For those that do not remember, part one of this series was about the positive impacts of gaming. These included improving social skills through the interaction in multi-player games, as well as practical skills through the mechanics required in games of certain genres. In part two, I discussed the negative health impacts of gaming and game addiction--problems that probably affect a majority of gamers. In this final post, I will address violence and its correlation with video games.
Those against video games often cite violence as a primary focus of their argument. According to this article, the way that the media covers video game violence changed in around 2000. There has been a shift from sensationalizing the studies to adopting a more neutral tone that leaves room for the uncertainty of studies. After all, there are many lurking and confounding variables that lie within these studies of video game violence. For example, does the game focus on killing for a just or noble cause? Who or what are the gamers supposed to target (that is, are they killing humans in these games)?
A variable that was studied at the University of Arizona was the number of players. To be more specific, does it matter if the game is single-player or multi-player? What changes in the social interaction and violence occur if the game is multi-player? Working off the basis that most studies on video game violence deal with single-player games, the researchers tested and concluded that multi-player game modes can actually lead to increased cooperation in the long term.
There are a number of ways to interpret these results. Increased cooperation does not necessarily mean that the players are not being influenced by the violence, nor does it rule out the possibility that the players might cooperate in their violence. Taking a more positive approach, however, perhaps the increase in cooperation would lead to a friendship that lasts in games other than first person shooters. It is also possible that the positive effects of cooperation simply outweigh the violent effects of first person shooters. Regardless, nothing can be proven to cause another; correlation does not imply causation.
Finally, let us all remember that not all video games are not first person shooters that involve killing other people. Nor is there a reason to analyze every single game that we play--I certainly don't. As I'm farming (killing) "creeps" or "minions" in League of Legends, I am not thinking to myself, "Am I 'otherizing' the enemy team by working together with my team to beat them? Are these minions a metaphor for how the strong (champions) trample on the weak (minions)?" No, I am enjoying the game in itself, as the developers intended.
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| Minions are arriving from the bottom left and top right corners. More importantly, there is a team fight between champions. |
