Didn’t We Debunk the Whole “Games Make People Violent” Thing Already?
Children of the 1980s and 1990s are prone to nostalgia bait. Any child who watched the Disney Afternoon programming block can sing every word of the DuckTales theme song perfectly. Moviegoers are preparing for the November reboot of the 1987 action hit The Running Man. Even eternal ‘90s punching bag Bubsy is getting not only a collection but a brand new game for modern consoles.
There are many theories for this, from “everything from that era was badass” to “too much sh*t has scarred this generation and we need comfort,” but whatever the reason, there’s truth in it. I get more compliments on my Powerpuff Girls t-shirt than any other shirt I’ve owned in my life. Not all nostalgia is pleasant, however. And while it’s very on-brand for this administration, it’s still somewhat surprising for the current Secretary of Health and Human Services to dig up the corpse of the old ‘90s scapegoat, the “video games cause violence” fallacy.
Former independent candidate for president and complete looney bird idiot (allegedly but I mean come on) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently said that the National Institutes of Health are looking into several potential causes of America’s epidemic of gun violence, including video games. Kennedy Jr, notably, did not mention guns as a cause of gun violence.
As far back as the ‘90s, video games have been one of the government’s favorite scapegoats in the violence discussion. Gamers today recognize the Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB, as simply a given part of gaming. Games are rated based on their narrative content anywhere from E for Everyone to AO for Adults Only, similar to a movie rating. However, the cause of its creation was from increased scrutiny from government legislators over questions of extreme violence in games such as Mortal Kombat and depictions of “sexual assault” in games such as Night Trap.
While some credence could be given to the questions surrounding Mortal Kombat, known for its gory “Fatalities,” it should be noted that the “sexual assault” referred to in the FMV schlock game Night Trap referred to a single scene where Augers (a humanoid similar to a vampire of sorts) scares a blond woman in a nightie out of the bathroom. No sexual acts were actually depicted, which legislators would have known if they had actually looked at the content of the games in question. In subsequent interviews, Night Trap executive producer Tom Zito claims he made attempts to explain the context of the nightie scene but was shut down by legislators.
Instead of letting Congress muck about in the early years of gaming, however, the gaming industry chose to self-regulate, thus creating the ESRB. For the most part, this has been a successful venture. As gaming and gamers grow older, games that are rated M for Mature note what problematic issues may be involved over the course of the game such as drug use, sex, or gore, and allow gamers (or parents of gamers) the opportunity to make their own choices.
But for some, the question still remained: do violent video games make people more violent?
For those who pay attention to important things like science and facts, the answer is already obvious: no correlation has been proven for years. A prominent study on the link between violent video games and violence in the real world published in 2014 by researchers at Villanova University and Rutgers University not only found no positive correlation, but in fact may have discovered a negative or inverse correlation between the two. As stated by the study:
“Annual trends in video game sales for the past 33 years were unrelated to violent crime both concurrently and up to four years later. Unexpectedly, monthly sales of video games were related to concurrent decreases in aggravated assaults and were unrelated to homicides. Searches for violent video game walkthroughs and guides were also related to decreases in aggravated assaults and homicides two months later. Finally, homicides tended to decrease in the months following the release of popular M-rated violent video games.”
“Finding that a young man who committed a violent crime also played a popular video game, such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Grand Theft Auto, is as pointless as pointing out that the criminal also wore socks.”
What other studies have discovered is that there are correlations between video games and more positive aspects of life. A 2013 study published by the University of Auckland (New Zealand) showed a positive correlation between video games, especially action-oriented video games, and hand-eye correlation, a subject that had been researched since back in the 8- and 16-bit eras. Research within the past decade has discovered that playing puzzle games such as Tetris after traumatic events can prevent the brain from hyperfocusing on the event and block the pattern of memory development which can result in post-traumatic stress disorder. Even recently, research is finding a positive correlation between games – especially ones with some repetitive game mechanics – and recovery from substance addiction. (It should be noted that in some cases, this could lead to addiction transference. Discuss with your mental health or sobriety network if video games could play a role in your personal sobriety goals.)
So why is gaming a common punching bag? The same reason that decided that Beavis & Butt-Head was the catalyst for the erosion of America’s youth and that Dungeons & Dragons was the gateway to Satanism: old people and moral panic. In a GameSpot interview with Patrick Markey, an associate professor of psychology and one of the authors of the aforementioned Villanova & Rutgers study, he was asked why video games are often singled out as opposed to movies or television shows. Said Markey, “Probably the best explanation for this is what Dr. Chris Ferguson calls a ‘Moral Panic.’ That is, people who are the leaders of a society often blame things which they do not value for societal ills.”
In layman’s vernacular: Old people in positions of power are old and crotchety and don’t understand this newfangled Pac-Mans by gumption.
So anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who works out in jeans RFK Jr. clearly is chasing the wrong rabbit (probably for roadkill meat) when he trots out the old tired excuse that video games are to blame for gun violence, but gamers, you know we are a resourceful sort. Problem-solving skills are one of the positive effects linked to video games after all. So what should we look into as a key factor in gun violence?
I would like to make a suggestion: GUNS.
Since King Felonious II inexplicably took office again in January of 2025, there have been 47 school-related shootings. That’s 234 days, or nearly one school-related shooting every five days. And findings show that 100% of those shootings utilized a gun. It is imperative that lawmakers throw up a middle finger to the gun lobbies and those that fetishize gun ownership and make laws.
To quote one of my favorite lines from Dress to Kill, Suzy (then Eddie) Izzard famously said:
“The National Rifle Association says that, “Guns don’t kill people, uh, people do.” But I think, I think the gun helps. You know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, “Bang!” That’s not going to kill too many people, is it? You’d have to be really dodgy on the heart to have that.”
“BuT RYaN,” John and/or Jane Q. Anon screech, “WHaT BouT PRoTeCTioN WHeN–” Listen, His Idiocy has already ripped the Constitution three ways from Sunday, including deploying the military on American soil against American citizens. If you’re trying to trot out the whole “tyrannical government” excuse, the current administration has been tyrannicallying for damn near eight months now.
Gamers have been putting up with this nonsense since the ‘90s, so in conclusion, I’d like to say with as much respect as I can dig up: F**k off. It’s not the games, it never has been the games. Let us have our Super Mario Kart and our Count Chocula and our reruns of Double Dare and go do some actual work so our children don’t have to worry in a place that until recently was considered a safe place meant for education.
And to RFK Jr., I’d like to suggest that maybe he actually consider playing a video game or two before slandering them. I would recommend the 2007 reimagining of the 1995 strategy hit Worms.
