"In a hypothetical motion-controlled video-game version of “Lolita,” it would be possible to inhabit the body, as well as the mind, of Humbert Humbert," Parkin writes. Parkin mentions a forum poster who hoped rape would be included in the game-it isn't-and imagines a future of games filled with such simulation.
#GTA REAL LIFE SIMULATOR#
Grand Theft Auto V can be viewed as a torture simulator (or strip club simulator) depending on which moments in the game you focus on. In an article remarkable for its odd congruence of measured tone and hyperbole, The New Yorker's Simon Parkin argues that the "go-to argument that video games are analogous to innocuous playground games of cops-and-robbers grows weaker as verisimilitude increases." In other words, as games become more and more realistic, developers need to be more careful about their content. If there is truly a direct, causal link between games like Grand Theft Auto V and violent shootings, we will soon have 18 to 20 million killers on our hands, not to mention the countless millions more who have been playing violent video games for years. Games are a $70B industry, and violent games consistently top sales charts. In 2010 in the United States, firearms were used to carry out 11,422 homicides and 19,392 suicides.īut overall, violent crime is down in the US-indeed, as violent video games have become more popular, violent crime has fallen.Įach of the shooters Fox & Friends uses to bulwark their case for censorship played video games, but so do millions upon millions of other people every day.
If and when this hypothetical shooting happens-and really, it's just a matter of when at this point-it will be terrifying and terribly sad, but it will pale in comparison to the reality of gun deaths in America.Įach day in this country, on average, 30 people are murdered with a gun, 162 more are injured, and 53 use a gun to commit suicide, according to the CDC. See this chart from the Washington Post's Max Fisher, which illustrates this fact starkly enough:
Should that happen, it will almost certainly occur in America, which boasts far and away the highest number of mass shootings (and shootings in general) while boasting no higher rate of video game consumption. It's possible that someone who buys and plays the game will later go on to carry out a horrible shooting. That doesn't mean it isn't possible, though the numbers suggest it's very unlikely.Īnalysts estimate 18 to 20 million copies of Rockstar's GTA V will be sold worldwide by the end of March, 2014.
No study has ever shown that violent video games result directly in actual violence, let alone mass shootings. Some studies have shown that video games increase aggression others show the opposite. In fact, numerous studies have been conducted and the results are mixed. His co-host, Elisabeth Hasselback, asked: "Is there a link between a certain age group or demo in this - twenty to thirty-four year old men, perhaps, that are playing these video games and then their violent actions? We have yet to find out." The Aurora shooter, James Holmes, the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, they're all described as essentially being addicted to video games."
Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Virginia Tech shooter, the Arizona shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, that Norway shooter who Anders Behring, I think he shot 77 people. Fox & Friends' Steve Doocey: "unfortunately you know it seems every time something bad like this happens we look at "is there a connection between video games and the shooter?" Well, take a look at some people who were described as addicted, from Columbine High School, Eric
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