Video Game Violence

When I’ve had a tough day at work, I like to go home, take out an automatic shotgun, and start blowing away everything that moves. I’m not a mass murderer or a homicidal maniac. On the contrary, nobody dies or even gets hurt on my little killing spree. That’s because all of the violence is make-believe. It occurs on a virtual landscape, where all the gore is digitized and the gun in my hands is a harmless controller. Nobody gets hurt because I do my killing on a video game.

Video game violence has been a hot-button issue since the hardware became powerful enough to simulate its real world counterpart convincingly. Through the medium of video games, people can finally live out their fantasies of antisocial behavior without fear of consequence. All it takes is a quick trip to the video store and you can kill, steal, and cause mayhem to your heart’s content.

The problem that most people seem to have with this is its social impact. Those of a more conservative mindset feel that video game violence is improper or immoral just because doing these things in real life is wrong. And while there can be no case made against the fact the theft, murder, and mayhem are criminal, how can these things be considered as such in a completely virtual setting? If nobody is being hurt, why is video game violence morally wrong?

The fact of the matter is that there’s nothing wrong with video game violence. Actually, it can be a very effective method of stress relief. Human beings have violent impulses that need to be sublimated or redirected to enhance mental health and social functioning. To say that video games are wrong is to say the same of sports or television. All three can be violent, and all three are used as entertainment and stress relief.

There is, perhaps, one valid argument against video game violence, specifically its impact on young gamers. To an impressionable mind still developing a sense of right and wrong, violent games may frame criminal activity in an inappropriate manner. Children who engage in violent gaming may come to accept violence as proper conduct. This observation is, quite naturally, a moot point, as games of this caliber always have an age limit. However, it is a fair enough observation to note that children occupy a majority of the violent gaming populace.

The real problem, then, should not be one of whether or not to disallow such games, but of how to better restrict their use to the proper age groups. Much like cigarettes, their consumption should be carefully monitored and controlled to keep them out of the wrong hands. The same risks apply, of course, as there is no way to keep cigarettes out of a child’s hands if a parent is willing to supply them.