let’s play! Playing

the Blame Nick Ciorogan would thoroughly trounce me,” recalls Video stand accused of Kutner, a psychologist. Olson and Kutner—who are publishing a causing obesity, violence, and lousy book based on their research, Grand Theft Childhood? this spring—were entering a brave new world of play that is closed to grades. But new research paints a many parents. For millions of kids and quite a few adults, video games are central to their surprisingly complicated and positive play and imaginations. Today the American industry makes almost twice picture, reports Jeremy Adam Smith. as much as movie theaters, and consumers spent $18.85 billion on video-game hardware, cheryl olson had seen her teenage and focus groups of junior high school software, and accessories in 2007—triple son play video games. But like many parents, students—Michael urged her to pick up what they spent in 2000. Several authorita- she didn’t know much about them. a . “I definitely felt they should be tive studies, including Olson and Kutner’s, Then in 2004 the U.S. Department of familiar with the games if they were doing have found that 70 to 80 percent of boys and Justice asked Olson and her husband, Law- the research,” says Michael, who was 16 at approximately 20 percent of girls now play rence Kutner, to run a federally funded study the time and is now 18. video games on an average day. of how video games affect adolescents. Olson started with the PC game Max Their popularity—and the bloody, pyro- Olson and Kutner are the co-founders Payne, which, she says, had an “engaging technic action of some games—have fueled and directors of the Harvard Medical film noir-style plot” and “lots of shooting.” a wide range of fears. Politicians, pundits, School’s Center for Mental Health and Later she moved on to Star Trek: Bridge preachers, and many parents accuse video Media. Olson, a public health researcher, Commander, which turned out to be more games of displacing more wholesome, tra- had studied the effects of media on behavior realistic than she expected. “I found it really ditional forms of play and contributing to but had never examined video games, either stressful, in my role as the captain, to have ills such as childhood obesity, poor school in her research or in her personal life. the crew members stand there watching grades, and, most of all, kid-on-kid violence. And so the first thing she did was watch me expectantly as I tried to figure out the Their fears echo earlier concerns about over the shoulder of her son, Michael, as he controls and give them orders before the movies, comic books, rock and roll, and hip- played his video games. Then, two years ship exploded,” she says. With his father, hop, which all provoked opposition when into her research—which combined surveys Michael played James Bond games. “He they first appeared.

24 Greater Good Spring 2008

Harvard Medical School researchers Cheryl Olson organized in-depth focus groups with kids and her colleagues also found that playing and Lawrence Kutner play a video game with their in the Boston area who had played M-rated video games didn’t take time away from son, Michael. “It’s a great thing developmentally games. In the focus groups, they also talked sports or other active leisure activities. And for the child to teach the parent something,” says to about half of the kids’ parents—which, like Olson and Kutner’s study, their research Olson. Kutner says, revealed that many moms and discovered that game-playing and non- dads had little idea of what went on in the gaming adolescents spent the same amounts As a result, advocacy organizations like games their kids played. of time with family and friends. Moreover, Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and In addition to game-playing habits, the often played with friends and saw it Violence and the Parents Television Council researchers looked at the emotional, psycho- as a way of bonding. have pressed for laws limiting video game logical, and socioeconomic situations of the But if video games are not displacing violence. Since 2001, federal judges have kids, trying to understand which kids were real-world play and socializing, then where rejected nine attempts to regulate video most at risk to engage in violent behavior. is the time to play them coming from? games, citing First Amendment protec- Their results, which they started to publish When the University of Texas researchers tion. Censors abroad have had more luck: last year, challenge many popular assump- compared game-playing and non-gaming Last year, both the British Board of Film tions, while also validating some existing adolescents, they found that playing games Classification and the Irish Film Censor’s concerns and raising a few new ones. cut into reading and homework. In results Office banned the game Manhunt 2 for its Their study immediately “unrelenting focus on stalking and brutal debunked two myths: that slaying.” gamers are antisocial, and It is hard to argue that a game like Man- that the kids who play them Researchers found that hunt 2 is good for kids. And yet according are out of shape. For boys to the market-research organization NPD especially, they found that game-playing and non- Group, only 16 percent of all games sold today video games are a way in 2007 shared Manhunt 2’s rating of “M” to socialize and connect with gaming adolescents spent (“Mature”) for violent or sexual content, their friends, and that this while 57 percent of games sold were rated bonding sometimes facili- the same amounts of time nonviolent and safe for children. Video games tates, rather than discourages, today are defined by their diversity, ranging participation in physical play. with family and friends. from the innocent quests of to “Since game play is often the the complex strategy of Civilization to the a social activity for boys, Blame Game amoral brutality of Grand Theft Auto. Even nonparticipation could be a marker of published last year in the journal Archives of video games with violence in them—like social difficulties,” Olson and Kutner, along Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, they report movies and books with violent content—are with their Harvard colleague Eugene V. that “adolescent gamers spent 30 percent not all the same. What’s more, new research Beresin, write in last October’s issue of the less time reading and 34 percent less time shows that individuals experience the vio- Psychiatric Times. “These boys [who rarely doing homework.” (Depressingly, even non- lence differently. played games with friends] were also more gaming boys spent only eight minutes a day Indeed, the more one examines the range likely than others to report problems such with a book.) of games on the market today, as well as the as getting into fights.” Olson suggests that Iowa State University psychologist Craig considerable amount of research devoted to today’s video games can serve as a source of Anderson, a leading expert on research studying them, the more one realizes how social prestige for otherwise dorky teenage into video-game violence, says that while difficult it is to generalize about the games boys, in the same way that sports bolster the video-game play does appear to hurt school and their effect on kids. “It’s a lot more popularity of athletic boys. It’s an inversion performance, this has little to do with the complicated than people think,” says Olson. of the older concern that video game play content of the games. “The best bet at this “We’ve been worried about the wrong might cause social isolation. point is that it has to do with the amount things and maybe overlooking some more And instead of siphoning time away from of time taken away from other activities subtle things that we might want to give sports and outdoor activities, Olson and that would typically improve school perfor- more attention to.” Kutner adds, “This is so Kutner discovered that boys who played mance,” he says. “It’s no different from TV: pervasive in our society that it’s something sports video games were actually much Kids who watch a lot of TV typically are not we need to pay attention to, even if we don’t more likely to play those games in real life. spending it on educational programs.” have kids, because it influences how people “These are kids who are already into foot- The bottom line, according to both stud- think, just as of all types over the ball or skateboarding,” says Kutner. In focus ies, is that video games become a social, past couple hundred years have influenced groups, the researchers heard that “they will health, and educational problem when how people think.” use it as a way of improving their skills, for played to the exclusion of other activi- mastering a new move. They’ll perfect it ties—which, Olson points out, can be true Playing together virtually, and then go out on the court or of any pastime, from sports to hanging out Olson, Kutner, and colleagues ultimately the street and try it with a real basketball or with friends. analyzed 1,254 junior high school students, a real skateboard.” “I played games along with other things,” making their $1.5 million study the largest This finding is echoed in another new says Olson’s son Michael of his childhood. and most authoritative of its kind. They study led by University of Texas, Austin, “It never really supplanted anything. I was gave written surveys to the entire student psychologist Elizabeth A. Vandewater. outside. I was meeting with friends, building body at schools across the country and Based on surveys of 1,491 kids, Vandewater forts in the backyard. But everyone else was

Spring 2008 Greater Good 25 let’s play!

When the first edition of the video game Doom was released in 1993, its scary and graphic violence was considered revolutionary. In 1999, Doom was blamed for contributing to the Columbine school massacre. ©

playing the games and that was part of how games every day without ever engaging in shootings, but dozens of empirical studies we played together.” any violent behavior. In fact, as video games have shown a strong link between video have surged in popularity during the past game play and aggressive feelings. When Single-person shooter decade, youth violence has declined. Craig Anderson and colleagues analyzed But unlike movies and TV, which are According to a study released in January 54 independent studies involving 4,262 fundamentally passive viewing experi- of 2008 by the Centers for Disease Control participants in 2001, they found that playing ences, violent video games call for players to and Prevention, the number of school kill- violent video games increased aggressive actively shoot, stab, or bludgeon enemies to ings fell considerably from 1992 to 2006—a emotions and behaviors, and measurably death. Does research show that these violent period of time that includes the notorious decreased helpful behaviors. Researchers at games promote belligerence and bloodshed 1999 Columbine massacre. Many leaders, the University of Missouri monitored brain in the real world? including President Bill Clinton, blamed the activity in video-game players and found “A movie’s the same, even if you watch Columbine tragedy on the killers’ fascination that the games trigger a part of the brain it multiple times,” Kutner points out. “You with games like Doom and . that drives people to act aggressively. And may get additional insights, but it’s the same in 2004, a team of researchers studied 607 thing. With video games, you are interact- eighth- and ninth-grade students in the ing with the movie and it changes based on A 2002 study did not Midwest and discovered that there was that, and so it’s a different way of thinking. indeed a correlation between playing violent In a way, we diminish these programs by find a relationship video games and getting into fist fights, calling them games. In other contexts, the though the study was not able to say if one same thing would be called a simulation.” between game caused the other. In his 1999 book Stop Teaching Our Kids to That last study reflects the chicken- Kill, Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a psychologist play and school and-egg conundrum of a lot of video-game and historian, argues that “single-person shootings. research: Are troubled kids more likely to shooter” video games replicate military train- play violent video games, or do violent video ing, lowering children’s innate resistance to But when the U.S. Secret Service and games help create troubled kids? “That’s a killing other human beings, without also Department of Education analyzed 37 question we can’t answer right now,” says instilling in them the military discipline that incidents of school violence and sought to Cheryl Olson. For decades, researchers have might keep impulsive behavior in check. develop a profile of school shooters, they been trying to untangle the constellation Cho Seung-Hui, who murdered 32 discovered that the most common traits of factors involved in youth violence, from people on the Virginia Tech campus in 2007, among shooters were that they were male quality of neighborhoods to home environ- was initially reported to have played video and had histories of depression and attempt- ment to media influence, but so far they games obsessively (a claim since debunked ed suicide. While many of the killers—like haven’t been able to determine the degree to by the Virginia Tech panel that investigated the vast majority of young males—did play which any one of them contributes. the incident), and many commentators have video games, this 2002 study did not find a Part of the reason why data seem to con- instinctively linked game violence with relationship between game play and school tradict each other, Olson suggests, might lie campus killings. Cho “adopted the type of shootings. In fact, only one eighth of the in the disparate motivations players bring behavior of protagonists in films and com- shooters showed any special interest in vio- to the games. “Ours was the first study to puter games,” wrote University of Virginia lent video games, far less than the number ask a decent-sized group of kids, ‘Why do psychologist Dewey Cornell shortly after of shooters who seemed attracted to books you play [M-rated] video games?’” she says. the massacre. “The special effects and and movies with violent content. “We came up with 17 or 18 reasons why gratuitous violence seen in the mass media In short, trying to curb violent video they might play. And we were struck that ultimately desensitize humanity, and Cho’s games (or targeting kids who play video many of the kids said they were playing to case illustrates how dangerous the repercus- games) would seem to have little or no effect help with emotional regulation—to get their sions can be.” on levels of school violence. anger out, to feel less lonely, to reduce stress, The obvious problem with this charge is However, the story does not end there: a lot of things we didn’t expect.” For these that millions of kids and adults play video Video games may not directly cause school kids, Olson suggests, violent video games

26 Greater Good Spring 2008 methods might play a positive role in managing 28 of this issue.) “Like adults who think unruly emotions. “If I had a bad day at things through before they act, this gives school,” said one focus-group participant, children an opportunity to play it through Knowledge is Power “I’ll play a violent video game, and it just before they encounter the situation in real By Jeremy Adam Smith relieves my stress.” life,” says Taylor. “If something is bother- Craig Anderson isn’t convinced by this ing you, you can control it or manipulate ideo games pose a vexing problem for “emotional regulation” hypothesis. “Kids it in the world of pretending. That’s a way Vmany parents. It’s tempting to try simply report that’s what is going on,” he says, of developing emotional mastery.” to banish them from the home, especially vio- “but in fact there’s no evidence that actu- U.S. Circuit Court Judge Richard A. lent games. And yet video games are now a ally happens.” Posner offered a similar conclusion in his part of youth culture. Kids can still play them In fact, Olson and Anderson could both 2001 opinion blocking an Indianapolis at a friend’s house or on a , find support from a new study by psycholo- ordinance that would have regulated which today is necessary for homework. gists in New Zealand and Australia. The video-game arcades. “Violence has always Knowledge is a better solution than study measured the individual personality been and remains a central interest of prohibition, suggest Harvard Medical School traits of 126 teenagers, then tested their humankind and a recurrent, even obses- researchers Cheryl K. Olson, Lawrence reactions to the violent video game Quake sive theme of culture both high and Kutner, and Eugene V. Beresin. Based on II. They found that playing the game low,” he wrote. “It engages the interest an analysis of the most recent video-game made hostile people angrier, helped calm of children from an early age, as anyone research, plus their own study of more than more introverted personalities, and had no familiar with the classic fairy tales col- 1,200 junior high school kids, they recom- apparent affect on people with mild and lected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault mend the following guidelines to parents: stable personalities. In other words, one are aware. To shield children right up to kid might indeed play the game to blow the age of 18 from exposure to violent Know your child’s personality. If your child off in a healthy way, even as it feeds descriptions and images would not only isn’t doing well in school or seems prone to another’s anger. be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave distraction, say the researchers, it might be them unequipped to cope with the world best if he or she doesn’t have a TV, game Method acting as we know it.” console, or computer in his or her bedroom. Olson and Kutner’s work also suggests a That doesn’t mean that anything goes. Parents should also carefully manage the positive and paradoxical dimension of Olson says many precautionary steps media intake of kids who are prone to playing video games with violence in can be taken to mitigate the harm that depression or aggression. Violent games can them: helping kids to grapple with life’s violent video games might cause. “I would feed these tendencies. scariest experiences. definitely want to show realistic conse- Olson reports that many kids in their quences,” she says, when asked how she Know the games. Parents should familiarize focus groups said they liked playing would design one of these games. “There themselves with the games’ rating system, violent video games because they knew are a number of games with storylines that compare notes with other parents, watch kids the fighting wasn’t happening in real life. show the consequences of violence: Kids play, and pick up a joystick now and then. In fact, many of the kids reported being are getting orphaned or people are suffer- This will inform judgments about what’s best much more scared by TV news. “They told ing.” She says the violence should never for your kids. us, ‘The news is real, and that makes me be depicted as funny, or the perpetrators scared.’” In contrast, they could control the as attractive, and the players should be Know the technology. Joystick and PC games violence in video games. “There are things rewarded for mercy and moral choices—as are couch-potato games, but recent hardware you can try out in a game that you can’t do they are in the game SWAT, for example. innovations like the Wii require in real life,” says Olson. “Some of the boys But to help kids make the right choices players to dance, jump, and punch in the air, in our focus groups really liked the fact about video games, parents and other keeping them physically active. In addition, that you could choose to be a good guy adults first need to understand what kids many new kinds of consoles and PCs allow or a bad guy. They can ask, ‘What kind of are playing. Olson and Kutner urge parents parents to block age-inappropriate games. person would I end up being?’” and researchers alike to learn more about Olson’s son Michael says he and his these games, and even play them with Make sure your kids know the rules. House friends do not play games just because of kids. This will help both groups develop rules on game content and play time must violent content. Instead, they are looking a more nuanced understanding of gaming be spelled out—for example, that kids must for a compelling storyline, intriguing char- and be able to tell the good games from finish their chores and homework first. acters, and interesting choices. “A good the bad ones. Parents should also set limits on what games game to me makes you feel like a method “It’s a great thing developmentally for they will buy or rent before entering a store actor,” he says. “It just draws you into the the child to teach the parent something,” with their kids. story and draws you into a character.” says Olson. “A lot of kids said they’d These insights resonate with research love for their parents to play games with Encourage critical thinking. Last but not into children’s pretend play. In studies of them.” least, parents should foster empathy in kids kids with imaginary friends, University and talk to them about nonviolent solutions of Oregon psychologist Marjorie Taylor Jeremy Adam Smith is the managing editor to problems. The researchers also suggest has found that kids often create pretend of Greater Good and author of Twenty-First- that parents encourage kids to ask questions characters who do sinister, nasty, and even Century Dad, forthcoming in 2009 from about what they see or hear in the media. violent things. (See Taylor’s essay on page Beacon Press.

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