Tag Archives: violence

According to a recent study published from Texas A&M International University, watching violent media as a child is not necessarily a predictor of violent behaviour in the future. The study outlines that genetics and social environment have a larger impact on personal development.
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If you were a key cog at the studio producing, eh, notoriously violent titles like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, would you be embarrassed to the explain to the “normies” in your life what you do? Jeremy Pope was, and that’s why he left Rockstar Games a decade ago and is pursuing projects that he sees as more palatable to him.

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Games have been publicly slammed by a police commissioner in Australia for inciting a rise in knife crime, because they let children act out ‘virtual crimes’ and earn incentives for violent acts in-game.

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CD Projekt RED CEO Marcin Iwinski has said there is nothing wrong with games including sex and violence as long as it’s part of the world and not overused.

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Remember last week when Big Brother’s Dr Linda Papadopoulos announced that she was set to release a report on children being sexualized in the media and videogames?

It’s been released.

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According to MCV, violent videogame ads are about to get a stern talking-to from the Advertising Standards Agency.

Apparently, the ASA will release new guidance for publishers and their ad agencies next week, which will ask them to consider the “wider context” of violent ads.

This is not to say, however, that gore, giblets, and F-bombs litter UK game ads — far from it. The ASA says less than one percent of game ads in the last 12 months were so gratuitously violent that they had to be pulled.

As such, the new guidelines are meant to stop future problems from ever sparking into a flame, and encourage publishers to go beyond simply satisfying regulatory rules.

More through the link.

Germany’s 16 Interior Ministers asked the Bundestag to ban production and distribution of violent video games in the country, and are hoping the new sanction goes into effect before elections take place on September 27.

The ban comes on the heels of the recent school shootings that have occurred in the country, most notably the Winnenden shooting on March 11.

If passed, not only would German consumers not be able to purchase the games at retail, but German developers like Crytek would be required by law to outsource development of any game the law deems violent.

Or move its headquarters to another country.

More over on GamePolitics.

According to this, a recent study at the Indiana School of Medicine has shown that, “Exposure to violent video games, even E [Everyone - Ed] rated video games, increases aggressive thoughts, increases pro-social behavior and increases general arousal,” said Dr Greg Snyder, a psychologist at Omaha’s Children’s Hospital.

The study compared brain scan of a teenager who has just played what was deemed a nonviolent video game to the scan of a teen who had just spent 30 minutes playing a violent game.

“The more normal [violence] is, the more likely it is they’re going to activate or engage in those behaviors when provoked or even unprovoked,” Snyder added.

Ryan Miller, the manager of general operations for Gamers in Omaha, countered, said video games become an easy scapegoat when children turn violent.

“Just like any new media, it gets attacked. When any new genre of music comes out, it gets attacked. TV will, of course, get attacked. I’m sure, way back when, books got attacked,” he said.

Lots more through that link. We’ll post some more news, right after we get back from killing some people.

Following this week’s news that wary glances are being cast behind the scenes of Tanja Byron’s upcoming report, British national daily The Guardian is this morning carrying, “Ministers plan clampdown on ‘unsuitable’ video games” as its main headline.

The story mirrors earlier reports this week in that it claims the Byron Report is to recommend a legal classification system for all games, but goes into further detail about plans to advise parents to not allow children to play games in their bedrooms and to only let them use computers and games consoles in places where the screens are clearly visible.

According to the piece, “A legally enforceable, cinema-style classification system is to be introduced for video games in an effort to keep children from playing damaging games unsuitable for their age… Under the proposals it would be illegal for shops to sell classified games to a child below the recommended age.

“At present only games showing sex or ‘gross’ violence to humans or animals require age limits. That leaves up to 90% of games on the market, many of which portray weapons, martial arts and extreme combat, free from statutory labelling.

Ministers are expected to advise parent to keep computers and games consoles away from children’s bedrooms as much as possible, and ask them to play games in living rooms or kitchens facing outwards so carers can see what is being played.”

The report doesn’t mention the BBFC as being the body to handle a new classification system, instead leading with a strap of, “New rating scheme devised.” Currently, only a handful of games are classified by the BBFC, with most in the UK carrying the voluntary PEGI rating.

The Byron Report, due next month, includes a lengthy review of studies into the effects of games on children, and has been discussed with the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Ministers are now said to have a “sense of the report’s direction”, said the Guardian’s piece, on which the article is based.