Should Violent Video Games Be Banned? Mental Health Study on Gaming

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A mental health pandemonium has occurred throughout gaming since the release of violent video games introduced in the 1990s, in so creating, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) in 1994 [6]. Even with strict regulations on selling games to minors, lawsuits flooded the gaming community. A legislature name Jack Thompson is a primarily recognized figure who believes a child’s well-being and mental health are being conditioned. He has stated that video games are “murder simulations meant to train players into violent responses”[1]. Due to negative responses from parents, legislators, and bystanders, should violent video games be banned?

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Compared to games on the market today, some of the first video games are astronomically different. Children these days are not going outside to play. They’re playing online with their friends. They’re logging onto Roblox, a sandbox simulation game that garners 150-300 million users daily [7]. Those numbers boosted after March 11th, 2020 when the World Health Organization announced COVID-19 as a global pandemic [2]. Isolation brought a resurgence of players of all ages to find comfort in playing games with their friends at a safe distance, even, the “violent” ones. GTA V Online brought multiplayer where players can meet up in a virtual world, go on missions, and customize their avatars. Cozier games such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons created a community by allowing gamers to build their village. Several studies indicated a positive response toward gamers playing in an online world as they escaped from reality into a fictional “safe” world [5].

Between July 1, 2020, and August 1st, 2020 investigators found that players ranging from all ages were able to reduce depression and anxiety as they continued playing their favorite games [5]. Due to the fact that players had to live during a time of isolation, they needed to find different methods to have fun. Going outside and socializing amongst peers was no longer an option, therefore, the Metaverse, Roblox, GTA V, and games that offered an online opportunity boosted in popularity [7]. There hasn’t been any evidence that players responded negatively to being exposed to violent games.

We need to also take into consideration that, when measuring violent video games and mental health there are a few problems one could run into. For example, parents have argued that boys are prone to violence because they’re the ones playing traditionally violent video games. However, parents are not taking into consideration other aspects that could fuel someone from causing harm such as trait aggression, peer delinquency, family violence etc [3]. There could be numerous reasons for someone to act out and use violence, however, blaming it solely on video games is not the answer.

Should violent video games be banned? This is a question that has been asked since the beginning of gaming. Gaming itself has proven to be an effective tool to use in order to help someone they’re going through depression or anxiety [4]. The study that focused on Animal Crossing: New Horizons showed that even if kids were growing up in a COVID-19 world they still managed to find an escape where they could play with friends and let out their frustrations by playing violent video games. Gaming is a means of escape, escape inadequacy, escaping failure [3], and if regulated can be a wonderful tool to use to support people going through depression.

Sources

1. Beattie, S. (2006). Extremity, Video Games and the Censors. M/C Journal, 9(5). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2669

2. Cucinotta D, Vanelli M. WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic. Acta Biomed. 2020 Mar 19;91(1):157-160. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i1.9397. PMID: 32191675; PMCID: PMC7569573.

3. Ferguson, C. J. (2015). Do Angry Birds Make for Angry Children? A Meta-Analysis of Video Game Influences on Children’s and Adolescents’ Aggression, Mental Health, Prosocial Behavior, and Academic Performance. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(5), 646–666. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44281927

4. Juul, J. (2013). The art of failure : An essay on the pain of playing video games. MIT Press.

5. Krittanawong, Virk, H. U. H., Katz, C. L., Kaplin, S., Wang, Z., Gonzalez-Heydrich, J., Storch, E. A., & Lavie, C. J. (2022). Association of Social Gaming with Well-Being (Escape COVID-19): A Sentiment Analysis. The American Journal of Medicine, 135(2), 254–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2021.10.010

6. Laczniak, R. N., Carlson, L., Walker, D., & Brocato, E. D. (2017). Parental Restrictive Mediation and Children’s Violent Video Game Play: The Effectiveness of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) Rating System. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 36(1), 70–78. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44878399

7. Primack, Carroll, M. V., McNamara, M., Klem, M. L., King, B., Rich, M., Chan, C. W., & Nayak, S. (2012). Role of video games in improving health-related outcomes: a systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 42(6), 630–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2012.02.023

8. Rospigliosi. (2022). Metaverse or Simulacra? Roblox, Minecraft, Meta and the turn to virtual reality for education, socialisation and work. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2022.2022899