1. 1

2.  “The man accused of killing at least 93 people in Norway described the
video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 as "part of my training-
simulation" in his 1500-page manifesto published online just before the
massacre” (Birmingham Metro, 2011)
 “Stefan Martin-Urban... pulled a pistol from behind his back and
methodically shot strangers, his behaviour was eerily similar to characters
in the video games he played obsessively”. (Denver Post, 2009)
 In 2006, a bill prohibiting the sale or rental of games that portray “killing,
maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human
being” to people younger than 18 years old was passed in California. This
was overturned in 2011.
 But is this just Moral Panic?
 What is the impact of violent video games on gamers?
2

3.  Video game genres: sports
stimulations, racers, adventures,
puzzlers, miscellaneous,
platformers,, beat ‘em ups and
shoot ‘em ups (Griffiths, 1993)
 Effects video games larger than
those associated with TV & film
viewing
 Increasingly sophisticated
graphics: less abstract
 Interactive nature of games
 Online and portable
 Structural characteristics
 Video game addiction 3

4.  Video games as most popular
entertainment form (Prachett, Research with Boys Girls
2005), children
 Time spent playing continuing
to increase (Escobar-Chaves (1985) 4 hours similar
& Anderson, 2008). Harris & Williams per week
 Almost 30% of 9 year old
boys (compared with 12% of (1996) Buchanan 7 hours 4.5
girls) were reported as & Harris hours
spending one or more hours
daily playing these games (2007) Anderson, 13 hours 5.5 hours
(Growing Up in Ireland, 2011) Gentile & Buckley
 Disregard stereotype of male,
teenage gamer profile (2008) 12.4
(Griffiths, Davies and Chappell Gentile et al. hours
, 2003) 14.6
hours
 But what are the effects of
playing....is it something of
concern? 4

5.  Games are particularly attractive platforms to
young people, they offer an attractive forum for
learning (Swing & Anderson, 2008).
 Video game industry has started to recognise
and design games aimed at improving
i) Cognition and learning: support multi-
sensory, active, and experiential and problem-
based learning & activation of prior knowledge.
ii) Health Benefits: Physiotherapy/OT/Distract
iii) Social Benefits: 5

6. 89% of games in the market may
contain elements of violence, and
almost half of these games may
include a form of serious violence
taking place against another
character (Children Now, 2001).
Aggressive Behaviour,
Aggressive Cognition
Aggressive Affect.
School performance, peer
relations, ability to take others
perspective and/or sympathise ,
increased arousal.
6

7.  A reduction in helping/prosocial
behaviour and empathy and an
increase in condoning of
attitudes towards violence.
 Adults, adolescents & children
 Correlation with more positive
attitudes towards violence in
wars, intimate partner violence
and general normative
aggressive beliefs
 Neural desensitization to
violence predicts increased
aggression following violent
video game exposure
(Engelhardt, 2011)
7

8. Which types of victims elicit higher levels of blame and
lack of empathy and understanding from others ?
Victims of sexual violence
Gender differences
Victims who are children: Bullying research
Previous research has explored the impact on young
people’s attitudes towards criminals (Lee et al, 2010) and
towards crime
Viera & Krcmar (2011) the structure of violent video
games limit children’s abilities to develop perspectives of
victims
Greitemeyer & McLatchie (2011) : Dehumanising process
8

9.  What is the impact of violent
video game play on attitudes
towards victims of crime?
 Address criticism of the
research in the field
 Gamers who play violent
video games will exhibit less
concern for different types of
victims than gamers who
play non-violent video
games.
 Gender and Age differences
in concern scores
9

10. Sample:
 206 participants (129 males and 76 females)
 The participants were aged between 12 and 24 years (mean = 16.85
years; SD = 2.57 years).
Materials:
i) Victim Concern Scale: Clemments et al (2006); 21-item scale asking
participants to rate their concern for different types of victims.
 General Victims
 Vulnerable or Violent Crime Victims
 Property Theft Victims
 Culpable Victims
ii) Violent Video Game Exposure: Dill & Anderson (2000):
an overall violent video game exposure score for each participant
10

11. Male and female mean
victim concern scores Concern for Victims
70 Victim Concern
70
60
60
50 50
Overall
40
40 General
30
Vulnerable
30
Culpable 20
20 Property 10
0
10
0
Male Female
11

12. Significant negative correlation between
a) exposure and overall concern (r = -.167, p<0.05),
b) exposure and concern for general victims (r = -.302,
p<0.05)
c) exposure and victim concern for vulnerable
victims , r =.154, p<0.05 )
d) for culpable victims, r =-.238, p<0.05.
This showed that high levels of violent game play
were associated with lower levels of overall victim
concern, concern for general victims, vulnerable
victims and for culpable victims.
12

13. The results suggest that young people who play more
violent video games have less concern for general victims
and for culpable victims, and these effects cannot be
explained by gender or age differences in the participant
sample.
Young people who play violent video games also reported
less concern for victims overall and for vulnerable victims
and this effect was not due to age differences.*
 Males: less concern for culpable and general victims
Age differences in terms of types of victims
 This study is the first to explore directly young people’s
exposure to violent video games and their concern for
victims of crime
Less concern for what could be considered the less serious
crimes or those who they may believe may be less affected
by these crimes.
13

14.  The long-term exposure to violent video games may
lead to people developing particular views of
culpability and levels of blame, with higher levels of
culpability(and therefore less concern) evident as
young people played more violent video games
 Individual experiences that people have playing
violent video games
 Gender differences
 Greater exploration of attitudes
 Long term effects
14

15. Most young people spend more time watching screen
media than in any other activity apart from sleeping
(Strasberg et al, 2009).
Build protective factors
Parental role in monitoring the media use.
” A new bill has been submitted to the U.S. House of
Representatives that will require most video games to
include a warning label that states: "WARNING:
Exposure to violent video games has been linked to
aggressive behaviour.“ CBS News
March 20th 2012
But what about attitudes?
Definition of harm and impact of harm changing?
Individual and Societal Implications of findings
15

16. “I could play it for hours, I don't know what it is that
makes it so addictive. I think its the fact that you
play the bad guy and have to complete all the
missions and try not to get caught. Its not really
hurting anyone though, right?”
Female Gamer (Aged, 20 years)
16

17.  Anderson, C.A., & Dill, K.E. (2000). Video games and aggressive thoughts, feelings and
behaviour in the labratory and in life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78,
772-790.
 Anderson, C. A., Gentile, D. A., & Buckley, K. E. (2007). Violent video game effects on children
and adolescents: Theory, research, and public policy. New York: Oxford University Press.
 Clements, C. B., Brannen, D. N., Kirkley, S. M., Gordon, T. M. and Church, W. T. (2006), The
measurement of concern about victims: Empathy, victim advocacy and the Victim Concern Scale
(VCS). Legal and Criminological Psychology, 11: 283–295.
 Engelhardt, C.E., Bartholow, B.D., & Saults, J.S. (2011). Violent and nonviolent video games
differentially affect physical aggression for individuals high versus low in dispositional anger.
Aggressive Behavior, 37, 539-546.
 Gentile, D. A., Anderson, C. A., Yukawa, S., Ihori, N., Saleem, M., Ming, L. K., Liau, A. K., Khoo,
A., Bushman, B. J., Huesmann, L. R., & Sakamoto, A. (2009). The effects of prosocial video
games on prosocial behaviors: International evidence from correlational, longitudinal, and
experimental studies. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35(6), 752-763.
 Greitemeyer, T. and McLatchie, N. (2011). Denying humanness to others: A newly discovered
mechanism by which violent video games increase aggressive behavior. Psychological Science,
22(5):659-665.
 Griffiths, M. D. (1993). Are computer games bad for children? The Psychologist: Bulletin of the
British Psychological Society, 6, 401–407.
 Harris, M.B. & Williams, R. (1985). Video games and school performance. Education, 105(3),
306-309.
 Strasburg, V.C., Wilson, B.J. & Jordan, A.B. (2009). Children, Adolescents and the Media. (2nd
Ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
 Viera, E.T. & Krcmar, M. (2011) The Influences of Video Gaming on US Children's Moral 17
Reasoning About Violence Journal of Children and Media, 5(2), pp 113-131