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James McLean
Professor Cooper
Eng1020
October 25, 2015
2-C: Final
Violent video games have become easily obtained by adolescents via the internet,
so parents and legislators are worried about the appropriateness of the content in the
games.1 In this paper I will as identify a few games that have been under scrutiny for
their violent content, identify a few qualities of aggressive children, connect pretend
play and video game play together, and discuss experiments from scholarly articles to
prove my thesis. There is a positive correlation between violent video game play and
aggression in adolescents; however, video games are not the only forms of media and
factors that increase adolescent aggression and children are aware of the difference
between virtual worlds and real life.2
This ability to distinguish between aggression and play tends to assist in
separating the aggressive children from the children who want to have a fun. Some
examples of aggressive behaviors include: threatening, verbally abusing, snatching

1Joel E. Collier, Pearson Liddell, Jr. and Gloria J. Liddell, Exposure of Violent Video Games to
Children and Public Policy Implications, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 27, No. 1 (SPRING 2008):
107.

2 Collier et al., 109

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items from, and physically fighting other children.3 Some people may believe that
children become aggressive because they are shunned by their peers; however,
aggressive children are forced to be loners because in many cases children tend to shun
the children who play too rough.4 This shows children reject aggression and those who
are aggressive. On the other hand, violent video games have become popular. A few
games in particular are Mortal Kombat and Grand Theft Auto have been under scrutiny
for their violent and lewd content. 5 The success of these games are contributed to the
amount of violence they contain. 6 In 1993, Sega and Nintendo released two different
versions of Mortal Kombat. The Sega, which sold the game with all the violent content
intact, outsold Nintendo three to one. 7 Some critics of violent video games believe
they are actually desensitizing youths; making them less empathetic. 8 Collier says that
some researchers think that violent video games are also teaching youth to use

3 Thomas G. Moeller, (Youth Aggression and Violence. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlabaum Associates, 2001), 210

4 Ibid 209-210
5 Osborne, 110
6 Ibid
7 Ibid
8 Alexandra Henning, Alaina Brenick, Melanie Killen, Alexander O'Connor, and Michael J.
Collins, "Do Stereotypic Images in Video Games Affect Attitudes and Behavior? Adolescent Perspectives,"
Children, Youth and Environments 19, no. 1 (2009): 191.

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weapons.9 I found no conclusive evidence to debunk their claims; however, children
know the difference between the virtual world and the real world, and are able to
distinguish between true aggression and play.
The United States is a huge consumer of violent media, and television is one of
the most popular forms of media consumption. 10 According to Craig A. Anderson and
Brad J. Bushman Television is most frequently used, but electronic video games are
rapidly growing in popularity.11 It is understandable that many parents would be
weary of the content within violent media because it may result in them executing acts
that they witness. Video games give the user control over a character which may draw
them in more than standard television. Violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto
reward players for stealing cars, robbing people, having sex with prostitutes, and killing
innocent people.12 Violent video games are being blamed for motivating school
massacres, like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech. 13 According to Thomas G.
9 Joel E. Collier, et al., 109
10 Ibid., Exposure, 107
11 Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman, Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive
Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A
Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific Literature, Psychological Science 12, No. 5 (Sep., 2001): 354.

12 Collier et al., 107

13 Patrick Osborne, Evaluating the Presence of Social Strain in Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft
Auto IV", Studies in Popular Culture 34, No. 1 (Fall 2011): 109.

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Moeller, one of the Columbine High School shooters favorite video game was allegedly
a violent video game.14 Which seems to add more validity to the claim that violent
media makes adolescents more aggressive. However, children do not always recreate
what they see in media, and they do not always mean to be aggressive.
Exposure to violent video games and violence has a positive correlation. 15 Be that
as it may, studies have only found a positive correlation between violent video game
play and violence with youth who play video games excessively. 16 Video games, even
violent ones, are not as harmful to youths when they are played in moderation. Violent
video games are not the only factors in a childs life that can lead them to commit a
violent act. There are many other factors that can lead a child to being aggressive. There
may be some negative influences in the home. According to Michael R. Ward
exposure to media violence alone does not cause a child to commit a violent act, and
that it is not the sole, or even necessarily the most important, factor contributing to
youth aggression, anti-social attitudes, and violence. 17. Hence, violent video games
should not be the solitary culprit of youth aggression. There are activities that children
14 Moeller, Thomas G. Youth Aggression and Violence. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlabaum Associates, 2001.

15 Michael R. Ward, Video Games and Adolescent Fighting, Journal of Law and Economics 53,
No. 3 (August 2010): 615.

16 Ibid 626
17 Ibid, Video Games, 615.

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participate in that seem aggressive; however, are nothing more than them having fun.
The children are able to distinguish between playfulness and violence.
Young children, especially young men, begin to play rough with one another
beginning as early as pre-school. Many adults do not like the sight of children hitting
one another because they may think this is an act of violence; however, the children are
not behaving this way maliciously, it is playful. Moeller states that The participants
keep coming back for more, and wear broad smiles over their faces 18, and playing
rough includes turn taking. He adds that children who are known to be overly violent
are normally excluded and participants rarely get hurtif injuries do occur the children
apologies to one another.19 These occurrences may not occur if the children were
actually aggressive because aggressive children may be less likely to apologize and feel
sorry for other children they injure. 20 Therefore, it is possible for adolescents to tell the
difference between play and true aggression. If children can tell the difference between
rough play and aggression on the play ground, it is comprehensible to assume they can
do the same with video games. Parents must trust in their children to know the
difference between video games and real life. Video games can be seen as an escape
from the real world which could allow youth to release their frustrations in the digital

18 Moeller 208
19 Ibid., 209
20 Ibid., 208-209

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world instead of the real world. According to Collier et al some researchers believe that
children can distinguish the difference between reality and fiction and violent video
games can actually be a medium that allows youth to learn to control the emotions
of anger, violence, and sexuality. 21 Subsequently, violent video games can actually have
a positive effect on aggression. Instead of increasing aggression in youths, it is a chance
to release and control aggressive emotions.
Some of the rough play that children engage in has elements of pretend play. 22
When children engage in pretend play they can be and do whatever they want without
the restrictions of their real world capabilities. They can be princesses, pirates, parents,
and even fly.23 Additionally, they can kill, injure, and fight others within their fantasy
world. Video games can be an extension to this want to engage in fantasy and role
playing. Video games allows the participant to do whatever they want in the realm of
the video game which includes being a princess or engaging in violent activities similar
to the idea of pretend play. With pretend play and video games being similar in that
aspect, it is logical to assume that video games, even violent ones, are capable of helping
children instead of hurting them. Pretend play helps some children regulate their fears
21 Collier, et al., 109
22 Judy Dunn and Claire Hughes, ""I Got Some Swords and You're Dead!": Violent Fantasy,
Antisocial Behavior, Friendship, and Moral Sensibility in Young Children," Child Development 72, no. 2
(Mar. - Apr.,2001): 491.

23 Ibid.

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and emotions.24 Violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto which allow the player
to engage in whatever activities they want may be a benefit to adolescent emotions. This
theory may be a stretch; however, Ward estimates the change in the incidence of
various crimes and causes of death in a county over time in relation to the change in the
number of video game stores, a possible proxy for the amount of video game play. The
numbers of crimes and deaths decrease with increases in the number of video game
stores, but not with similar proxies of other youth activities, such as sports participation
and movie attendance.25 Ward is stating that as the number of video game stores that
are open increases, the crime and death in that area decreases. He is using the amount
of video game stores as a proxy for the amount of video game play because it is likely
that with more video game stores open, the likelihood of people playing video games is
increased. The individuals in the area may be curbing their urges of violent behavior
through the use of video games.
Video games do differ from movies and television, but the content may be similar
as well as the effect on youths. According to Anderson and Bushman, many of the
underlying psychological processes identified in TV-movie literature also apply to video
games.26 Since the the psychological processes are similar, it can be inferred that their
24 Ibid
25 Ward 615
26 Craig A. Anderson et al., Effects, 354

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effect on youth is the same. Television has been around far longer than video games, so
there are more studies to identify. The BoBo Doll Experiments was a prototypic
laboratory study by Bandura. The studies revealed after watching aggressive films,
children were briefly frustrated and display some of the same acts from the movie. This
apparently supported the thesis that violent television, through observational learning,
causes violent behavior in children.27 However, Moeller states The aggressive behavior
of a child hitting a Bobo doll in a laboratory might be qualitatively very different from
actual physical aggression in real life. 28 The act of physically hitting the bobo doll,
could actually be releasing anger, similar to how video games allow the player to
actively release their frustrations. Even though the children aggressively hit the doll in
similar ways as the movie scenes did, does not mean that the children will use the
techniques from the movie and use them on other children. Moeller also compared the
act of hitting the bobo doll with rough and tumble play because the children looked
to be enjoying themselves.29 Rough and tumble play, as I stated earlier, is more a game
than aggressiveness, and children are aware when a situation is seriously aggressive
and when the situation is playful. The same can be said about video games. Since
television and movies have the similar psychological processes as video games, it is safe

27 Moeller, 136
28 Ibid, 137
29 Ibid., 137

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to assume that children can tell the difference between the virtual world. Moeller goes
on to declare that the bobo doll does not feel pain, unlike real children, and continues to
smile while the child hits it.30 The characters in video games may express the feelings of
pain; however, since they are not living creatures, the children will not have the same
amount of guilt or sympathy as if they injured a real person. This does not make them
empathetic, this means they are aware of the difference between video games and real
life. There is no need to apologize to the characters because that is what they were
designed to experience. In video games such as fighting and violent role playing games,
the characters may display violence; however, children are more than likely aware that
the acts committed in the game should not be recreated in real life.
There are many reasons why adolescents turn to media, possibly even violent media, to
cure their boredom. Parents who do not spend time with their children may find that
their kids are not as well behaved as those children whose parents are more involved.
Children who do not have leisure time with their parents are less likely to to have an
attachment to their parents and lack nurturance. 31 Children who turn to other forms of
media for entertainment may not be receiving the attention that they require. Moeller
states that Low parental involvement with boys in leisure activates at age 11 was the
best predictor of both early onset of criminal offending (by the age of 13) and the
30 Ibid.
31 Moeller, 110

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persistence of offending from age 21 to 32. 32 Hence, it is likely that low parental
involvement increases violent behavior. This violent behavior in addition to boredom
from not having parental involvement may lead to them wanting to view and interact
with more violent content. Moeller states that Children who watch a lot of television
might have parents who are less involved in their childrens television watching and are
hence less effective mediators.33 The same could be said about video games; if
childrens parents are not involved in their video game play, the parents cannot mediate
what their child plays. Without parents there to monitor what they view on television
and what video games they play, the children may watch and play racier content.
Additionally, since the positive correlation between violent video game play and youth
aggression effects youth who play excessively, one can surmise that children whose
content is not being actively monitored by a parental figure are more likely to become
violent. Note that violent video games are not the only cause for aggression; however, it
is a factor. Violent content coupled with built up aggression from lack of parental
involvement may beget violent adolescents. Video games are not the solitary culprit of
creating a violent individual; however, when they are joined with other major factors
they can be harmful.

32 Ibid.
33 Moeller, 144

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There is a positive correlation between violent video game play and aggression;
however, violent video games are not the only variable that produces children who
display aggressive behavior. Parents and and legislators are fearful of video games
making adolescents more violent; however, video games may not cause childhood
aggression.34 I explained the connection between childrens fantasy and video games,
and how childrens fantasies can help them emotionally using information from Collier
et al and Dunn et al. The Bobo Experiments claims that children were violent to the
dolls after were deflated with the help of Moeller exposing the fact that the children
were more than likely playing rough with the doll instead of being purely violent
towards it.35 Parents should monitor and limit their childrens media consumption
instead of blaming the video game companies for releasing content that sells well.

34 Collier et al. 107.

35 Moeller, 137

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Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A. and Brad J. Bushman. Effects of Violent Video Games on

Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological
Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Scientific
Literature. Psychological Science 12, No. 5 (Sep., 2001): 353-359.
Collier, Joel E., Pearson Liddell, Jr. and Gloria J. Liddell. Exposure of Violent Video
Games to Children and Public Policy Implications. Journal of Public Policy &
Marketing 27, No. 1 (SPRING 2008): 107-112.
Dunn, Judy, and Claire Hughes. ""I Got Some Swords and You're Dead!": Violent
Fantasy, Antisocial Behavior, Friendship, and Moral Sensibility in Young
Children." Child Development 72, no. 2 (Mar.- Apr., 2001): 491-505.
Henning, Alexandra, Alaina Brenick, Melanie Killen, Alexander O'Connor, and Michael
J. Collins. "Do Stereotypic Images in Video Games Affect Attitudes and Behavior?
Adolescent Perspectives." Children, Youth and Environments 19, no. 1 (2009):
170-96.
Moeller, Thomas G. Youth Aggression and Violence. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence
Erlabaum Associates, 2001.
Osborne, Patrick. Evaluating the Presence of Social Strain in Rockstar Games' "Grand
Theft Auto IV". Studies in Popular Culture 34, No. 1 (Fall 2011): 109-132.

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Ward, Michael R. Video Games and Adolescent Fighting. Journal of Law and Economics
53, No. 3 (August 2010): 611-628.