Violence in Teen-Rated Video Games
by Kevin Haninger, M. Seamus Ryan, and Kimberly M. Thompson, Medscape General
Medicine 6(1) (March 12, 2004)
Available
at: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/468087 PDF
Press
Release - March 11, 2004
Press coverage - This study motivated an ESPN Sports Center
interview, which ABC World News Tonight used a piece of in its June 30, 2004
broadcast of "Foul Ball? Two Big League-licensed Video Games are Violent
or Inappropriate for Kids." It also received coverage in The
New York Times, and received the distinction of the "Most read
article by specialty" for Public Health from www.Medscape.com for 2004.
Also, see game designer Chris Crawford's note about this study.
Answers to frequently asked questions -
What are the study’s main findings?
What are the study’s main recommendations?
How did you select the video games? How many video games did you
play and review?
How did you define violence?
How did you measure violence?
What other types of content did you observe?
Which T-rated video games contained the most violence as a percentage
of game play time?
Which T-rated video games contained the most human deaths per hour
of game play?
Why should parents be concerned about violence in video games?
Background on video game ratings
What are the study’s main findings?
- This study demonstrates quantitatively that T-rated (for "Teen")
video games contain significant amounts of violence, injury, and death.
In the random sample of 81 T-rated video games we played, 79 games
(98%) involved intentional violence, representing 36% of game play
time, and 34 (42%) games contained blood.
- We found 44 games (54%) that depicted injuries to nonhuman characters
and 72 games (89%) that depicted injuries to human characters, including
the player. Deaths from violence occurred in 77 percent of games,
with 44 games (54%) depicting deaths to nonhuman characters and 51
games (63%) depicting deaths to human characters, including the player.
- We observed a total of 11,499 character deaths in the 81 games,
occurring at an average rate of 122 deaths per hour of game play time.
This total included 5,689 human deaths, occurring at an average rate
of 61 human deaths per hour of game play time.
- We observed 37 games (46%) that rewarded or required the player
to destroy objects, 73 games (90%) that rewarded or required the player
to injure characters, and 56 games (69%) that rewarded or required
the player to kill.
- Overall, 88 percent of games depicted weapons other than the body,
73 percent depicted use of the body as a weapon, and 59 percent allowed
players to select weapons. Characters used a wide variety of weapons
to commit violent acts, with 51 percent of games depicting five or
more types of weapons. A total of 69 percent of games used projectile
weapons for violence, 57 percent used guns, 54 percent of games used
explosives, 44 percent used knives or swords, 33 percent used fire,
30 percent used magic, 14 percent used toxic substances, and 54 percent
used other types of weapons (e.g., automobiles, hammers, police batons).
- Fighting and action games contained the highest average percentages
of violent game play time (60% and 41%, respectively). Shooting and
action games depicted the highest average number of character deaths
per hour (394 and 221, respectively) and the highest average number
of human deaths per hour (270 and 75, respectively).
- We also found that the R-rated films The Matrix and The
Matrix: Reloaded depicted significantly less violence (10% and
16% of screen time, respectively) and fewer human deaths per hour
(18 and 22, respectively) than the T-rated video game Enter the
Matrix, which contained 45% violent game play and 117 human deaths
per hour (mainly deaths of police officers, security guards, and postal
workers). While the films contained blood and the video game did not,
we noted that all portrayed graphic violence involving martial arts
and guns. We also noted that the game manual contained a $3 rebate
toward the purchase of The Matrix DVD, which indicates the
continued marketing of R-rated violent entertainment to children.
Back to questions
What are the study’s main recommendations?
- The significant amounts of violence and death in T-rated video
games raises important questions about the age-appropriateness of
interactive violence, as well as what criteria the ESRB uses to distinguish
T-rated and M-rated (for "Mature") video games. We stress the need
for greater transparency in the ESRB rating process.
- Our findings suggest that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should
continue to examine the complex challenges regarding the cross-marketing
of violent entertainment to children. In addition, our observations
of both an adult film star in a T-rated video game and games containing
music from albums that received Parental Advisory Labels also suggest
that the FTC should consider cross-marketing issues related to non-violent
content.
- We see the convergence of media and cross-marketing issues as presenting
major challenges to parents and rating boards. We believe our findings
suggest that a significant research effort should be undertaken to
explore the development and creation of a universal media rating system.
We recognize that a single system would probably provide the simplest
tool for parents, if one can be designed and effectively implemented.
- We encourage physicians and parents to be aware that T-rated video
games may be a source of exposure to violence and some unexpected
content for children and adolescents, and that the majority of T-rated
video games provide incentives to the players to commit simulated
acts of violence. We emphasize that parents need to judge for themselves
the appropriateness of game content, both by using the ESRB rating
information and by experiencing the game with their child.
Back to questions
How did you select the video games? How many video games did you
play and review?
We developed a database of all 396 T-rated video game titles released on the
major video game consoles in the United States by April 1, 2001. The database
contained each game title's genre, console, release year, and ESRB-assigned
content descriptors. The game titles can be viewed alphabetically
or by genre. After verifying
the database contents, we stratified the 396 video game titles by genre and
randomly selected 20% to play. One selected game title contained two separate
games, so overall we played 81 T-rated video games in the random sample. Given
the release of two new video game consoles, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube,
and a significant number of T-rated video games released after we drew our random
sample, we played and assessed nine additional games for these consoles. Overall,
we played 90 T-rated video games. For consistency, an undergraduate student
(Seamus Ryan) with considerable video gaming experience played all of the video
games. The player first familiarized himself with each video game, then restarted
the video game and recorded at least one hour of game play on videocassette
for coding.
Back to questions
How did you define violence?
We defined violence as intentional acts in which the aggressor causes
or attempts to cause physical injury or death to another character.
We did not include actions that led to unintentional physical harm,
the effects of natural disasters, or the presence of dangerous obstacles
not attributed to another character. We also did not include intentional
acts of physical force that represent normal play in a sports game (e.g.,
tackling in football), but we counted all punches and kicks in boxing
and wrestling games are violence because the intention in these sports
is to cause injury. Back to questions
How did you measure violence?
One author (Kevin Haninger) reviewed and coded all of the recorded
game play. We developed and collected several measures of violence.
The Medscape General Medicine article contains tables that list each video
game we played, as well as the genre, console, release year, ESRB-assigned
content descriptors, and our measures of violence and blood.
- Amount of Violence -
To quantify the amount of violence in each game, we coded whether
each second of recorded game play contained acts of violence. We further
coded for both precursor acts of planning violence (i.e., selecting
a weapon or aiming prior committing violence) and depictions of injury
after violence (e.g., a character lying on the ground dead or wounded)
in addition to coding whether each second of game play involved a
character committing acts of violence. To summarize the amount of
violence in the video game, we calculated the percentage of game play
depicting acts of violence and the percentage of game play depicting
either acts of violence, acts of planning violence, or depictions
of injury after violence.
- Portrayal of Violence - We used categories to rate how the video game depicted injuries to
human and nonhuman characters. We designated the violence as relatively
"mild" when the most severe depiction of violence in the game involved
minor auditory or visual representations of injury and pain that primarily
served to notify the player that a character was injured (e.g., characters
grunted or turned red when injured, but did not scream or bleed).
We designated the violence as relatively "moderate" when the most
severe depiction involved more realistic representations of injury
and pain (e.g., characters screamed, fell over, or bled when injured).
We designated the violence as "strong" when the most severe depiction
involved graphic representations of injury and pain that exaggerated
or focused attention on suffering (e.g., characters screamed in agony
or bled excessively when injured or when otherwise physically tortured).
For each video game, we distinguished between human and nonhuman characters
and coded the highest (and most severe) category we observed.
- Other Measures of Violence - For each video game, we noted the types
of weapons used for violence, whether the player could select these
weapons, whether violence resulted in injury, whether injuring or
killing human and nonhuman characters was rewarded or was required
to advance in the game, the number of human and nonhuman deaths from
violence, and the depiction of blood. We also noted whether destroying
objects was rewarded or was required to advance in the game, although
we did not code the destruction of objects as violence.
Back to questions
What other types of content did you observe?
Using the same definitions as methods as in our article
on content and ratings of T-rated video games, we quantified the content not related to violence
and blood that could motivate the T-rating in the nine additional games we played
on Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. The Medscape General Medicine
article contains tables that quantify and describe our observations of sexual
themes, profanity, and substances in these additional games.
Back to questions
Which T-rated video games contained the most violence as
a percentage of game play time?
Game Title |
Genre |
Console |
Percentage |
Twisted Metal |
Action |
Sony PlayStation |
86.7 |
WWF Wrestlemania 2000 |
Fighting |
Nintendo 64 |
79.6 |
The Simpsons Wrestling |
Fighting |
Sony PlayStation |
74.5 |
Tekken Tag Tournament |
Fighting |
Sony PlayStation 2 |
72.5 |
Tobal No. 1 |
Fighting |
Sony PlayStation |
71.6 |
Back to questions
Which T-rated video games contained the most human deaths
per hour of game play?
Game Title |
Genre |
Console |
Human Deaths per Hour |
Time Crisis: Project Titan |
Shooting |
Sony PlayStation |
1291 |
Confidential Mission |
Shooting |
Sega Dreamcast |
785 |
Fighting Force |
Action |
Sony PlayStation |
308 |
Machine Hunter |
Shooting |
Sony PlayStation |
272 |
Gekido |
Action |
Sony PlayStation |
247 |
Back to questions
Why should parents be concerned about violence in video games?
Parents should be concerned about violence in all contexts, not just
in video games, but also in films, books, television, music, and the
world around us. We are highlighting an important opportunity for parents
to use video games to talk with their children about violence and other
important content. Back to questions
Background on video game ratings
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB)
is a self-regulatory body created in 1994 by the computer and video game industry.
The ESRB is responsible for applying and enforcing the rating and advertising
standards adopted by the industry. The ESRB rates video games with age-based
rating symbols and content descriptors, which game manufacturers display on
the game box. Age-based rating symbols include EC (for "Early Childhood"), E
(for "Everyone"), T (for "Teen"), M (for "Mature), and AO (for "Adults Only").
Content descriptors are short phrases that indicate game content (e.g., "Violence"
or "Mild Language"). To receive a rating, game manufacturers provide the ESRB
with videotaped game footage and other information about game content. Three
trained ESRB raters independently review the materials and assign the rating
and content descriptors they believe are appropriate.
Back to questions
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