Too often we hear about a mass shooting in the news. Innocent people die every day, but where are these shooters coming from, who are these men behind the guns, and, most importantly, what could possibly possess someone to want to commit such a horrible and senseless act? In the media-obsessed society we live in, fingers are occasionally pointed towards violent video games. Many believe that it is games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto that give young people the motivation to go out and massacre innocent people. Could video games really have that much of an influence that someone would be willing to take another person’s life?
On July 20, 2012, 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others during a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado (Almasy, O’Niell, Weisfeldt, & Cabrera, 2015). Holmes entered the theatre armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols. He began the attack by releasing two smoke-bombs and then shooting anyone who tried to exit the theatre. Shortly after the shooting, CNN released a report claiming that violent video games were a factor that lead to Holmes’ act of violence. An unnamed reporter from CNN alleged that Holmes stayed in his apartment for hours on end, playing his violent games, gathering his weapons, and anticipating the day where he could “play” in real life. The CNN broadcaster said, “I’m not saying video games make you a killer, but if you’re a psychopath, video games help you get in the mode to do the killing” (Noble, 2012).
On December 14, 2012, another shooting took place in Newton, Connecticut. The shooter, Adam Lanza, shot his mother in the head before traveling to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he massacred 20 students between the ages of 5 and 10 as well as 6 teachers. He then allegedly turned the gun around after 50-100 shots, and shot himself in the head. Only two of the teachers that were shot survived and none of the children. Years later, it is still unclear what Lanza’s motive was for the killing (Biography.com).
Lanza was known to play many shooter games, adding up more than 83,000 kills, including 22,000 headshots. He spent over 500 hours playing and completed nearly 5,000 matches to achieve such a record. His game of choice, Combat Arms, is a free, multi-player, first-person shooter game. Looking at these facts alone, it would appear as though, without a doubt, violent video games had to have had a huge impact in subconsciously turning a young adult into a mass murderer. However, Lanza had numerous other symptoms early on that, perhaps mostly in hindsight, appeared suspicious (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Years before the shooting, Lanza was described by his classmates to be jittery and rather disturbed, and he supposedly suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. Around his home, Lanza could be found wearing full military clothing, and even shot paper targets in his homemade, indoor shooting range. Shortly before the attack, Adam Lanza’s mother, Nancy Lanza, had told her son that he was not fit to be a marine. She asked him how he could be a marine if he would not even let people touch him. Lanza became more and more obsessed with the military, and was discovered to have photographs of dead children and dismembered bodies under his bed as well as gruesome drawings of his own. During his time of intense gaming in Combat Arms, around 2009, Lanza became obsessed with researching mass killings, avidly reading Wikipedia pages. He covered every inch of his walls in posters depicting weapons and war tanks. He blacked out his windows, allowed his mom to only communicate with him through e-mail, and created and hung up a 7ft by 4ft spreadsheet that listed the top 500 worst mass-murders of all time, ranked by how many were killed. He saved articles online about other school shootings (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Lanza’s homelife helped foster his love of violence. His mother, Nancy, would allow him to skip taking his Asperger’s medication, bought him his violent video games, and took him to shooting ranges. That Christmas she even planned on giving her son the money to buy a gun of his own. Despite these obvious red flags, Nancy never saw Lanza as a threat, and the entire family was shocked by the news. Neither Lanza’s father nor brother had talked to him in the two years prior to the shooting (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Lanza is a great example of how violent video games are a factor that can lead to real-life violent acts, but video games are not the main factor. They are not the biggest factor, but they are not insignificant. New research shows that violent video games do have short term effects on one’s levels of aggression. These games can “stir aggressive urges and mildly aggressive behavior” (Carey, 2013).
Kids who develop a habit of gaming are more likely to become aggressive over time. Studies have shown that it is children with already-present aggression that are drawn to violent video games in the first place. However, it is still not known whether violent video games can have any long-term effects that could lead someone to a crime like murder or assault. These circumstances, like the Sandy Hook massacre, are too infrequent to be able to study in depth (Carey, 2013). There simply is not enough evidence to definitively say that violent video games are linked to criminal behavior (Sifferlin, 2015).
Research on media violence has been going on since the 1950s, and studies on video game violence since the 1980s. This research is done under three categories: short-term lab experiments, longer-term studies, and correlation studies. One correlation study looked at the relationship between sales data for violent video games and violence rates in a variety of communities. It was discovered that a higher number of video game sales results in a lower rate of crime. This could mean that playing video games keeps potential criminals off of the streets, that video games are an outlet for people with violent urges, or that the two trends could be completely unrelated (Carey, 2013). It is impossible to conclude whether violent video games cause violent behavior because, according to violent media researcher Brad J. Busham from Ohio State University, “it is unethical for researchers to allow participants to engage in violent criminal behavior in their laboratory experiments” (Casey, 2015).
On August 13, 2015, a report was published by the American Psychology Association (APA) that looked at over 100 students from 2005-2013 who play violent video games. It was concluded that playing violent video games can increase aggressive thoughts and behaviors while also decreasing empathy and sympathy. The APA concluded that there is no single factor that can bring an individual to commit an act of violence or aggression (Sifferlin, 2015), and that other factors such as antisocial behavior, depression, difficult home life, delinquency, or academic problems also have a huge factor in the levels of aggression an individual can have (Casey, 2015). Still, the APA asked the video game industry to “increase parental controls over violence exposure in the games” (Sifferlin, 2015).
Though there is still much research to be done, the data lean towards video games not being the culprit behind the shootings we read about in the news. With such a large percentage of the population spending days of their lives playing violent video games, a large percentage of those gamers would be committing crimes if the games were really a huge factor behind someone’s inclination towards violence. 155 million Americans play video games, 42% of which play 3 or more hours every week (Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, 2015). With so many Americans playing video games, 21.7% of which are shooter (Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, 2015), it would make sense for there to be more shootings, or similar acts of violence. That is not to say that there should not be more investigation into the argument, but it is unlikely that violent video games could have that much of an impact. Criminals like James Holmes and Adam Lanza had a lot more going on in their heads and in their lives than just increased aggression due to violent video games.
It would be nearly impossible to completely stop young people from having access to violent video games, but a lot of responsibility needs to be put on parents to know what their kids are playing. Video games have become the babysitters for kids. They can have as much or as little of an influence as parents let them have.
Source List:
Almasy, S., O'Niell, A., Weisfeldt, S., & Cabrera, A. (2015, August 8). James Holmes sentenced to life in prison. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/us/james-holmes-movie-theater-shooting-jury/
Bates, D., & Pow, H. (2013, December 1). Lanza's descent to madness and murder: Sandy Hook shooter notched up 83,000 online kills including 22,000 'head shots' using violent games to train himself for his massacre. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516427/Sandy-Hook-shooter-Adam-Lanza-83k-online-kills-massacre.html
Biography.com Editors. (n.d.). Adam Lanza Biography. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/adam-lanza-21068899
Carey, B. (2013, February 11). Shooting in the Dark. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&pagewanted=all
Casey, M. (2015, August 17). Do violent video games lead to criminal behavior? Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-criminal-behavior/
Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry. (2015). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf
Noble, M. (2012, July 20). CNN Guest Blames Video Games For Dark Knight Rises Colorado Shooting. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/cnn-guest-blames-video-games-for-dark-knight-rises-colorado-shooting/
Sifferlin, A. (2015, August 17). Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression, Study Says. Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://time.com/4000220/violent-video-games/
On July 20, 2012, 24-year-old James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 others during a midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado (Almasy, O’Niell, Weisfeldt, & Cabrera, 2015). Holmes entered the theatre armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols. He began the attack by releasing two smoke-bombs and then shooting anyone who tried to exit the theatre. Shortly after the shooting, CNN released a report claiming that violent video games were a factor that lead to Holmes’ act of violence. An unnamed reporter from CNN alleged that Holmes stayed in his apartment for hours on end, playing his violent games, gathering his weapons, and anticipating the day where he could “play” in real life. The CNN broadcaster said, “I’m not saying video games make you a killer, but if you’re a psychopath, video games help you get in the mode to do the killing” (Noble, 2012).
On December 14, 2012, another shooting took place in Newton, Connecticut. The shooter, Adam Lanza, shot his mother in the head before traveling to Sandy Hook Elementary School where he massacred 20 students between the ages of 5 and 10 as well as 6 teachers. He then allegedly turned the gun around after 50-100 shots, and shot himself in the head. Only two of the teachers that were shot survived and none of the children. Years later, it is still unclear what Lanza’s motive was for the killing (Biography.com).
Lanza was known to play many shooter games, adding up more than 83,000 kills, including 22,000 headshots. He spent over 500 hours playing and completed nearly 5,000 matches to achieve such a record. His game of choice, Combat Arms, is a free, multi-player, first-person shooter game. Looking at these facts alone, it would appear as though, without a doubt, violent video games had to have had a huge impact in subconsciously turning a young adult into a mass murderer. However, Lanza had numerous other symptoms early on that, perhaps mostly in hindsight, appeared suspicious (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Years before the shooting, Lanza was described by his classmates to be jittery and rather disturbed, and he supposedly suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. Around his home, Lanza could be found wearing full military clothing, and even shot paper targets in his homemade, indoor shooting range. Shortly before the attack, Adam Lanza’s mother, Nancy Lanza, had told her son that he was not fit to be a marine. She asked him how he could be a marine if he would not even let people touch him. Lanza became more and more obsessed with the military, and was discovered to have photographs of dead children and dismembered bodies under his bed as well as gruesome drawings of his own. During his time of intense gaming in Combat Arms, around 2009, Lanza became obsessed with researching mass killings, avidly reading Wikipedia pages. He covered every inch of his walls in posters depicting weapons and war tanks. He blacked out his windows, allowed his mom to only communicate with him through e-mail, and created and hung up a 7ft by 4ft spreadsheet that listed the top 500 worst mass-murders of all time, ranked by how many were killed. He saved articles online about other school shootings (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Lanza’s homelife helped foster his love of violence. His mother, Nancy, would allow him to skip taking his Asperger’s medication, bought him his violent video games, and took him to shooting ranges. That Christmas she even planned on giving her son the money to buy a gun of his own. Despite these obvious red flags, Nancy never saw Lanza as a threat, and the entire family was shocked by the news. Neither Lanza’s father nor brother had talked to him in the two years prior to the shooting (Bates & Pow, 2013).
Lanza is a great example of how violent video games are a factor that can lead to real-life violent acts, but video games are not the main factor. They are not the biggest factor, but they are not insignificant. New research shows that violent video games do have short term effects on one’s levels of aggression. These games can “stir aggressive urges and mildly aggressive behavior” (Carey, 2013).
Kids who develop a habit of gaming are more likely to become aggressive over time. Studies have shown that it is children with already-present aggression that are drawn to violent video games in the first place. However, it is still not known whether violent video games can have any long-term effects that could lead someone to a crime like murder or assault. These circumstances, like the Sandy Hook massacre, are too infrequent to be able to study in depth (Carey, 2013). There simply is not enough evidence to definitively say that violent video games are linked to criminal behavior (Sifferlin, 2015).
Research on media violence has been going on since the 1950s, and studies on video game violence since the 1980s. This research is done under three categories: short-term lab experiments, longer-term studies, and correlation studies. One correlation study looked at the relationship between sales data for violent video games and violence rates in a variety of communities. It was discovered that a higher number of video game sales results in a lower rate of crime. This could mean that playing video games keeps potential criminals off of the streets, that video games are an outlet for people with violent urges, or that the two trends could be completely unrelated (Carey, 2013). It is impossible to conclude whether violent video games cause violent behavior because, according to violent media researcher Brad J. Busham from Ohio State University, “it is unethical for researchers to allow participants to engage in violent criminal behavior in their laboratory experiments” (Casey, 2015).
On August 13, 2015, a report was published by the American Psychology Association (APA) that looked at over 100 students from 2005-2013 who play violent video games. It was concluded that playing violent video games can increase aggressive thoughts and behaviors while also decreasing empathy and sympathy. The APA concluded that there is no single factor that can bring an individual to commit an act of violence or aggression (Sifferlin, 2015), and that other factors such as antisocial behavior, depression, difficult home life, delinquency, or academic problems also have a huge factor in the levels of aggression an individual can have (Casey, 2015). Still, the APA asked the video game industry to “increase parental controls over violence exposure in the games” (Sifferlin, 2015).
Though there is still much research to be done, the data lean towards video games not being the culprit behind the shootings we read about in the news. With such a large percentage of the population spending days of their lives playing violent video games, a large percentage of those gamers would be committing crimes if the games were really a huge factor behind someone’s inclination towards violence. 155 million Americans play video games, 42% of which play 3 or more hours every week (Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, 2015). With so many Americans playing video games, 21.7% of which are shooter (Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry, 2015), it would make sense for there to be more shootings, or similar acts of violence. That is not to say that there should not be more investigation into the argument, but it is unlikely that violent video games could have that much of an impact. Criminals like James Holmes and Adam Lanza had a lot more going on in their heads and in their lives than just increased aggression due to violent video games.
It would be nearly impossible to completely stop young people from having access to violent video games, but a lot of responsibility needs to be put on parents to know what their kids are playing. Video games have become the babysitters for kids. They can have as much or as little of an influence as parents let them have.
Source List:
Almasy, S., O'Niell, A., Weisfeldt, S., & Cabrera, A. (2015, August 8). James Holmes sentenced to life in prison. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/us/james-holmes-movie-theater-shooting-jury/
Bates, D., & Pow, H. (2013, December 1). Lanza's descent to madness and murder: Sandy Hook shooter notched up 83,000 online kills including 22,000 'head shots' using violent games to train himself for his massacre. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2516427/Sandy-Hook-shooter-Adam-Lanza-83k-online-kills-massacre.html
Biography.com Editors. (n.d.). Adam Lanza Biography. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.biography.com/people/adam-lanza-21068899
Carey, B. (2013, February 11). Shooting in the Dark. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&pagewanted=all
Casey, M. (2015, August 17). Do violent video games lead to criminal behavior? Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-criminal-behavior/
Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry. (2015). Retrieved November 15, 2015, from http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/ESA-Essential-Facts-2015.pdf
Noble, M. (2012, July 20). CNN Guest Blames Video Games For Dark Knight Rises Colorado Shooting. Retrieved November 11, 2015, from http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/cnn-guest-blames-video-games-for-dark-knight-rises-colorado-shooting/
Sifferlin, A. (2015, August 17). Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression, Study Says. Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://time.com/4000220/violent-video-games/