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Popular Culture: Video Games. Disclaimer. This is a huge topic to cover, so we will only look at certain aspects of video games today. Please remember that we all bring different experience and knowledge to the classroom, so feel free to add your input to this lesson today!
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Disclaimer • This is a huge topic to cover, so we will only look at certain aspects of video games today. • Please remember that we all bring different experience and knowledge to the classroom, so feel free to add your input to this lesson today! • Also, violence and sensitive content will be shown and discussed today.
What will be our focus? • Usually when video games are featured in the media they are being advertised in commercials or condemned in the news. • How have you seen the media represent video games?
A Brief History of Video Games 3 minhttp://youtu.be/HcMm6TJoYL0
Industry Facts and Figures • Doom: first-person shooting game that was so successful at testing accuracy and reflexes that it was used by the US military to train soldiers • Electronic Arts (EA) is a major gaming company with billions of dollars in sales • EA is interested in selling the story lines of their games to film and television producers
Continued… • Over $7 billion a year is spent on video games in Canada ($11.2 billion including hardware and software sales) • The video game industry makes more than Hollywood box office sales • Video game industry goal is to make more than music ($30 billion)
Continued… • Product placement and sponsorship equals $10 million a year to the video game industry (examples: boards in hockey games, car types in racing games) • Video games are targeting an increasingly wider audience (gender, age, interest, lifestyle) • Video game design courses are becoming more popular in post-secondary school
Video Game Categories • Sports • Racing • War • History • Fantasy • Role Playing • Adventure • Action • Movie Themes • Board games • Arcade games • Cartoon/kids • Classic • Puzzle • Fitness • Music (sing, dance)
Advantages • Thrill, excitement • Entertainment, fun • Impressive graphics • Motor development • Advances technology • Creativity • Problem-solving skills • Education • Teamwork • Self-improvement • Fitness • Challenge • Socialization
Disadvantages • Negative release of anger • Expensive • Less physical • Glorify violence • Encourage violence • Time wasted • Isolating • Out-of-date too quickly • Promotes illegal activities
Let’s take a look at some examples • Digital Nation video clips: • Gaming Convention (47) • Second Life (52) • Virtual Reality (61) • Army Experience Centre (74) What do you think after watching these clips?
The Blame Game • The next few slides describe actual instances of murders, suicides and other violent episodes where video games were blamed by the perpetrator or the victim’s family. • Most cases could not prove the influence of games on the actions of the perpetrators, but the belief that video games can be blamed for violence in the real world is common.
1997: thirteen-year-old Noah Wilson died when his friend Yancy stabbed him in the chest with a kitchen knife. • Noah’s mother alleged that her son was stabbed to death because of an obsession with Mortal Kombat. She alleged that Yancy S. was so obsessed with the game that he believed himself to be one of the characters. • This character purportedly uses a finishing move which involves getting the opponent in a headlock and stabbing them in the chest. Although Wilson alleged that this was the reason for her son's death, the character Cyrax does not actually perform this move at all. • The court decided the game was not to blame for the incident.
1999:18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher in the Columbine High School massacre. • The two were allegedly obsessed with the video game Doom. • Contrary to certain rumors, there is no evidence the pair practiced the massacre in Doom.
2000:16-year-old Spanish teenager José RabadánPardo murdered his father, mother and his sister with a katana, proclaiming that he was on an "avenging mission" by the main characterof the video game Final Fantasy VIII. • 2003:two American step brothers, Joshua and William Buckner, aged 14 and 16, used a rifle to fire at vehicles in Tennessee, killing a 45-year-old man and wounding a 19-year-old woman. The two shooters told investigators they had been inspired by Grand Theft Auto III.
2001:21-year-old American Shawn Woolley committed suicide after what his mother claimed was an addiction to EverQuest. • Woolley's mother stated, "I think the way the game is written is that when you first start playing it, it is fun, and you make great accomplishments. And then the further you get into it, the higher level you get, the longer you have to stay on it to move onward, and then it isn't fun anymore. But by then you're addicted, and you can't leave it."
2003:16-year-old American Dustin Lynch was charged with aggravated murder and made an insanity defense that he was "obsessed" with Grand Theft Auto III. • Lynch’s attorney encouraged the father of the victim to pass a note to the judge that said "the attorneys had better tell the jury about the violent video game that trained this kid [and] showed him how to kill our daughter, JoLynn. If they don't, I will.“ • Lynch later retracted his insanity plea, and his mother commented, "It has nothing to do with video games or Paxil, and my son's no murderer."
2003:18-year-old American Devin Mooreshot and killed two policemen and a dispatcher after grabbing one of the officers' weapons following an arrest for the possession of a stolen vehicle. • At trial, the defense claimed that Moore had been inspired by the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Warren LeBlanc Devin Moore Shawn Woolley Dustin Lynch
2004: in the UK, 17-year-old Warren Leblanc lured 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah into a park and murdered him by stabbing him repeatedly with a claw hammer and knife. • Leblanc was reportedly obsessed with Manhunt, although investigation quickly revealed that the killer did not even own a copy of the game. • The victim's mother has been campaigning against violent video games in the UK ever since. • The police investigating the case have dismissed any link.
2007: a 17-year-old male and 16-year-old female were accused of beating a seven-year-old girl to death. They are said to have been imitating the moves taken from the game Mortal Kombat. • 2008:four teens allegedly obsessed with Grand Theft Auto IV went on a crime spree in New York. They first robbed a man, knocking his teeth out, and then they stopped a woman driving a black BMW and stole her car and her cigarettes.
The 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootinghas been linked to video game playing by activists, although the specific nature of the linkage remained unclear for several weeks. • Early reports showed that the perpetrator, Adam Lanza, had been a fan of both Starcraft and Dance Dance Revolution, however later investigations showed that Lanza had also played Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Dynasty Warriors. • The suggestion that video games may have played a part in the tragedy prompted some Connecticut residents to plan a collection-and-burning of copies of violent video games and prompted U.S. vice president Joe Biden to hold meetings regarding violence in video games with representatives from the video game industry.
Game-Related Incidents • 2004:a 41-year-old Chinese man stabbed a 26-year-old to death over a dispute regarding the sale of a virtual weapon the two had jointly won in the game The Legend of Mir 3. • 2004: a 13-year-old committed suicide by jumping from a twenty-four story building in China, as a result of the effects of his addiction, hoping to be "reunited" with his fellow gamers in the afterlife, according to his suicide notes. Prior to his death, he had spent 36 consecutive hours playing Warcraft III.
2007: Ohio, 16-year-old Daniel Petric snuck out to purchase Halo 3 • His parents banned him from the game after he spent up to 18 hours a day with it, and secured it in a lockbox where the father also kept a handgun. • Daniel used his father's key to open the lockbox and remove the gun and the game. He then shot both of his parents in the head, killing his mother and wounding his father. • Petric was sentenced to life in prison without parole • Defense attorneys argued that Petric was influenced by video game addiction; the court dismissed this. The judge thought there was ample evidence the boy knew what he was doing, but that the game had affected him like a drug, saying "I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever."
2005: a 28-year-old South Korean died after playing StarCraft for 50 hours straight. • 2007: a 22-year-old from Texas shot and killed his cousin after arguing over whose turn it was to play the game Scarface: The World Is Yours. He pleaded guilty for murder at his trial in 2011, and will serve 15 to 30 years in prison. • 2007:a Chinese man died after playing Internet video games for three consecutive days in an Internet cafe. • 2007:a Russian man was beaten to death over an argument in the MMORPG Lineage II. The man was killed when his guild and a rival one challenged each other to a real-life brawl.
2008: Ontario teenager Brandon Crisp ran away from his parents after they took away his gaming privileges because he appeared obsessed with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. • Crisp was found dead a few days later (it was suspected that he fell out of a tree). • CBC used this incident to start a report on video game obsession and addiction.
And that’s not all… • Those case studies represent only a small portion of the violent incidents that people have linked to video games. • Remember, just because people suggest the involvement of video games does not mean they can be blamed. • Why do you think all of the cases involved males?
Discussion Time!What do YOU think?Can video games be blamed for acts of violence?
