Which States Are Most Interested in Violent Video Games?
By Movieguide® Contributor
A new study revealed which parts of the country are most interested in violent video games and how that interest could impact their populations.
The study from Cloudwards.net tracked how frequently more than 90 of the most popular violent video games were searched monthly on Google per 100,000 people. California topped the list with an astounding 52,081 searches, meaning more than half of all Californians have an interest in violent video games.
New York ranked second, with a still relatively high 27,211, followed by Maryland at 9,348 monthly searches per 100,000 people. The top five were rounded out by Alabama (6,974) and Ohio (6,236), which ranked fourth and fifth respectively.
The bottom ranking states, meanwhile, were North Dakota (25), Wyoming (47), South Dakota (76), Montana (77) and Alaska (95).
While the question of whether violent video games beget violence in real life has been asked for decades, researchers are still undecided about their answer. Until recently, many in the field would confidently say there is strong evidence that violent video games lead to violence in real life. However, a landmark study released this summer offered a comprehensive view of the topic and suggested otherwise.
This study explained that the violence observed by researchers can be attributed to the competition that these games require, rather than being linked to the violent content found in the games. This explanation, while compelling, has yet to be fully proven, and the debate rages on.
This is especially true given the continuous advancements in technology, which have caused video games — and the violence found in them — to become evermore realistic. The violence kids were exposed to by video games 20 years ago almost always pales in comparison to the violence some of the games offer today.
Nonetheless, Movieguide® advises everyone to be careful of the content they consume (or allow their children to consume). In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches that “the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.”
Therefore, even if science cannot definitively prove whether violent video games do or do not cause violence, there is danger in consistently turning to them for entertainment. Thus, this study is helpful for parents living in states where people tend to be more interested in violent video games because they can be more vigilant about what their children are playing, while parents living in states with less tendencies towards these games can perhaps be more lax.
Movieguide® previously reported on violence in video games:
Advancements in technology have led to ever-improving video game graphics, and as visuals have become more real, the debate about video game violence has been renewed.
The video game “Dead Island 2,” released in April, marked a new step in video game graphics with its Fully Locational Evisceration System for Humanoids (FLESH) system. The FLESH system causes a player’s model to accrue trauma in a realistic way rather than apply the damage effect to a model in the same way, regardless of the attack performed.
The new system shows more gruesome scenes as incidents such as players burning or animal attacks create highly realistic, highly detailed visuals.
While the use of the system in “Dead Island 2” is performed in a cartoonish art style, the implementation of FLESH in a fully realistic game has the potential to cause immense damage to players.
While the current industry standard graphics are impressive, they still lack some level of realism. Even at a glance, adults can distinguish between real life and the fantasy of a video game. This is why some players can stomach incredible violence in their games that they could not bear in real life.
