Are Video Games Really To Blame For Violence Within Our Culture?

I was listening to the radio one afternoon and a fascinating telephone debate caught my attention. It was about youth unemployment in this country and it was the comments of one telephone caller that really got me listening, angry and thinking. The middle aged man (who will remain anonymous, well to be honest I can't remember his name!) tried to link the current rise of unemployment to the amount of violent video games available to buy today. Claiming that the video game charts were full of them, blaming them for young peoples attitudes to life and how they are too lazy to get a job. He spoke of a very old fashioned stereotypical viewpoint that an older generation may have. So here we are, inspired by this anonymous mans comments and fuelled by my annoyance, I decided to explore this age old view point, studying the global video game charts over the years to gain an understanding of whats popular, what are we playing, are they violent or non violent? Are they getting more violent? This anonymous man quite frankly is imploring that there is more violence within are culture and more ways of seeing this violence. That we are becoming a more violent society. If this is true. A History Of Violence Psychology Professor Steven Pinker at Harvard University has studied, researched and wrote an interactive book on the history of violence within society and the human mind called The 20 Worst Things people Have Done To Each Other. In an interview with New Scientist magazine he talks a little about his findings. One such point discussed was rather intriguing and useful for this article, he mentions; 'I was struck by a graph I saw of homicide rates in British towns and cities going back to the 14th century. The rates had plummeted by between 30 and 100-fold. That stuck with me, because you tend to have an image of medieval times with happy peasants coexisting in close-knit communities, whereas we think of the present as filled with school shootings and mugging and terrorist attacks.'

A very general look at the history of violence within are society and quite clearly the level of violence has subsided drastically. But with modern technology theres an apparent mix of new forms of violence. But also new ways of reporting on it. News travels fast in todays world and we have access to many ways of learning about crimes that have happened all across the world. So clearly again are perception and knowledge of worldly crimes have gone up, not the level of violence. This is noted by Steven, who explains; 'Yes forms of violence that would once have been off peoples radar are now characterised as Violence. Also the human mind loves to learn about violence, blood sells. The Media don't report that several hundred people died peacefully in their sleep, but if five of them had been blown up, that would be news. More generally when conflicts peter out it never makes the headlines.' So from what Steven is pointing out to us is that violence has subsided over the centuries, how why and what from? 'I don't think there is a single answer. One cause is government, that is third party dispute, resolution: courts and police. The expansion of literacy, journalism, history, science, feminisation - all of the ways in which we see the world from the other guy's point of view.'

Leisure and entertainment have expanded through science and technology giving us the opportunity to experience life through another perspective, another point of view. Switching the focus to video games, there are certainly plenty of perspectives to view from and as technology has improved in the industry, it has opened the doors for more opportunities to explore view points that were not possible in the past. For example (yes it was inevitable that this game was going to be mentioned, in fact it was the only game the telephone caller mentioned in his rant on the radio) Grand Theft Auto allows us to view the world from a criminals perspective. We can steal cars, murder innocent people, fight the police and not care about anything! But are we as violent as the character we play? Are we going to do that in real life? No, of course not! According to Steven's observations its these new perspectives that have helped contribute to us becoming less violent. Taking violence of the streets and out of our minds, letting us see the consequences of our actions. Top Of The Pops Now with a bit of background work out of the way I want to focus the next part on the video game charts. According to our mysterious phone caller, todays charts are crammed full of blood, guts and gore! So I decided to take a look at the current global top 20 video game charts and see whats the top selling game, is it violent or not? The percentage of games that are violent (rated 15 and up) and non-violent (below 15 and family friendly). So what is currently 2012's highest selling game to date? Well that would be Mario Kart 7! Which I classed as non-violent because it is rated below 15. Yes I know you might argue that throwing green shells at each driver is considered a violent act but, then its no worse than Tom and Jerry. Just Dance 3 is second followed by Super Mario Land 3D. The highest selling 15 plus game is Modern Warfare 3 in 5th Spot and the percentage of violent to non violent games in the top 20 works out as, violent; 40%, Non-violent 60%. Quite clearly not what the phone caller had seen and I'm not sure where he must of been looking either! To be honest I was a bit surprised by that result, I always thought it would be a bit closer but I definitely was certain that violent games didn't dominate the chart. Because of that result I decided to take a look at the global chart from 2011. Here is what I found. Modern Warfare 3 was the highest selling game followed by Just Dance 3 and Super Mario Land 3D. A game rated 18 plus being the most popular for 2011, so did that mean possibly that there will be a higher percentage of violent games this year? The Percentages were, violent; 35%, non-violent 65%. Surprisingly only a five percent swing in favour of violent games! How about 2010? Top 3 selling games of 2010 were; Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Super Mario Brothers Wii. All non-violent once again, although Call of Duty Black Ops was the fourth highest selling game. But this time Violent games made up 20% of the top 20 and non-violent 80%. A 15% swing in favour of family friendly video games. In 2009 surprisingly saw the same top 3; Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Super Mario Brothers Wii. Modern Warfare 2 being the top violent game came in 4th with violent games making up 30% to non-violent 70%. Still the charts favour a family friendly audience. Especially when you look at the top 3 best selling games. In 2008 the top 3 games were; Wii Sports, Mario Kart wii and Wii fit. GTA 5 was 6th representing the highest violent game in the charts. Violent games made up 30% of the top 20 to 70% of non-violent games.

In 2007 saw Wii Sports, Pokemon Diamond and Wii Play making up the top 3 with Halo 3 coming in 4th. With only 15% of the charts being made up of violent orientated games to non-violent at 85%. 2006 had Mario Brothers DS, Nintendogs and Brain age making up the top 3. Gears of War was the highest violent game coming in 8th with violent games making up 20% and non-violent games at 80%. The top 3 of 2005 were Nintendogs, Mario Kart DS and GTA on the PSP. Finally a violent game which is also not made by Nintendo has broken into the top 3! Yet only 10% of the top 20 is made up of violent games, with non violent making up the other 90%. The smallest amount for violent games in the top 20 charts out of the last 8 years. Now this is as far as I could research the charts unfortunately, as I could not find any more records dating further back than this. Which is a shame as it would of been great to then go back to the eighties and nineties. From looking at the data from the charts above, ok you could always say that there has been an increase in violent games within the charts by at least by 30%. But they have never dominated. The charts over the past eight years have been mainly made up of family orientated games and have fluctuated over the years. Hall Of Fame So I decided to take a look at the top 20 all time best selling games. The top 3 were as follows; Wii Sports, Super Mario Brothers (the original) and Mario Kart Wii. A total dominance by Nintendo. The highest violent game in the chart was in 16th which was GTA San Andreas. Most surprisingly of all was that only 5% of the top 20 was made up of violent games (thanks to GTA) and 95% to non-violent (thanks mainly to Nintendo who dominate the chart). So then I thought since it was the chart for the all time best selling video games, I looked at the top hundred. Here there was only a 10% swing in favour of violent video games. 85% of the chart was still in favour of non-violent. Since the second highest game of all time was made in 1985, the chart covers pretty much the entire history of the video game industry and over that time out of the games that have been sold, 85% percent have been non-violent. So have video games ever been violent? Is it because the industry began with aiming their games at children? The majority of the top 100 highest selling games still heavily favour a non violent trend. Out of the top three the most violent it gets is throwing shells at each other and stomping on top of mushroom shaped creatures. Hardly any worse than Tom and Jerry! The Verdict With better computer graphics, people assume that games now come with a more graphic nature of violence. But there have always been games around that portrayed a strong image on our screens. Chiller for example from 1986 (seen above) shows people being tortured and ripped apart. But what truly comes through these days are many new genres and activities such as cooking, volleyball and dancing. Fitness and Social video games are hugely popular at the moment, with an emphases on making new friends and working together. Can you not say that this is a sign of a rapidly growing market and industry? Trying to appeal to a larger audience faced with tougher opposition? In my opinion video games aren't becoming more violent, no more violent than they have ever been. They're just becoming more accessible. The industry is opening up for everyone and anyone to play and to see. Games being made for all types of interests and people. This has opened up the doors to more casual type of gamers that have now been exposed to the video game industry which in turn has brought higher awareness to those who don't even play games. With more interest from consumers comes more advertisement and public awareness and as Steven Pinker mentioned in his interview to New Scientist, Blood Sells! The violent games get the higher attention and considering looking at the charts they need it!