The Perilous Impact of Violent Role Playing Games: Position Paper

Violence is everywhere. In movies, TV shows, books. The abundance of gruesome content surrounding the moldable youth of today, removes the intended impact any form of a gun should have when seen out in public. When this is added on top of the allowed “killings" and “massacres” of their fellow classmates, one can’t help but wonder if these students are not participating in a game, but are actually being trained to kill. Role-playing games with simulated violence are perilous for the society, as it desensitizes them to everyday cruelty, and makes kids prone to be the cause of it.

As more and more of these simulated role playing games take place, the absence of any sort of violent recreational activities in a child’s life becomes unusual. Take a “killing” simulation game for example.“[...] on a Wednesday, three of the four seniors [attended a New York high school], armed with [...] water pistols, staked out at [a fellow student] Cohen’s house.” Although, Cohen and his family were probably aware that they were in no genuine danger, the other residents of that community were probably scared and confused. Games like this can confuse citizens on whether or not someone with any sort of weapon is dangerous, or just playing a game. Eventually, society may start to assume that any child with a weapon, is “just playing around”, and does not have cruel intentions. Sadly, this is not always the case. Imagine if a real gunmen, who wanted to hurt and maim townsmen was spotted, but the large number of the children who were “just playing around” has removed society’s caution around weapons, as they no longer know when the weapon is meant to kill. This could lead to real death and gore, that could otherwise be prevented.

Children in high schools across America, and parts of the world, are sometimes forced to interact with one another in these aggressive and deceitful ways. The students, instead of learning about who their classmates are as people, get together to discuss how they can trick, capture and eventually “murder” each other. On top of this, when actually following through with their schemes, these affected students learn to plan how exactly they can sneak in “weapons” and how to remain under the radar. Both of these things allowing them to successfully follow through with a crime, simulated or not. “[...] as he paced Pierrepont Street, three water guns shoved inside the pocket of a hoodie.” While playing a simulated water gun “killing” game, that young boy was able to sneak in three weapons, without being caught. Do we really want children learning to hide guns in their clothing? Learning to stake out someone’s house in order to attack them without them knowing? Children learning these skills is not normal and should not be encouraged.

Many may argue that simulated violence in no way relates to real violent tendencies, using the commonality of games that simulate violence (such as video games) to prove that the few who act on those violent urges are a rarity, acting as though the triggered violent thoughts, and possible actions, have to be as extreme as a school shooting. Craig A. Anderson, the director of psychology at “the University of Iowa” agrees that video games do have some impact on violent urges. “there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on, [when it comes to the cause of someone young wanting to hurt others]”. States the professor. He then goes on to add that “[he] thinks it’s clear that violent media is one factor. It’s not the largest factor, but it’s also not the smallest.” Considering that violent simulation games have any sort of impact on the actions of the youth, why are they still made as violent as they are? Even if not playing these crude games only reduces the rate of violence by 0.1%, do we really want to take that chance?

I hope that it is evident that in continuing the play of these games, these students are not being looked out for and that what is best for the student body is not being adhered to. Easily impressionable minds should not be constantly exposed to dangerous situations, simulated or not, as it makes them believe these situations are ordinary. Participating in these games is even worse, as they almost act as a training ground for real assassins, teaching them to plan and follow through with a “kill”. We could have students playing much more well thought out simulation games, ones that do not promote violent behaviours. These students are worth more than that.

By Akanksha