The games people play
Games consoles are a popular Christmas present but are they making us aggressive and anti-social? Jane
Turner looks at how we can play nicely.
Video games are big business. Sales of games software now exceed UK box office takings and nearly exceed music sales.
One in five households now owns a PlayStation, the most popular video game platform selling over three times as many
consoles as its nearest rival X-box. Fewer of us have handheld consoles with Nintendo's Game Boy being the most popular.
The Nokia N-Gage, a handheld console and a mobile phone, is a new twist on the same story. Video games can also be
played on PCs. See our report on computers (from Ethical Consumer 84, Sept 2003) for best buy computers.
Only four major companies make the consoles, and these are featured on the table. But there are hundreds of
companies developing and publishing the actual games software. The leading publishers are based in the USA,
France and Japan and include the console makers Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.
Most of the publishing companies, companies like Electronic Arts, SEGA, and Activision, just develop and
publish games. Only a handful have fingers in other pies. Vivendi, for example, also owns water, telecommunications
and music companies. Most of the publishers would receive a similar ethiscore rating with not much to differentiate
them. The exceptions are Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Vivendi and controversial publisher, Take Two.
Whilst all of the publishers release violent games, Take Two has attracted the most criticism,
especially for its Grand Theft Auto games in which you are rewarded for killing policemen and
running over pedestrians. The San Andreas version of Grand Theft Auto had to be re-rated recently
to 18+ after it was discovered that pornographic content could be accessed by downloading a modification
online.Take Two is also responsible for the much-criticised murder simulator Manhunt and a new game called
Bully in which one pupil kicks another while a third watches.
Natural teachers
Studies have shown that video games can have positive effects.(1) Children find them highly motivating; by virtue
of their interactive nature, children are actively engaged with them; they provide repeated practice; and they include
rewards for skillful play. People can learn spatial and visual attention skills from video games whilst educational
software can improve academic achievements.(1)
Given the fact that video games can have several positive effects, it should come as no surprise that they also
can have negative ones. Research has documented negative impacts of video games on children's physical health,
including obesity, video-induced seizures and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as tendonitis,
nerve compression, and carpal tunnel syndrome.(1) However, these effects are not likely to occur for most children.
The research to date suggests that parents should be most concerned about two things: the amount of time that children
play, and the content of the games that they play.(1)
Violence begets violence?
Although the video games industry is at pains to deny the link between its products and real world violence, many studies
have shown that playing violent games has a positive correlation with antisocial and aggressive behaviour
(most researchers define violence in games as when the player can intentionally harm other characters
in the game).(1) Content analyses show that a majority of games contain some violent content, more often than not
described as 'mild violence' or 'mild cartoon violence'.
And about half of those include violence that would result
in serious injuries or death. The most violent games are the 'first-person shooter games' (i.e. games which put the
player in the killer's role such as Mortal Kombat and Tomb Raider). The industry says that these type of games have
older age ratings and are not intended for children, but US studies have shown that children of 7 have been sold
'M rated' games (see later).
Looking across the dozens of studies that have now been conducted on violent video games, there appear to be five major
effects. Playing violent games leads to increased physiological arousal, increased aggressive thoughts, increased
aggressive feelings, increased aggressive behaviours, and decreased prosocial helping behaviours.(1)
In a 22nd March 2000 interview on ABC Television, lawyer Jack Thompson alleged that the killers at Columbine High School
scanned yearbook pictures into the video game Doom. This allowed them to shoot at images of their classmates within the
game - a simulation that turned into a tragic reality. Jack Thompson represents families who are suing Id Software Inc.
and other companies for being accessories to mass school shootings.(2)
Game over
Research shows that parents have an important role. Children whose parents limited the amount of time they could play
and also used video game ratings to limit the content of the games do better in school and also get into fewer fights.(1)
Regarding limiting the amount, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children not spend more than one to
two hours per day in front of all electronic screens, including TV, DVDs, videos, video games (handheld, console, or
computer), and computers (for non-academic use). This means seven to 14 hours per week total. In 2004, the average US
school-age child spent over 37 hours a week in front of a screen (nine of them on video games, although the average
for boys is much higher than for girls).(1)
Playstations for peace
With the majority of games containing some kind of violence, finding a non-violent game can be difficult.
Educational games
Called 'edutainment' in the games industry, these are the safest bet but there are virtually no educational games
available for consoles, although there are many made for computers. Publishers of edutainment, like Dorling Kindersley
and BBC Multimedia, do not publish violent games. Check out the UK Parents Information Network which provides an
independent service for the evaluation of educational software and websites suitable (www.pin.org.uk/).
Sports and puzzles
Sports games, simulation games (like Virtual Pets), chess games, racing games and arcade puzzle games like Tetris
are other non-violent options. Football games are usually in the top 5 best selling video games. Most of these games are
published by the mainstream companies alongside their 'shoot 'em up' titles.
Animal rights games
Steer Madness is an animal rights themed video game for the computer published by independent company Veggie Games.
Described as 'Grand Theft Auto' meets 'Chicken Run', Bryce the steer has recently escaped from the slaughterhouse and
needs your help to liberate all the animals in the city and replace all meat products with tofu. You can buy copies
from Viva! at www.viva.org.uk or by ringing 0117 944 1000.
Steer Madness was runner up in PETA's 2004 Progressive Awards in the category of best animal friendly video game.
The winner was Whiplash, a game published by Eidos (who also publish the violent Tomb Raider). Whiplash features a
shackled animal duo on a mission to escape and sabotage an animal-testing corporation. It is rated Teen by the ESRB
with a 'mild violence' descriptor.
Christian games
There are also Christian video game developers, like Digital Praise. Their 'Adventures in Odyssey' games (for ages 8+)
are not overtly religious, and they don't apparently push any particular set of beliefs except basic goodness. Buy them
online from www.digitalpraise.com.
Serious games
Lastly, there are so-called 'serious games', many of which have a progressive or political message. They are all played
online on a computer. There are various eco games on the Greenpeace website at www.greenpeace.org/international/fungames.
UNICEF also have a games website at www.unicefgames.org where you can find 'World Heroes', in which players must lead
UNICEF on a relief mission. The goal of the video game 'Madrid' at newsgaming.com is to pay homage to the victims of the
Madrid terror attacks. The Guardian described newsgaming as SimChomsky. Also check out tropicalamerica.com, activismgame.com
and watercoolergames.org.
Ratings on the games boxes
In the UK, under a voluntary scheme, video games are given an age rating by the software publishers. The PEGI age
bands are 3+, 7+, 12+ and 16+ and 18+. This age rating may be accompanied by one of six symbols describing the content
of the software � violence, drugs, sex, fear, discrimination or bad language. You can search the PEGI online database
at www.pegi.info/index.html to see what rating a particular title has and who publishes it. The USA operates a different
voluntary system run by the ESRB.
Unlike the PEGI system, the ESRB ratings are not decided by the software publishers
but by independent raters, although the ratings are based on footage submitted by the publisher. There are currently
6 ESRB rating symbols (EC - Early Childhood 3+; E � Everyone 6 +; E10+ - Everyone 10 and older; T - Teen; M - Mature;
AO - Adults Only) and over 30 different content descriptors that refer to violence, sex, language, substance abuse,
gambling, humour and other potentially sensitive subject matters.
The ESRB ratings system seems more stringent that the PEGI system. For example, 'Spyro the Dragon- Enter the
Dragonfly' is rated 3+ over here but 6+ in the USA. The ESRB website is also more useful to parents who want to only
choose games with a certain rating. You can search the website (www.esrb.org) by ratings and content descriptors ie.
you can search for only games with an EC rating which do not have 'mild cartoon violence' as a content descriptor.
Independent ratings
- MediaWise provides information about the impact of media (TVs, videos, video games) on children, and "gives people
who care about children the resources they need to make informed choices". MediaWise is a initiative of the US National
Institute on Media and the Family, a non-profit organization. They produce comprehensive 'KidScore' ratings for video
games and films on the basis of violence, language and sexual content and other factors.
Visitors to the website can
contribute their own ratings. Their Video Report Card 2004 lists '10 games to avoid for your children and teens' and
'10 recommended games for children and teens'. Because it is a US website, be aware that the recommended games include
American football games. Their website also includes tips for parents when choosing a game and tips for appropriate
game playing.
- Parent Previews is a US site (www.parentpreviews.com/html/games.shtml) grading the video game violence
of a limited number of games.
What's wrong with toys of violence?
By Sue Spencer (from Christian Peacemaker Teams at
www.cpt.org)
- They do not engage our children and young people in our struggles
to maintain peace.
- They desensitize children to the results of violence � pain,
crippling and death.
- They endorse violence as a way of solving problems.
- They do not help develop reasoning or verbal skills.
- They require no imagination or creativity. A pull of a trigger or push of a button takes
care of any problem.
- They reverse the positions of the normal virtues
and vices: they downgrade patience, compassion and the spirit of cooperation,
while upgrading quick-trigger responses, aggressiveness and hate.
- They blur the distinction between things and people, especially the current hybrid
or robot toys that "convert" from warriors into rocks and vehicles and back
into warriors again.
- They endorse dealing with any beings who are "different"
from us with violence.
- They increase children's desires for real guns,
knives, rifles, etc.
- They do not reflect today's realities in the following
ways:
- they do not (cannot) convey the degree of danger posed to all humankind
if or when it forsakes negotiation and resorts to all-out violence.
- they
do not indicate that our military might is supposedly subservient to politics.
- they make war seem exciting and fun.
- they equate survival with attacking,
winning, and being dominant. In actuality, survival may well depend upon
compromise and cooperation.
Links
- MediaWise - www.mediafamily.org
� US group which produces KidScore ratings and Video Game Report Cards.
- PEGI online database - UK age ratings and game descriptors - www.pegi.info/index.html
- ESRB website - www.esrb.org
� searchable website for US age ratings and content descriptors.
- 'Chicks and joysticks � an exploration of women and gaming' ELSPA report September
2004. Download as a pdf from www.elspa.com/about/pr/index.asp
- Violence is Not Child's Play campaign aimed at congregations, meetings or
groups to challenge retailers marketing violence to children , run by US Christian
Peacemaker Teams, a project of North American Mennonite and Church of the Brethren
congregations and Friends meetings. www.cpt.org/violent_toys/play.php
References
1 Video Game Report Card 2004 � MediaWise (
www.mediafamily.org/research/2004_VGRC.pdf)
2 Parents Previews website -
www.parentpreviews.com
3 Report on 'Virtual Boy' product by Stanford University: 14 May 2001