Lisa Santos

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• Lisa Santos
• Project report
• MACS390, Media, war and peace, autumn session,
  2010
• Media and Cultural Studies, University of
  Wollongong
• The project report had two components. For
  details of the assignment see http//www.bmartin.c
  c/classes/MACS390_10outline.pdf
• 1. An information pack for an organisation. Lisa
  Santos information pack starts on the next
  slide.
• 2. A fictional dialogue on carrying out the
  project. Lisa Santos dialogue is a separate
  file.
• This document is located at http//www.bmartin.cc/
  classes/MACS390_10tops/.

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Killology(1)
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Aggression

• Aggression is behaviour intended to harm
  described as being a hostile or violent behavior
  or attitudes toward another readiness to attack
  or confront.
• The action of attacking without provocation.
• The forceful and sometimes overly assertive
  pursuit of one's aims and interests.(1)

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The Psychology of Aggression

• In psychology, aggression refers to any
  behaviour that demonstrates malicious intent to
  cause harm. Aggression is measure in three stages
  along a mild to violent scale of severity an
  continuum of Physical, Verbal and Relational
  violence. Violence on the other hand refers to
  the physical aggression of which the victim is
  likely to suffer serious physical injury.(1)

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Aggression in terms of gaming!

• Aggression within videogames falls under two
  categories, proactive and reactive aggression.(1)
• Proactive aggression is goal oriented. It relies
  on rewards to stimulate aggressive acts. (2)
• Reactive aggression is the automatic response to
  perceived threats. (3)
• These terms reflect the top tier of the general
  aggression model. These often trigger other
  issues. These are detailed on the next slide.

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How does aggression portrayed in videogames
versus television differ?

• And the answer is
• Interactivity and the pursuit of an
  individualistic goal! (1)

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What does this mean for your childs brain?

• There is a causal link between playing the
  first-person shooting game in our experiment and
  brain-activity pattern that are considered as
  characteristic for aggressive cognitions and
  affects, (1)
• Adolescents who play violent video games may
  exhibit lingering effects on brain function,
  including increased activity in the region of the
  brain that governs emotional arousal and
  decreased activity in the brain's executive
  function, which is associated with control, focus
  and concentration.(2)

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This areas shown is the region where aggressive
behaviour is reacting to violent videogame
stimulus!

• This reactivity within brain function affects the
  Occipital, Parietal and Temporal sections within
  the brain. (1)
• This highlights the action of videogame
  technology teaching kids to kill.(2)

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What does the evidence say?

• Adolescents who expose themselves to greater
  amounts of video game violence were more hostile,
  reported getting into arguments with teachers
  more frequently, were more likely to be involved
  in physical fights, and performed poorly in
  school. (1)
• This can lead to greater long term affects as
  student become anti-social and risk slipping
  grades or missing school to play violent
  videogames on different mediums impacts
  employability and later on chances of further
  education and graduation.

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Reality vs. Fiction

• For adolescents who begin gaming at a young age.
  It is becoming more and more difficult for them
  to distinguish reality from fiction.
• WHY? Because game aesthetics are improving with
  greater pixalisation to appear as true to life as
  possible. (1)
• What comes into question here is can you then
  tell the difference. The case of Devin Moore
  leads me to think not! You be the judge

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Killing for the Fun of it!

• Killer Profile
• Name Devin Moore
• Age 18
• Preferred Video game Grand Theft Auto III and
  G.T.A Vice City

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'Life is a video game. You've got to die
sometime.'(1)

• On June 7th 2003 in Fayette, Alabama.
• Devin Moore shot three police officers James
  Crump (40), Arnold Strickland (55) and Leslie
  Mealer (38 a police dispatcher)
• He committed the crime acting out a game sequence
  from GTA.

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The facts of the case

• Moore was to be arrested on a alleged stolen car
  charge.
• He grabbed one officer's .45 caliber pistol and
  killed all three before fleeing the station in a
  police cruiser he stole from the station. (1)
• This was a popular game sequence within G.T.A and
  known to all players to reward handsomely.
• He was eventually caught and sentenced to death
  by lethal injection.
• The case was lodges in court under Strickland v.
  Sony. (2)

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Grand Theft Auto

• Grand Theft Auto relates to numerous formats of
  games, which over time has changed identity from
  G.T.A to G.T.A Vice city and most recently to
  G.T.A San Andreas.
• Vice City has elements from driving games and
  third-person shooters, and features open-world
  game play that gives the player more control over
  their playing experience.(1)

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G.T.A Vice City Facts.

• Grand Theft Auto Vice City is an
  action/adventure computer and video game.(1)
• Vice City draws much of its inspiration from
  1980s American culture.
• It is set in 1986 in Vice City.(2)
• Story line Mafia member Tommy Vercetti has
  recently released from prison after being
  involved in a drug deal gone wrong. Tommy then
  has to seek out those responsible while building
  a criminal empire and seizing power from other
  criminal organizations in the city.(3)

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In defense What does Thompson say about this?

• Moore's lawyers claimed that Moore had been
  programmed by frequently playing the game GTA
• Thompson claims Devin Moore was, in effect,
  trained to do what he did. He was given a murder
  simulator," (1 )

• He bought it as a minor. He played it For
  hundreds of hours it is primarily a
  cop-killing game. (2)
• Defense but for the video-game training, Moore
  would not have done what he did. (3)

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Impact of violent videogames on Moore!

• When looking at all the facts of this case, how
  does someone who has never shown this behaviour
  before, who acts out of character and who has
  shot on target but never held a gun become a
  killing machine? The answer is simple. (1)
• Violent video games (2)

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You decide?

• Can you see then the correlation between
  aggression in videogames, repetitive conditioning
  and the inability to distinguish reality from
  fiction due to photorealism?
• Critics however state differently.
• They state that violence in video games are not
  always causally linked with aggressive
  tendencies.
• A study conducted in the U.S. Established this.

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It stated "We clearly associate media violence to
aggressive behavior. But the impact was very
small compared to other things. Some may not be
happy with that, but thats where the science
is. (1) Only 12 of those involved in school
shootings were attracted to violent video games,
while 24 read violent books and 27 were
attracted to violent films.(2) From this data
conclusions were drawn then that children who
were predisposed to acts of violence before their
gaming began, are more likely to take on
aggressive actions as a result, thus more
susceptible to violent videogames.
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Trigger happy

• Why is it that teens are so ready to engage in
  violent videogames?
• Because the game is always there, it is a
  distraction of everyday life- a nirvana. It has
  the ability to promote a reliable existence as
  it is ruled by absolute order in terms of a game
  sequence which is not found in everyday life. (1)
• Because of reinforcements Think of the rat and
  the cheese analogy- behaviour that is repeated
  for reward.(2)

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Teaching Kids to Kill

• Because of the idea that violence in videogames
  leads to aggressive behaviour, there has been a
  call to action to halt the flooding of the market
  of violent videogames available to the public.
• Some however point out that videogames are an
  integral part of social development as it can be
  deemed catharticas videogames provide a sage
  and beneficial outlet for aggressive feelings in
  a non-destructive contextthey contribute
  positively to a child's cognitive
  development.(1) They do however as a result pose
  addictive elements to continue this cathartic
  expression (2)

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Teaching the art of killing

• As game technology has improved over a the years,
  and simulations seem less fake, there is an
  emphasis on the reality of games to assert
  violent aggressive action. This is seen as
  cathartic as it provides a secure outlet for the
  aggressive action of gamers yet all evidence
  within this slide show shows that violent
  videogames do assist in creating an atmoshephere
  where aggression is taught. Therefore violent
  videogames are negative teaching tools. This can
  be argued with the case of Devin Moore.
• A case that further highlights this is the use of
  Americas Army 3 in training American Soldiers in
  combat. (1)

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Media Guidelines

• As a result, there has been a push to restrict
  videogame sales nationally. Australia however is
  an interesting case as restriction laws are quite
  lax.
• Did you know that there are no R18 rating
  systems within Australia for videogames as it
  only applies to movies.
• This means that games are allowed if they are
  edited to conform to an MA15 standard or they
  are refused classification RC (1)

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What does this mean for you?

• That you need to take action!
• You need to monitor what your child sees and how
  they play.
• Although you might not have these games at your
  disposal. Your children's friends might so talk
  to them about the dangers of aggression and
  violent videogames.

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What can you do?

• Reduce the exposure your children have to violent
  videogames.
• Be informed only buy age appropriate games -
  check with the game manufacturers for actual
  content.
• Check www.moviereports.org for videogame reviews.
• Petition for R ratings in Australia through
  http//www.r18games.com.au/
• And finally do your own research and be a
  responsible parent. (1)

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Bibliography

• Apple online dictionary- Aggression
• Anderson, C,A. Video Games and Aggressive
  Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviour in the
  laboratory and in life, Journal of Personality
  and Social Psychology. 
• Anderson, C., EFFECTS OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES ON
  AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, AGGRESSIVE COGNITION,
  AGGRESSIVE AFFECT, PHYSIOLOGICAL AROUSAL, AND
  PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR A Meta-Analytic Review of the
  Scientific Literature, Psychological Science,
  Vol. 12, No. 5, September 2001
• Brown, H.J. (2008) Video Games and Education, M.E
  Sharpe, London.
• Blundell, K. (14/2/2010) War Games and
  Aggression, Accessed 1/6/10, http//earthsciweb.or
  g/MontessoriMuddle/2010/02/14/war-games-and-aggres
  sion/

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• Cargo, T. (31/7/2009) Banned the absurdity of
  Australia's game rating regime Accessed 17/5/10
  http//www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/31/2319
  787.htm
• Commonwealth of Australia (2001-2009)
  Classification Markings on Film and Computer
  Games Accessed 30/5/10 http//www.classification.g
  ov.au/www/cob/classification.nsf/Page/Classificati
  onMarkings_ClassificationMarkingsonFilmandComputer
  Games_ClassificationMarkingsonFilmandComputerGames
  
• Gentile, D., Saleem, M., Anderson, C. (2007).
  Public Policy and the Effects of Media Violence
  on Children. Social Issues and Policy Review,
  1(1), 15-61.
• Graham, I. (20/3/2010) Studies and Research on
  Media Effects?Portrayal of Violence Accessed
  23/5/10 http//libertus.net/censor/resources/studi
  es.html
• Grossman, D Degaetano, G. (1999) Stop Teaching
  Our Kids To Kill, Crown Publishers, New York.
• Grossman, D Christensen, L.W. (2008) On Combat
  the Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict
  in War and Peace. Worrior science publications,
  China.

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• Michigan State University (2005, October 12).
  Violent Video Games Lead To Brain Activity
  Characteristic Of Aggression. ScienceDaily.
  Retrieved June 7, 2010, from http//www.sciencedai
  ly.com /releases/2005/10/051012082710.htm
• Urbano, L.D., 2010. War games and aggression,
  Retrieved June 7th, 2010, from Montessori Muddle
  http//earthsciweb.org/MontessoriMuddle/
• Poole, S. (2000) Trigger Happy The Inner Life of
  Video Games, Fourth Estate, London.
• Radiological Society of North America (2006,
  November 29). Violent Video Games Leave Teenagers
  Emotionally Aroused. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June
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• Sapountzis, A. (2007) Can Video Games Lead to
  Murder? Accessed 28/5/10 www.gamedefender,com/news
  /20060306.html
• Serendip, 1994 Brain Structures and their
  Functions, Accessed http//serendip.brynmawr.edu/b
  b/kinser/Structure1.html
• Thompson, J (2005) Games In The Court GTA Life
  Is A Video Game Accessed 11/5/10
  http//www.jackthompson.org/games_in_the_court/lif
  e_is_a_videogame.htm 

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• Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia. Strickland v.
  Sony Accessed 2/6/10 http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
  Strickland_v._Sony
• (2008) Australia needs an R18 Rating for video
  games Accessed 28/5/10 http//www.r18games.com.au/
  
• (2008) Rockstargames- vice city Accessed 15/5/10
  http//www.rockstargames.com/vicecity/
• (2006) Killology, Accessed 18/5/10
  http//www.killology.com/publications.htm
• (28/9/09) GTA Vice City, Accessed 6/6/10
  http//megaupload.blog.friendster.com/uncategorize
  d/gta-vice-city-fully-working-no-crack-needed.html