The debate on video game violence and its effects on youngsters is an ongoing one. Some swear by the detrimental effects of violence in games while others defend it. Whenever I think about this topic, I instantly think of Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment. As a psychology major, I’ve encountered this experiment numerous times. Bandura studied children’s behaviour and wanted to know the impact aggression would have on their behaviour. After conducting some experiments where adults were displayed to either play with the Bobo doll or act aggressively and violently, he associated the behaviour to his social learning theory. The theory essentially addresses how people can learn to model behaviour from others despite the presence or absence of rewards or punishments. His experiments are what I would say sparked an interest in children’s influence in association with violent games and media intake.

There have been studies done which have shown a correlation between aggression and violent video games. However, it is important to acknowledge that this is a correlational relationship and not a causal one. As each psychology student knows, and learns from the psych 100, correlation does not equal causation. There can be many factors that affect a child’s behaviour such as temperament, SES, family background etc. I personally believe that exposure to violent games acts as a desensitizer. The more one is exposed to a certain content, the more familiar one gets. Thus, the content becomes a norm and doesn’t elicit the same reaction, of perhaps fear or disgust, as it did during the first few times of exposure. If one is constantly exposing to killings, bomb blasts, fight scenes and overall violent content then this becomes normal for them.

When thinking about this topic, I often think about my reaction to horror movies. I no longer find them scary because I, as an avid gamer of COD, Modern Warfare, Dead or Alive, Final Fantasy, Mortal Kombat etc, have been conditioned. I obviously can only speak based on personal experience but I know many others who also have been conditioned to desensitization. I remember once having a conversation with a friend about The Walking Dead, he expressed his concern of the content. He wasn’t distressed by the blood, violence and the gore of the show, rather he found himself watching the news and seeing the war and the victims of war and feeling no sympathy or empathy. I remember trying to console him by stating that it didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of feeling sympathy or empathy but the content of the news was not something new to us. We were conditioned to such violence and thus became desensitized to all the blood and gore. He was disturbed because of what he was conditioned to see growing up to the point of acceptance because it wasn’t happening to him or people close to him.

During Guild Wars 2, I definitely engaged in many violent acts where I constantly bashed the head of the poor alligator-looking animals or the worms or the ‘enemy.’ If I were to see a worm of that size in real life, I think I’d most likely run instead of aim at its head first and continuously hit it. The fantasy world created by online and video games in general gives us a sense of heroism where violent acts are rewarded and seen as progression. The joy I feel when I kill one of those worms in the game is not something I could ever express in reality, yet I don’t stop. I am constantly being reinforced through rewards and level up’s to fight and kill those ‘things’ so I can reach the next stage.

Does this mean that violent video games alone could elicit violence? I personally don’t think so; I do however think it can be a factor. If a child has a violent environment or prone to violence in their temperament then exposure to violence will only enhance violent behaviour. Otherwise, desensitization of that violence becomes less and less distressing, almost to the point of acceptance.

Trying to get rid of trolls when playing any game is inevitable. One is bound to come face to face (rather screen to screen) with one annoyingly obnoxious troll. To be honest, while playing Guild Wars 2, I didn’t come across any trolls. I think I paid more attention to the tasks and missions than the chat box. However, I’m no stranger to trolls.

Years ago, I was playing Call of Duty on my Xbox 360 live. I was playing with the online players, who were mainly young boys. The live feature allows you to converse with teammates using the microphone on your headset so you can strategically plan each move and get as many kills while remaining alive. I generally didn’t participate, but on one occasion, I spoke out. I don’t remember what exactly I was discussing, but I assume it was about gameplay and positioning of each team member. After I finished (it took me less than a minute to go over the plan), there was a brief silence. Then one of the boys sarcastically asked, “Is that a girls voice I hear or have you not gone through puberty yet?” I didn’t know what to make of it… I guess I had assumed that there would be other females who were also playing the game live; but according to the response I received, it seemed none of them had participated in such an encounter. So I spoke back. Stating that I was indeed a girl playing. I could hear some saying things like ‘she must have just joined or traded places with someone else, ’cause she can’t actually be this good.’ Then one of the boys said, “hey, why don’t you go play with barbies… you know, something for girls. This is guys stuff, we don’t need you to play like a girl and make us lose.” I was fuming by this point. I wanted to scream over the mic and tell them that girls too could play and that it hadn’t been an issue up until the point it was detected that I was a female. I also wanted to use some harsh profanity and put them in their place… but I didn’t.

I did none of those. Instead, I simply stated that I’d continue playing like I previously had. I made sure they heard me well and said, “I guess we’ll see how much like a ‘girl’ I’ll play.'” I ended up getting the highest score to which the other boys cheered on but also ended up picking on the one who spoke out. Now he was the target. But what they said to him also irritated me. They basically told him that he got ‘schooled’ by a girl,’ followed by bursts of laughter. The boy, upset I assume, quit the game and logged off his livestream.

I often think about that moment along with victimhood as well as the transition between victimhood within gaming. I’m sure there are many worse cases out there of trolls who have gone above and beyond to make someones life miserable. Due to anonymity, people on the internet have more freedom to say obnoxious and vulgar things without thinking about the consequences. Had it been an in person scenario, I highly doubt such words would be stated.