill are becoming more common. Games have become an emulation of reality through simulators, war games, and games with historically accurate content, and the fact is, reality is violent. Violence is on TV, in movies, and increasingly in our schools. Parents see increasing violence in schools and can’t help but wonder what gun fighting Playstation games in the living room are doing to their child. Videogames have become an easy scapegoat for experts and parents in spite of the violence already inherent in society, the recreational nature of videogames, and the abundance of nonviolent games.
Americans are violent. To illustrate, look back into history. How did Americans acquire the “new world”? Settlers did not pay Indians rent; natives were driven away by force. Americans won independence through battle, not negotiation. Violence has been used to settle land disputes, religious controversy, and general disagreements for centuries. Not to say the aforementioned could have been settled differently; however, video games were not always around to spark animosity between men. So, it would seem users promote the manufacturing of violent games. All humans will need to deal with violence at some point, whether directly or indirectly. For instance, youths are learning how to deal with terrorism and war simultaneously. Who knows what lies in the future? Perhaps, instead of trying to save generations from violence, the duty of society will be to teach children how to deal with violence in a constructive way.
Because of the need to feed, birth, raise, teach, clean, run, drive, and survive, life is difficult. Yet life must also be enjoyed. For this reason, games were invented. Games and competition have been around for centuries. Ancient Romans competed in Olympic Games much like the Olympics of today. Now, entertainment has leapt foreword and games are played in virtual reality. Players have the ability to log onto a computer and become an entirely different person for a few hours. But the fact still remains, video games are just that: games. No video game claims to be a supplement to reality. When boiled down, games are a novelty, and games ranging from Pac Man to NASA’s most scientifically accurate flight simulator all include a built in reality check: a reset button. So, when the lines between reality and recreation become blurred, the problem is not really games. Perhaps the issue lies in the inability of players to discern people from pixels.
Experts would claim that violence is increasing because violent games are increasing in the market. After visiting a gaming store, the preceding sounds unreasonable. Several gaming systems exist on the market today, and each offers a variety of games. To illustrate, Sony’s Playstation II offers many games with nonviolent undertones. Some nonviolent options include The Simpsons, Gran Turismo 3, and children’s games like Piglets Big Game, and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4. Nintendo’s answer, the Game Cube, offers games like Spongebob Squarepants, Kirby’s Air Ride and Animal Crossing. Additionally, titles like Madden’s 2004, Tiger Woods 2004 PGA Tour and MLB 2004, are available for all systems, and offer no more violence than what one would find on Thanksgiving Day television. Consumers always have a choice when looking to find a game title to will fit their interests.
Violence in games is quite easy to come by, but violent games would not exist if not for the demand of such games. Society would not be drawn to violent games without being prone to violence initially. Whether it is a Playstation, a Game Cube, a PC, or any of the number of hand-held gaming systems available, a consumer always has a choice when purchasing a game title. A veritable plethora of nonviolent or low-violence games makes it difficult to blame violence on games alone.
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