Just when you thought reading a news article about an 8 year old shooting himself at a gun show (http://lateline.muzi.net/news/ll/english/10082039.shtml?cc=13425&ccr=) or a 12-yr-old and his family being shot for approaching a house for trick-or-treating (didn’t the guy realize that it was Halloween, and the odds are, kids with masks would be ringing his doorbell? http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Halloween-Trick-Or-Treating-Boy-Aged-12-Shot-Dead-In-South-Carolina/Article/200811115139711)
last week, there was a murder trial taking place regarding a 17 yr old Ohio boy killing his mom, and shooting his dad because they took away his Halo 3 in September, 2007.
It was chilly to read the news report. It wasn’t a crime of passion, but it was highly calculative. Apparently, the perpetrator approached his parents by saying, “would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you,” only to shoot them both in the head. He tried to make it look like murder-suicide by making his dad hold the gun. When his sister and her husband rang the bell, the perpetrator told them that they should go away because their parents were having an argument. It is really shocking to read that someone can be so cold blooded and calculative over a game. He even took Halo 3 when he run away after being discovered.
Although as a reader, I feel like rushing into conclusion that he shot his parents because of Halo 3 only, but there probably were other issues in the family, and that was the tipping point.
It seems that whenever a video game is mentioned in conjunction with a violent crime, it is always of a violent type. Like, you never hear about people killing others for emulating Mario Galaxy or dispute in Wii Sports ending up in real life murder, unlike say, Ultima or Lineage II where arguments regarding the game has actually caused real-life murder.
Video game and aggression is related, according to psychologist Craig A. Anderson who has done an extensive research regarding aggression for 50 years (such as how crime rates increase as the temperature rises). He stated that watching violent clips increase aggression immediately after the viewing for 20 minutes or so, and repeated exposure to violence “strengthen the aggression script,” making one more prone to use those scripts when triggered.
Although playing violent video games can increase your aggression, it still doesn’t answer why some people would think it is a good idea to recreate the scene from Grand Theft Auto, whilst others wouldn’t even dream about it. If you have attended an university, you would be able to relate that it seems as if every other room in the hall with a male has at least one violent video game, whether it is Grand Theft Auto or Resident Evil. But not all of them get involved in a bar fight. I sure haven’t used flame thrower on anyone after playing Silent Hill and Resident Evil. What kind of people are more prone? And what can we do to decrease the negative effects of violent video games, if it is significant?
At the end of the day, there is no one specific reason that explains an action that one takes. Each action we take is a result of succession of reasons. It is preposterous to blame some video game title that was a very small part of the perpetrator’s life. Violent video games are not for everyone, but it seems as if those who do not realize this are the ones that are negatively affected by fictional gun-duels.
For more on the news, click the following link:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2008/12/boy_killed_mom_and_shot_dad_ov.html
For more about Craig A. Anderson’s research into violent video games, follow this link:
http://www.apa.org/science/psa/sb-anderson.html
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