Introduction

The Role of Violence in Human Culture

The media has long focused on the potentially dangerous effect of video games on causing violent behavior, particularly among children. This article outlines how violence evolves through human history, rooted in our male-dominated society. By comparing violent video game with horror film, the essay discusses the motivation behind playing such games in modern society. It then argues that linking violent video games to crime based on laboratory researches may be fallacious. Following that, the article introduces a criminal case study to examine environmental factors and the internal motivations behind real violence. Finally, the essay justifies that concern about video games can be defined as ‘moral panic’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p.331), and suggests that more attention should be paid to societal issues rather than the video games.

Historical Context

Violence in Sports and Games

Violence is our tradition. The connection between violence and games is a recurrent issue in human society. Since ancient Greek, violence has been embedded in at least two forms: war and games, or war and sports. Sports and games overlap, exhibiting the warlike character, especially after the Olympic Games founded in 776 B.C. (Miller 2004, p.2). Cornell (n.d., p.31) addresses that in Greek and Roman antiquity, ‘boxing has always been a brutal activity, and in earlier ages bouts fought to a finish — that is, until one of the fighters gave in, or was reduced to complete exhaustion or knocked senseless’(Cornell, n.d., p.31). The gladiatorial games in Roman culture also indicate the essence of ‘warlike entertainment’ through the ‘brutality of the arena and the cruel practices of Roman war-making’ (Cornell, n.d., p.34). Even after conquering Greece, Romans used the arena to stage violent spectacles for public amusement (Cornell, n.d., p.34).

American Culture and Masculinity

To understand why our culture has embraced violence so much, we must consider a few factors. Firstly, in a male-dominated society, maintaining masculinity seems to have been a top priority, particularly in American culture. Masculinity is best demonstrated through the exercise of power, either through idea or force to conquer, which is ‘the use of violence to get others to do what they want’ (Long & Wall 2009, pp. 276–295). Cornell (n.d., p.29) also stresses that ‘both war and sport have had an important social function as mechanisms for male bonding, for the social construction of masculinity, and in reinforcing and perpetuating male domination’. Secondly, the competitive spirit has permeated every corner of civil life since ancient Greece. Both battle and brutal game were categorized as competitive games characterized by an ‘agonistic spirit’ (Cornell, n.d., p.33). When the goal is to win, whether a victory or a prestige, the means might be extreme. History shows us that violence plays a dominant role in human evolution. The major difference is just the form it takes.

The Motivation Behind Violent Video Game

By comparing watching horror films, we can also understand the motivation for playing violent video games. Zillmann (Oliver & Sander 2004) and his team researched why horror film appeal most to dating couples and romantic partners. Their findings help explain what violent RPG player might be seeking:

 …that gender-role socialization, particularly as it relates to the expression of emotions, has historically encouraged bravado and fearlessness among males, and encouraged empathy and emotional responding among females. While historic times may have offered ample opportunity for males to play the role of “protector” and females to show dependence on males for protection, modern times are fortunately relatively lacking in horrific or violent situations that would allow for these stereotypical gender-role behaviors. Consequently, exposure to fictional fears, such as viewing a horror film in the theater, can serve as a substitute that allows males and females to enact these gendered behaviors of “protector” and “protected”, respectively.

 (Oliver & Sander 2004, p.248)

Modern society is a highly “organized” system that might lack the hero identified in Homeric poems, where ‘the heroes are engaged in an incessant competition for honor and prestige both on and off the battlefield’ (Cornell, n.d., p.32). Entertainment reflects what we are pursue in reality. While it might be exaggerated to call it nostalgia for modern people to experience ‘primitive instinct’ through watching horror film or playing violent video games, to some extent, it acts as a form of ‘catharsis’ (Mary Beth, 2004. p.247). Additionally, the violence in video games is safer than real-world violence, presenting zero risk. Gee (2005, p.27) provides another analysis using the example of the game “Castlevania”:

Each of us human beings has a unique trajectory through life… Castelvania is a little second life, much safer, saner, more ordered, and more understandable than real life. The game offers the pleasure of making a life — of a making our own trajectory (but a virtual-real one) — without the fears and pains.

(Gee 2005, p. 27)

The Effects of Violent Video Games on Behavior

Despite the widespread pleasure derived from video games, scholars have found through laboratory research that playing violent video games, particularly among children, increase the chances of dangerous behavior or even criminal acts through harmful ‘wishful identification’. Examples include thoughts like ‘I wish I were a warrior’ and ‘because in this game you can override people, kill people and shoot people, and I want to do that too’, etc. (Konijn, Bijvank & Bushman 2007, p.1043). However, this type of ‘wishful identification’ is not compelling enough to be attributed as the cause of violent criminal behavior in the real world. C J. Ferguson et al. (2008, pp.311 -332) specified that the crux of the argument is to determine whether exposure to violent video games transforms human behavior into violent action, not just arouses or incites violent thoughts.

According to the general aggression model in Bushman & Anderson’s 2002 study (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p. 314), exposure to violent video contents such as video games generates ‘aggressive cognitive scripts’ (Ferguson, CJ et al 2008, p. 314) automatically saved in human’s memory. Individuals may rely on these scripts to provoke aggressive behavior. This passive model’s hypothesis originates from social learning theories, excluding other influences such as genetics, personality, and family environment, and assumes that no one is immune to violent stimuli (Ferguson, CJ et al 2008, p. 314). This model implies that exposure to violent media reaching a certain threshold may cause violent behavior.

The Catalyst Model

C.J. Ferguson et al. (2008, p.314–315) introduced a more dynamic model called “the catalyst model” as an alternative theory relying more on biological motivation. C.J. Ferguson et al. argue that genetic factors shape children’s personality along with environmental factors such as family violence (Ferguson, CJ et al 2008). This model explains:

…individuals who have an aggressive personality are more likely to engage in violent behavior during times of environmental strain. Thus, although the environment does not cause violence propensity, times of stress may act as catalysts for violent acts for an individual already prone to them. Such environmental strains could include financial and social problems caused by divorce, legal troubles, and similar events.

(Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, pp.314–315)

Following this perspective, we can agree that many factors are correlated with violent behavior. Media violent acts as a catalysts only when an individual already has a ‘violence proneness’; in such cases, the individual may imitate the violent actions seen in the video games; C.J. Ferguson et al. (2008, p.315) conclude that ‘video game violence does not cause violent behavior but may have an impact on its form’.

Case Study

The Columbine Massacre and Its Implications

A tragic and heart-wrenching atrocity like the Columbine Massacre in 1999 provides a case for further analysis. The media often blames violent video games because one of the two killers, Erich Harris, was a fan of the violent game Doom. However, other underlying reasons likely influenced their violent behavior, such as the culture of discrimination and favoritism at Columbine High School, which led to bullying and revenge, and the possibility that Erich was a sociopath or a psychopath (Marsico 2011). Therefore, blaming violent video games seems unconvincing.

Both Eric and Dylan were active kids in Columbine High School, but later each expressed in their journals sentiments like ‘the lonely man strikes with absolute rage’. Despite their actions are not sympathetic, these statements suggest that their violent behavior was a desperate cry for help from two isolated boys.

Columbine High School was a ‘place of cliques and the athletes were the biggest, toughest group’ (Marsico 2011, p.17). For teenagers trying to find their identities, a clique-filled school environment can be more damaging than a broken family, as they need to fit into society. The loneliness caused by social isolation or even philosophical depression could be a much deeper and more powerful motivation for violent behavior, none of which stems from violent video games.

Funk’s Theory on Isolation

Funk (1982) analyses as following:

All isolation is experienced as a threat to vital interests and produce anxiety. Resistance to such anxiety normally provokes an aggressive attitude toward the threatening objects, and if this attitude is not overcome (as, for example, when such objects turn toward the individual with love), the individual develops an inclination toward destructiveness that becomes constant and governs all his relations to life.

(Funk 1982, p.41–42)

We might need to adopt a relatively neutral perspective on human nature, recognizing that humans are born with certain primitive power. During the process of socialization and civilization, the initial power can take two different paths: one leads to constructive self-actualization, and the other turns into destructive power due to encountered frustration. Funk (1982) elaborates on this as follows:

…it is only through the productive orientation in the process of assimilation and socialization that an individual can realize the possibilities and capacities that lie dormant within. Productive relatedness to the world simultaneously implies and evokes the individual’s relatedness to himself and to others and is an essential factor in the process of individuation.

(Funk 1982, p. 37)

The Line Between Fantasy Dream and Real Dream

In the case of the Columbine massacre, Erich Harris dreamed of enlisting in the US Marine Corps but the authorities rejected him. His real dream was not to become a killer like any prototype in violent video games. Although he confessed in his journal that he felt only “hatred”, he did not hate the idea of being a marine. The bullying at school and his rejection from the US Marine Corps symbolized real-world frustration. People like Erich Harris, who possess significant inner power and a young heart without the experience to handle frustration, may choose extreme measures. Hodge (2011, p. 6) argues that people use violent rivalry “to fill the hole created by the human inability to pacifically come to terms with the other, resulting in a violent mechanism that builds distorted identity.” Apparently, if Erich had been lucky, his life might have followed a productive path, allowing him to actualize his dream. In contrast, when Erich could not achieve his real dream, he turned to destructive fantasy dreams, likely rehearsed many times in violent video games, leading to his killing spree.

Sensation Seeker vs. Violent Seeker

For most people, even a violent game offers an escape from routine life, but being a sensation seeker does not necessarily mean being a violent seeker in the real world. People are interested in unusual, extraordinary experience in the game world, and the line between virtual violence and real violence remains very clear. Holm Sorensen and Jessen (Goldstein 2005, p.345) assessed that Danish kids were capable of drawing the line between fantasy and reality:

The children in the investigation, including the youngest who were five years old, are fully aware and can account for the difference between computer games as fiction and computer games as reality…It is also important that this exact feature [interactivity], which is usually described as a problem in relation to violent computer games — the fact that the player himself must conduct violent deeds — actually makes children aware that their actions take place in a fictitious universe. For children, computer games are in fact “games” with their own rules. From an early age, they are aware that these rules do not apply outside the realm of the game, with the exception that children can include elements and rules from the games in their play.

(Holm Sorensen & Jessen 2000, cited in Goldstein 2005, p.345)

Immersing in the game world is like acting in a movie. When the game (for acting) is over, most people know it’s time to return to real-life tasks like cooking dinner or doing homework. Being a mafia or an assassin for 45 minutes is just a brief escape from a potentially boring daily life. This is the purpose of entertainment. The key point is to educate people to play video games critically and reflectively (Gee 2005, p.5).

The Myth of Moral Panic Around Video Games

Actually, the fear of the popularity of video games can be related to ‘moral panic’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p.331). McRobbie and Thornton (1995, p.561–562) emphasize that authorities always want to ensure functional leadership from government by intervening in public opinion as moral guardians. However, such panic ‘is tempting to conclude that a difficult problem is caused by an easily remedied issue’ (Ferguson, CJ et al. 2008, p. 331). Regarding crime, Gee (2005, p.5) argues that the 20th century was less violent than the 19th century, back then when we had no video games to play. Cornell (n.d., pp.29–40) also notes that ‘when the gladiatorial games were at the height, the Roman world was largely at peace and the spectators in the arena had no direct experience of war or military service’. Gee(2005, p.5) suggests that a more efficient way to reduce violence is to address contexts such as family issues and social or cultural conflicts rather than monitoring kids excited by video games.

Conclusion

As CJ Ferguson et al. (2008, p. 331) summarize, ‘yet one generation’s violent media becomes the next generation’s literature, and our fundamental biology, innately aggressive as it sometimes may be, continues.’ If this conclusion based on human instinct sounds too desperate, we can certainly criticize the failure of entertainment to seek solutions in society. However, before doing so, we need to reflect on our education, parenting, policy making and value system. Entertainment production is merely a mirror of the real world and should not become the scapegoat.

(END)

References

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