Violence and Video Games

On April 20th, 1999 two students at Columbine High School near Littleton Colorado walked into the building and opened fire killing thirteen and wounding twenty-four. Sadly, it became the most infamous school shooting in history. As with any tragedy, people tend to ask why. Why did this happen? How could this be prevented in the future? What were the warning signs? Sometimes the answers to these questions don’t always make sense because they come from us trying to understand what cannot be understood. Sometimes fingers get pointed where they shouldn’t be pointed. The two perpetrators of the Columbine shootings were into “subversive” music, violent movies and of course violent video games. What I am interested in exploring is, do violent video games lead to violent behavior in the youth of today?


birth of violent video games

The beginning of the 1990’s saw the birth of violent video games as we know them today. Video game graphics got to the point where they could depict blood and gore in a realistic (sort of) way. Id games released ‘Wolfenstein 3D’ in 1992 for the PC and the first person shooter was created, spawning loads of violent, shoot ‘em up gameplay. ‘Doom’, ‘Duke Nukem 3D’ and ‘Quake’ would follow in the years to come, each one seemingly trying to outdo the other. First person shooters weren’t the only violent video game genre popularized in the early 90’s. The fighting game suddenly skyrocketed in appeal with Capcom’s ‘Street Fighter 2’ released in 1991. Of course other developers jumped on the bandwagon and in 1992 ‘Mortal Kombat’ was released pushing the envelope further with realistic blood, gore and or course “fatalities”. (November 1997 thirteen-year-old Noah Wilson died when his friend, who was into playing ‘Mortal Kombat’, stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife)

Entertainment Software Rating Board

The Entertainment Software Rating Board was created in 1994 as a way for parents to understand the content of the games they were purchasing for their kids. Video game manufacturers would voluntarily submit their games for a rating. If they failed to comply, they risked their games not being carried by retail stores. The rating system is very similar to the ratings given to movies. Ratings commonly given to video games by the ESRB today include; E for Everyone, T for Teen and M for Mature. Straightforward and concise these ratings were even displayed in larger font on video game packaging as of 2003. When I was twelve, this rating system was a real pain in the ass. When the Blockbuster employee refused to rent me a copy of ‘Mortal Kombat 2’ I was forced to get my mom to go in and rent it for me. However, as a parent myself, I can rest assured that my little ones wont be renting Grand Theft Auto 10 without my consent. In my opinion the ESRB isn’t a form of video game censorship, it’s just a tool for parents who aren’t video game savvy like I am. If you think your twelve–year-old is mature enough for ‘Mortal Kombat’ then rent it for him/her.

The Straight Goods

So, this being The Straight Goods, I’m not going to write you to death. I just wanted to say that terrible, violent and horrific things have been happening long before the invention of video games. (In1966 a student at the University of Texas at Austin killed fourteen and wounded thirty-four) I’m not saying that kids should be exposed to violent images, whether they are from video games, movies or the evening news. I am saying that parents need to be parents, get involved in their kids lives and stop letting the TV become a babysitter. Educate your kids about what’s right and wrong, what’s real life and what’s not. Flawless victory.
Stay tuned.

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Tags: Austin, Colorado, Duke Nukem, duke nukem 3d, first person shooter, game, Noah Wilson, video, video game manufacturers