Ethics of games

Ethics of games: Violent game play and its effect on children



Technology is rapidly advancing; this can be seen in many ways. Whether it is new educational tools, music storage systems or the ultimate computer- technology is evolving. One area that this can be seen with is the gaming world. 30 years ago to play the latest video game you had to go down to the local arcade and try and get your moneys worth until the arcade closed for the night. Whereas in modern day most households have a variety of means to get you playing latest games with no limits on how much time you can spend on them. Whether it is a personal computer, handheld device or your TV, these new consoles and technology result in the advancement in the content of the games. It is games that are highly debated in the media. The content of the games is always queried as to what effect it has on children.  This essay will discuss how video games can affect children’s behaviour and state of mind, looking into games with suitable and non-suitable content for children of all ages.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s computers were brought into the educational system which assisted children’s learning. At first schools rejected this new technology because PCs were only limited to basic word format and lacked graphics and sound capabilities. It wasn’t until about 1984 that Acorns BBC model was approved by the British educational system, this was mainly because these machines were British made and supported sound and graphics. With the new technology now supporting graphics and sound schools had to find a way of to keep children’s interests. Educational games were introduced and helped children with there maths and English in the form of game. These educational games progressed over the years along with the PCs capabilities and went on to help children learn other studies such as science, art and languages. They are now seen as a ‘popular learning and playing tool, especially with young children’ (Din et al, 2001, pg 95) 

Despite all of these advancements there are still many people that oppose children playing video games that are deemed by many to be violent. With media coverage to boot, we are told as a nation that children playing video games can lead to them becoming violent: “Distressed families flood psychiatrists over children dangerously addicted to computer games and the internet” (McDougall B; 2011; The Daily Telegraph).
In many ways people will always search for someone to blame, many a time the blame for actions carried out by gamers is placed upon the game companies themselves. But is this justified? Epic Games’ lead designer stated during an interview with the BBC, following a court case regarding violent content within one of their games: “We have an internal moral compass where we will decide, 'No that's a little bit too much,' or we need to cut the violence back a little bit,”(Jones D, 2010, BBC news Technology). However it seems that not all game companies have a “moral compass”. Grand Theft Auto, created by Rockstar, was immensely infamous for its violent content.  It caused such outrage and moral offence to the general public. The content was even viewed that explicit that it was held responsible after an incident in Thailand where an 18 year old male tried to re-enact a scene from the game, sadly resulting in the death of a taxi driver. The Thai Government then intervened and as a result banned the game forthwith from the country (Reed J, 2004, BBC Radio News beat). Some games have been forbidden to be resold such as Manhunt being banned because of the explicit content. It is with games such as the named above that we have to question our own ethics; is it morally correct to allow these games to be sold, or are we merely hindering the progressive nature of society and enclosing it in an invisible protective barrier?  Many researchers both in the sociological and psychological fields have explored whether or not there is proof that playing video games can cause mental harm and incite violent behaviour from minors.

Research conducted by Gentile et al (2004) found that adolescents that subjected themselves to more gaming time than that recommended were in fact more aggressive and violent towards their parents and teachers. This is not a new phenomenon however; back when video games and their graphics were in the infantile stage, adults were still concerned of the supposed violent nature of these games. Other researchers have also found that playing violent video games could cause high blood pressure due to lack of excise and frustration caused by complicated game play(Hermosillo, nd, El Universal newspaper of Mexico).


On the other hand, video games can be seen to help rather than hinder the youthful population. The BBC published a report that told of the wonders of video games that assisted and encouraged children with cystic fibrosis to undertake their compulsory physiotherapy. Before this experiment, statistics showed that the children with this terminal disease struggled to take their medicines due to a lack of motivation. Nevertheless when doctors started using the video games to help them improve, as best as possible, there was a drastic improvement in the wellbeing of these children as well as improved motivation levels (Gallagher J; 2011; BBC News Health). In addition, it is also questionable as to what extent video games do have an adverse effect on the behaviour of children. Despite there being news of aggressive children and killing sprees, it is a very, very small minority that commit these crimes and have behavioural issues. Research conducted in America has shown that violent crime has decreased whilst their sales of games have increased vastly.

There are always other factors that impede upon any situation. Peers, parents, family life, media etc all have masses amount of effect on a child’s behaviour. With the latest technology ever growing children are seeing more and more graphic content and in some situations becoming confused what is real and what fictional images are. As computer game graphics become more enhanced to look like the real world so does the imagination to believe that this could really happen. One theory was that children will try to re-enact everyday events that they see throughout their lives. A prime example of this that it still debated about today can be seen in Albert Bandura’s study of the Bobo Doll from 1961. Bandura used 72 3-6 year old American children in his experiment to determine how a child mimics the behaviour of the adults they see around them. His findings showed that children are more likely to exert aggressive and violent behaviour if they have witnessed an adult doing so. Likewise if an adult is passive then again the child mimics this behaviour also. Therefore it is questionable whether gameplay violence is the only element to be blamed in an aggressive child’s behaviour; instead their behaviour may be due to them mimicking that of their parent’s/ peers/ acquaintances etc behaviour (Mcleod S; 2011; Simply Psychology). Evidence shows that games are sold internationally yet crimes within these countries are different. If the theory that video games incite violent behaviour is correct then it should be reasonable to assume that the behaviour of minors should be them same in all countries were the same violent game is sold. However this is untrue. Violence in the USA is higher than that in other foreign countries; this is dependant upon the accessibility to weapons, the background of the individual and other statistics. (Entertainment Software Association, 2011)


O’ Toole (2000) found that the numerous amount of mass murders committed in schools by young people, predominantly male, were caused by the playing of violent video games. He furthered this though by stating it was less about the game play than it was about the violent imagery for these young people that enticed them to commit the brutal acts they did.

Overall it can be said that this argument on the ethical boundary will never wholly be conclusive. It has been shown that, yes, although gaming can bring about violent and uncharacteristic traits in children, there are always other elements and factors that can bring about this behaviour. We have seen, through scientific research, that children learn largely through actions of adults and peers and the media as a whole; and not just the persona that they take in the virtual world. The gaming companies do have to be aware of the content of their games, as any good business ought to do. Nevertheless, it is also the responsibility of the parents, the children themselves, the place of purchase and of course the government to ensure that these games are fit to sell. Games nevertheless can be used for the greater good and encourage people and help them in many ways as we have seen. So as always there are two sides to every story and unfortunately this argument will never be totally resolved as every person has different beliefs as we all have different morals and are individuals ourselves.



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