#Social questions about video game drivers#

The controversy has not been resolved regarding the influences behind these crimes. There is no shortage of news stories that involve young men commiting crimes relating to an obsession with video games. Lee Cochran, “Teens Say: Video Game Made Them Do It,” ABC News, June 27, 2008. Also in 2008, when 6 teens were arrested for attempted carjacking and robbery, they stated that they were reenacting scenes from Grand Theft Auto. Mike Harvey, “Teenager Daniel Petric Shot Parents Who Took Away Xbox,” Times (London), January 13, 2009. In 2008, a 17-year-old boy shot his parents after they took away his video game system, killing his mother. Mark Ward, “Columbine Families Sue Computer Game Makers,” BBC News, May 1, 2001. The families of Columbine victims brought a lawsuit against 25 video game companies, claiming that if the games had not existed, the massacre would not have happened. was quickly linked to the teenage perpetrators’ enthusiasm for video games. The 1999 Columbine High School massacre The 1999 high school shooting that many people connected with the first-person shooter genre of video games. There are many stories of real-life violent acts involving video games. A great deal of controversy exists over the influence of this kind of violence on children, and also over the rating system that is applied to video games. The enhanced realism of video games in the 1990s accompanied a rise in violent games as companies expanded the market to target older demographics. Video games, regardless of their realism or lack thereof, had added a new potential to the world of games and entertainment: the ability to simulate murder. Although the programmers claimed that the stick figures were not human, the game was controversial, making national news on the television talk show Donahue and the television news magazine 60 Minutes.

Death Race A 1978 arcade game that drew protest over its depiction of violence., an arcade game released in 1976, encouraged drivers to run over stick figures, which then turned into Xs.

Violence in video games has been controversial from their earliest days.

#Social questions about video game drivers#