The document provides an outline for a research essay on the topic of violence in video games. It discusses the author's plan to examine how the topic has been discussed over decades, look at viewpoints from both sides of the debate, and give their own perspective based on years of personal research. The author plans to analyze how the topic has changed public perception and the games industry over time in three sections focusing on each decade. Sources mentioned include old news clips, articles, and studies they will reference.

1. Theory Essay
James
Research

2. The myth of violence in video games
• This kind of topic, along with violence in movies, is a subj
ect that’s been covered for decades at this point. And that
's exactly why I chose a subject like this, it gives me an e
ndless source of articles to look at, and reference, there's
old magazine clippings I could find, and obviously there's
a few videos/news clips I can look at and get information f
rom.
• To get to as balanced of a conclusion as possible, I'll be
looking at the viewpoints from both sides, and why one
makes more sense than the other towards the end.
• It would make sense to give a brief summary at how this
whole topic started, which is where the old news clips/
newspaper clippings will come in handy. Each third of the
essay is going to address each decade this topic has
been at the forefront.

3. • I'll be looking at the public's reception to the topic, and
how the media has swayed some people's views on it,
and on the other side, how people have rejected the id
ea completely, and lastly, how the general public feels
about the topic in today's day and age.
• Of course, on top of the research, I'll be giving my own
point of view, since this topic is something that I've
personally looked at for years now, so I'm fairly well
versed and know what I'm talking about as well, which
will help me come to an overall conclusion to the
project.
• Lastly, I want to look at how this topic changed the
games industry itself, how game
publishers changed their products in response, and if
any games made a loss because of this controversy

4. Some things that I took away from this website (The
Guardian) are, it's very brief in the subject matter and
really doesn't go in depth at all.
It fails at explaining what the "positive correlation"
actually is, the most it did was link to the report in
question, and briefly explain it.
It does however provide some helpful quotes from the
report and some other studies.
"long-term impacts of violent video games on youth
aggression is near zero". When quoting that, they
don't link it back to one particular study, which leads
me to believe that this is a common conclusion
amongst every study that looks at this topic.
Something else I took note of from this article is the
bottom piece. "While that link may be slim, other
studies have shown wider emotional behaviour" It
then says that people who play video games
frequently are less distracted and disturbed by violent
images in other scenarios. It shows no bias when
talking about this and clearly leaves it to the reader to
decide if that’s a good or bad thing.
So, while the article is brief, it still brings a fair amount
of worthwhile evidence and links back to the proof
from the studies.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/jul/22/playing-video-games-doesnt-lead-to-violent-behaviour-study-shows

5. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/sports/trump-violent-video-games-studies.html
'Video Games Aren't Why Shootings
Happen. Politicians still blame them'

6. • This article has a lot more takeaways than the previous one, it goes very in depth and doesn't try and hide the
politicly driven nature that is often behind the issue. Being a more recent article it looks at more recent issues, but it
doesn't hold back in telling people how far back this issue has been on going.
• "Politicians have blamed violence on video games for decades. Their rhetoric quickly ramped up in the 1990s, after
games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom popularized the genre of violent first-person shooting games." And using
phrases like "Armed with little and often unconvincing evidence" the writer of this article clearly isn't trying to shy
away from where they stand with regards to this 'issue' as well.
• Aside from where they stand, the article also goes into the public's reaction to what happens when politicians try
and blame real life violent acts to video games, when they talk about the twitter
hashtag "#VideogamesAreNotToBlame" which was trending for the entire day after the speech in question was
given.
• The article gives many sources and quotes from a lot of different places and people to help provide the reader with
context. Some of the ones that come up the most are quotes directly taken from political representatives, and
Professors.
• The article even goes as far as to say most perpetrators directly give a reason as to why they commit such hate
filled crimes in the first place, and they're basically never connect to video games, or any other form of media for
that matter. "On Saturday, a 2,300-word manifesto appeared online minutes before the shooting in El Paso, Tex., in
which 21 people were killed. The second line of the hate-filled, anti-immigrant manifesto says the attack “is a
response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.”
• When looking at articles like this, it reminds me of old news footage and clips that are from 20+ years ago, and this
only shows me that the people in the highest form of power are still trying to use video games as a scapegoat by
influencing the media, but over time their affect has seriously dwindled.
• The article also brings up a common, but very true and very important point when it says, "If video games did
indeed cause some mass shootings, one might expect such events to be common in Japan or South Korea. Both
countries spend more per capita on video games than the United States" "But Japan and South Korea — both of
which have very strict laws limiting gun ownership — have among the lowest rates of violent crime in the world"

7. Sources:
• https://screenrant.com/night-trap-game-esrb-rating-creation-1990s/
• https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/night_trap_controversy/zkq3y9q
'Night Trap Controversy, 1993'
&
'Night Trap: How The
Controversial 90s Game
Created The ESRB'

8. • To get a full understanding of the subject I went and looked back at two different games that are most notorious for causing
controversy with their graphic content, those being Night Trap, and Doom.
• I included two different articles to look at for the night trap example, one much more recent one, and one that features a video from
1993, the year after the game launched.
• Looking at the 1993 article first, it’s an interesting video to look back on as it touches on basically all the same points that are still
being brought up to this day, except the hysteria back then was much more prevelent, "And already a moral panic was in full swing,
with fear created around violent games and their supposed link to aggressive behavior." The video features a few interviews, the
one that would obviously stick with most people is the one of an older woman who is fully going against the game and everything in
it, claiming things like "it's dangerous for the children and it's dangerous for the public", she also claims that it teaches children to
murder and mutilate, while obviously not true, this would stick with people because the claims she's making are so extreme, and she
claims these 'points' in an almost panicked and rushed tone. The news knew this and played her clip first.
• The clip does feature another interview, this one represents the side of the video game developers, and the average consumer, they
make points like, "night traps styleised violence is no worse than any feature films shown to family audiences on televison" and "No
one visably gets hurt in the game, it's all done by suggestion". Points like these are still brought up to this day, however, it's games
like night trap that are the reason the ESRB ("Entertainment Software Rating Board") was formed. This system, though, can be and
is used against parents now, as the blame can now be placed on them for allowing their children to play video games that are rated
far too highly for them. I don't think this segment of the interview stuck with people as much because it was much more laid back
and calm, and was actually making sense, and it wasn't as 'in your face', which isn't what people paid attention to back then.
• The more recent article is much more reflective and looks back on the hight of the game's controversy, the tone surrounding it's
conversation is much more tame and accepting now though, like the medium of more intense and violent video games is just
common place. Even though the article is discussing the complete 'negative impact' the game had at the time, it still finds room to
shoot down any ideas that the game promoted a violent lifestyle, even now 20+ years later, "While the claims against the video
game were unfounded and false, it did not stop the mass concern of violent video games." The article even claims that the ESRB
was created under completely false claims "The false claims against Night Trap resulted in the creation of ESRB"
• This shows me that most of the major media outlets can now look back and laugh at the claims, that even they were making 20
years ago (or at least fueling), after all its media outlets like these that helped fuel the outcry of violent video games and even music.
It shows that the stigma of violent video games has changed drastically in the last decade or so, and most media outlets are much
more accepting of them.

9. Source: https://www.wickedhorror.com/features/editorials/doom-and-columbine-the-effect-of-the-columbine-high-school-massacre-on-the-video-game-industry/
'Doom and Columbine: The Effect Of T
he Columbine High School Massacre
On The Video Game Industry'

10. • This article goes in depth looking at the allegations that 'Doom' faced around the time of the Colombine shooting. As the article
states, the people that were responsible for the shootings, were big fans of the game and played it a lot in their free time. That
one fact is what tipped decades of accusations and false information.
• This happened at a very awkward time for the media, as the article states, the incident happened at "The rebirth of the
modern media" which means that false information could spread even quicker, which it did, as this was the peak of the fear
and hate of intense and violent video games. I believe this is the reason that video games have been the scapegoat of many
incidents for so long, and its why people believe false information that’s been redundant for decades.
• The article states that people tried suing the developers of Doom a few years after the Colombine shooting, however the legal
system didn't really recognise video games as a legit product that could impact people back then, "But, a federal judge
dismissed the case on the grounds that video games are not subject to product liability laws, like CEOs or business owners
are." That's since changed, but it shows that even the legal system didn't take these claims seriously, and even if they did,
there wasn't enough evidence against Doom, all people really had was claims and incomplete research.
• This article has its own sets of facts and briefly describes how the research on video games has changed over time, and how
its only gotten better, "These studies have been recently disproved because factors such as the competitiveness of such
games were not considered, as well as the fact that scientists neglected to study long term effects, or even make a concise
definition of aggression. Additionally, these studies were completed directly after the subjects involved played the video
games, instead of using before and after scenarios to compare their behaviour and create a control." The way this segment is
worded makes it seem like the research that used to be conducted was biased and was trying to go against video games,
which would be most likely given the mass hysteria at the time.
• Lastly, the article mentions a point that I think more people need to address and talk about, and it's something that the other
articles have neglected to address too. It says that people should look at the real issues that plagued the shooters, and how
we as a society should look at fixing them, instead of blaming things with almost no evidence to back up the claims. "Millions
of people play, and have played, Doom; killing their friends or terrorizing their neighbourhood. So, while Doom is an intensely
violent game, video games, music, TV Shows and movies should not be blamed for senseless violence. Instead of crying out
for the ban of Doom and Mortal Kombat, what should have been demanded was a serious look at the real issues that plagued
the shooters; that is the real tragedy here." And its something that the people in power are still refusing to do, even now so
many years later, they still try and pin the blame on 'violent' media.

11. -Gaming Historian
'The Story of the ESRB'
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv3HDVd22P8&ab_channel=GamingHistorian

12. • The government started to agree with the sentiment that violence in video games was starting to get a bit
too out of hand for it to not be regulated, so they established the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating
Board) to try and regulate any mature video games with adult themes and imagery.
• Video games weren't the only form of entertainment to get this level of backlash, things
like Music (Specifically rap, and Metal) Movies, and TV shows also got a lot of push back and controversy
from the government, as well as the public.
• Games like, Mortal Combat, Doom, and Night Trap, were all the reason the ESRB was even established in
the first place. All of those examples have some kind of controversy surrounding them too.
• The ESRB was built on a lot of different factors, general misinformation, fear and scepticism surrounding
this massive new form of entertainment, and an overall uneasy climate around the topic of violent video
games. Some people wanted all violent games to be discontinued as soon as possible, but, most were
more fair and saw it more fitting to have some kind of 'video game rating system' similar to what movies
have.
• To this day the system is still in use, and it is required that all video games must go through the ESRB
board before they get released, so that they can get a fair enough rating based on the content within.
• After the establishment of the ESRB and the controversy around the entire debate, SEGA had to move all
of their video game products out of any and all toy stores, and instead sell them in technology and
computer stores. Although after the hype of the discussion died down, video games started getting easier
to find in common shops, things like Sainsburys, or HMV, still to this day, you won't find many, if any video
games on toy store shelves.