Should we prohibit minors
from purchasing video
games that portray graphic
violence?
Melody Bratton
Justin Kelly
Devin Rice
Objectives
 Definition of Graphic Violence
 History of Video Games
 Today’s Video Game Market
 Regulatory Boards
 Rates and Trends of Gaming
 Adolescent Video Game Use
 Effects of Video Gaming on Children
 Legislative Response to Video Game Violence
 Support v. Opposition for Legislation
 Conclusion
What is graphic violence?
The visual depiction
of serious injury to
living creatures,
actual or virtual,
including aggravated
assault, decapitation,
dismemberment,
death, or sexual
violence.
Postal 2
Postal 2
History of Video Games
1972
First video system
 Odyssey System
(Magnavox)
First video games
 Pong
 Tennis
History of Video Games
(Con’t)
1976
First violent game
 Death Race 2000
(Exidy)
Death Race 2000 was
pulled from shelves
due to public outcry of
the violence.
History of Video Games
(Con’t)
1983
First sexually violent
video game
 Custer’s Revenge (Atari)
Today’s Gaming Market
The current market for video and computer
games world wide is approximately $20.7
billion dollars. In 2007, it is estimated to
grow more than $30 billion.
In the 2003, sales for video games in the
U.S. generated $7 billion dollars in
revenue breaking the previous record set
in 2002 of $6.9 billion.
Regulatory Boards
 Entertainment Software Rating Board
• The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a selfregulatory body for the interactive entertainment software
industry established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software
Association (ESA).
• ESRB independently applies and enforces ratings, and
online privacy principles adopted by the computer and video
game industry.
• Since its creation, the ESRB has put ratings on video game
covers. With six categories from EC (early childhood) to AO
(adults over 18), the ratings are determined by consensus.
Video Game Rating System
Early
Everyone
Childhood
Teen
Mature
Adults
Only
Ratings
Pending
Animated Blood - Discolored and/or unrealistic depictions of blood
Blood - Depictions of blood
Blood and Gore - Depictions of blood or the mutilation of body parts
Cartoon Violence - Violent actions involving cartoon-like situations and characters.
May include violence where a character is unharmed after the action has been
inflicted
Fantasy Violence - Violent actions of a fantasy nature, involving human or non-human
characters in situations easily distinguishable from real life
Intense Violence - Graphic and realistic-looking depictions of physical conflict. May
involve extreme and/or realistic blood, gore, weapons, and depictions of human
injury and death
Mild Violence - Mild scenes depicting characters in unsafe and/or violent situations
Sexual Violence - Depictions of rape or other sexual acts
Strong Lyrics - Explicit and/or frequent references to profanity, sex, violence, alcohol,
or drug use in music
Violence - Scenes involving aggressive conflict
Concerns about ESRB
 One concern about the ESRB is that the organization is very secretive about
the criteria used to rate the video games.
 Critics are concerned with whether the ratings reflect accurately the amount
of violence appropriate for age level given.
 According to the ESRB the AO rating is used when games "include graphic
depictions of sex and/or violence."
 Some groups question whether some of the games rated mature should be
classified as AO.
 The distinction between AO games (not suitable for people under the age of
18), M games (not suitable for people under the age of 17) and T games (14
and over) are blurry and possibly allows games to creep down from a higher
category to a lower one.
Advertising Review Council
 In 2000, the gaming industry created the Advertising Review
Council (ARC).
 ARC decides the marketing standards and has the ability to
enforce them via fines and withholding a rating to a particular
game.
 The FTC reviewed the marketing practices of the gaming
industry.
• Under Section 5 of the FTC Act, the government would have to prove
that the game industry is deceiving the public in advertising M-rated
games directed at children.
• They would also have to prove that the game is in fact not appropriate.
• September 2000 - The FTC found that 70% of Mature rated games
target children.
Rates and Trends of Gaming
 44 of the 49 video games that sold more than half a million units were either
rated E or T.
 54% of video games sold were rated E, 30.5% for T and 11.9% for M.
 14 out of the top 20 best sellers in 2003 were rated E or T while the
remainder were rated for mature audiences.
 The age of video game players is directly related to the system being used.
• PC game players have an average age of 27-36
• Playstation and XBox game players have an average age of around 2025.
• Nintendo and its incarnations game players on average are between the
ages of 15-20.
Top Ten Video Games in 2003










PS2 - MADDEN NFL 2004
GBA - POKEMON RUBY
GBA - POKEMON SAPPHIRE
PS2 - NEED SPEED: UNDERGROUND
GCN - ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER
PS2 - GRAND THEFT AUTO: VICE CITY
GCN - MARIO KART: DOUBLE DASH
PS2 - TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND
PS2 - ENTER THE MATRIX
PS2 - MEDAL HONOR RISING
Video Game Availability for Minors
 A study was conducted by the National Institute
on Media and the Family using children between
the ages of 7-14 to see how difficult it is for
minors to purchase video games rated M.
• Adolescents were successful 100% of the time in
stores that didn’t have a policy but in retailers with a
policy, the teens were only able to buy the games
30% of the time.
 79% of the stores surveyed report that they have
a policy prohibiting the sale of M-rated games to
youth under 17.
• Only 55% of stores educate the public about ratings
and 49% formally train their personnel in the ratings.
Adolescent Video Game Use
 87% of students play video games regularly. Games are more
popular with boys (95% play) than girls (71% play).
 Only 50% of parents understand the ratings according to
students.
 87% of boys play M-rated games as do 46% of girls.
 78% of boys report that M-rated games are among their top five
favorites, and 40% say their favorite game is rated M.
 77% of boys own M-rated games with 1 in 5 reporting that they
purchased an M-rated game without their parent's knowledge.
 Only one out of five students report that their parents have
prevented them from purchasing a game because of its rating.
What are the effects of
video games upon
children?
Positive Effects of Video Games
on Children
 Introduces children to computer technology
 Gives children practice in following directions
 Gives children practice in use of fine motor
skills and spatial skills
 Can provide interaction for child and parent
 Some games have therapeutic applications
for patients
 Provides entertainment for children
 Provides catharsis for children (?)
Negative Effects of Violent Video
Games on Children
 Fosters social isolation
 Women often portrayed as weaker characters
that are helpless sex objects or portrayed in
sexually provocative manner
 Plots often based upon violence and aggression
 Reinforces stereotypes of ethnic and gender
groups
 Can confuse reality and fantasy
 Lowers children’s inhibitions
 Increases desensitization
 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Clip
Five Effects of Violent Video Gaming
found in Meta-Analytical Research
1. Increases Physiological Arousal
•
Heart rate and blood pressure
2. Increases Aggressive Thoughts
•
Hostile Attribution Bias (Kirsh, 1998)
3. Increases Aggressive Emotions
•
Students who were more “addicted” to video games were
significantly more likely to be in a bad mood before, during,
and after playing than were non-addicted students (Griffiths &
Hunt, 1998).
Five Effects of Violent Video Gaming
found in Meta-Analytical Research
(con’t)
4. Increases Aggressive Actions
•
Students who played more violent video games are
more likely to see the world as a hostile place, get
into frequent arguments with teachers, and more
likely to become involved in physical fights (Gentile,
under review).
5. Decreases Prosocial Actions
•
Children who were exposed to more violent video
games were more likely to be seen as aggressive
by their peers and teachers and were also less
likely to be helpful when needed.
Source: National Institute on Media and the Family
The least hostile children who play a lot of violent video games are
more likely to be involved in fights than are most hostile children
who do not play violent video games.
Social Scientists Hypothesize
That…
We should expect video games to have an even greater
impact for the following reasons:
 Children are more likely to imitate the actions of a
character with whom they identify.
 Video games by their very nature require active
participation rather than passive observation
 Repetition increases learning. Video games involve a
great deal of repetition. If games are violent, then the
effect is a behavioral rehearsal for violent activity.
 Rewards increase learning, and video games are based
on a reward system.
…even if children with more problematic behavior
are simply more likely to prefer violent games,
playing such games is not likely to improve
behavioral problems. These children may, in
fact, be more vulnerable to adverse influence
because of preexisting behavioral
problems…recent reports linking school violence
with electronic game-playing merit careful study
(Funk, Buchman, & Germann, 2000)
School Shootings
 1997- Evan Ramsey from Alaska killed 2 and wounded 2
others.
• He stated that “games taught him that shooting doesn’t cause
death just a decrease in health.”
 December 1997-Michael Cameal from Kentucky shot 9
shots hitting 8 members of a prayer group, killing 3,
wounding 5.
• Never held firearm in his life.
• 14 years of age
 April 20th 1999- Columbine High School shooting.
• Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shoot and killed 13 and injured 23
more.
Legislative Response to School
Shootings
 Response aimed at gaming industry
 Response aimed at retail industry
Legal Response Aimed at Gaming
Industry
 A lawsuit was filed against Nintendo, Acclaim,
Activision, and Id Software to name a few for the
horrible shooting at Columbine.
• Doom was specifically sited. This game was known
to be extensively played by all of the shooters in the
school shootings previously mentioned.
 U.S district court judge Babcock dismissed the
suit against the gaming companies.
• Judge Babcock stated that no reasonable person
could have foreseen these violent acts being created
by the games that the kids played.
Legal Response Aimed at Gaming
Industry (Con’t)
 U.S District Judge Edward Johnstone dismissed
a $33 million dollar lawsuit filed against 25
companies including Sony, Nintendo, Sega, and
Atari. The suit was filed due to the killings in
Kentucky.
• The ruling was based on a similar case where the
popular role playing game Dungeons and Dragons
was found not responsible for a young mans suicide.
• Judge Johnstone also stated that tragedies like this
defy rationale and the court can not pretend to know
the reasons why such events occur.
Legal Response Aimed at Retail
Industry
 In 2000, Indianapolis passed an ordinance restricting
access of M rated games to minors.
 The American Amusement Machine Association
appealed the ordinance in 2001.
• 7th Circuit Court upheld the appeal and the ordinance was struck
down.
• They wanted scientific certainty that these games would harm a
child before the court would restrict the child’s First Amendment
Rights.
 In a previous case, Ginsberg v. New York (1968), the
court ruled that “it is rational for the legislature to find that
the minor’s exposure to obscene material maybe
harmful”.
Legal Response Aimed at Retail
Industry (Con’t)
 In October 2000, St. Louis passed an ordinance that
made video arcade owners separate “harmful to minors”
games from other games. This ordinance also made it
illegal to sell or rent a video game to a minor without the
parents consent.
• This was the first and only ordinance to be upheld by district
court. It was the biggest legal defeat to the retail gaming industry.
 In April of 2002, Judge Limbaugh stated that video
games do not have the First Amendment protection.
• He also stated that the government has a vested interest in
emotional health of the nation’s children.
• Judge Limbaugh also stated that “Video games have no
conveyance of ideas, expression, or anything else that amounts
to speech, thus, should not enjoy constitutional protection.”
• Higher courts later reversed Judge Limbaugh’s decision causing
the St. Louis ordinance to die.
Legal Response Aimed at Retail
Industry (Con’t)
In 2003, Washington State Governor
Locke signed into law, a bill that banned
games that depicted “violence against law
enforcement” to be sold to minors.
• It was struck down in July of 2004 by U.S
District Judge Lasnik. He stated the law was
too narrow and it violated First Amendment
Rights of the comsumer.
• Similar bills have been considered in
Mississippi, Georgia, Connecticut, and
Oklahoma. None of which have been passed.
Legal Response Aimed at
Retail Industry (Con’t)
Senator Baca from California has
reintroduced his Protect Children from
Video Game Sex and Violence Act.
• This bill would make it a federal crime to sell
or rent “adult video games” to minors.
• The bill would impose up to $1,000 fine for first
offense. $1,000-$5,000 2nd offense and minimum
of $5,000 for each offense on top of that.
• The bill was initially shot down in 2002.
Supporters of Restrictive
Legislation Argue…
Government should treat violent video
games like alcohol or tobacco .
Retailers don’t always enforce a voluntary
rating system.
Parents do not know how violent video
games are.
Growing scientific evidence links playing
violent video games to violent behavior.
Opponents of Restrictive
Legislation Argue…
 Legislation would usurp the rights of parents.
 Legislation would deny minors their First
Amendment Rights.
 The video game industry polices itself.
 Most video games are purchased by parents or
with their consent.
 They question the validity of studies suggesting
a link between playing violent video games to
violent behavior.
Conclusion
Based upon the scientific research
that shows a correlation between
increased aggression and playing
violent video games, we contend that,
in the best interest of minors,
legislation should be in place that
restricts the purchasing of video
games portraying graphic violence to
minors under the age of 17.
References
• http://www.esrb.org
• Vastag, B. (2004). Does video game violence sow aggression?
JAMA,291, 1822-1825.
• http://www.usatoday.com
• www.mediafamily.org
• http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu
• http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com
• http://www.house.gov
• Myers, D.G. (2005). Social Psychology (8th Ed.). McGraw-Hill.
• http://www.rockstargames.com
• http://www.classicgaming.com
• Potter, J.W. (2003). The 11 Myths of Media Violence. Sage
Publications