Business Ethics

Business Research Ethics

In 1976 there was a controversial game called Death Race.  The basics of the two player coin-operated (remember those?) video game was that the player would drive around a car and run over little gremlins.  A tombstone would pop up in the gremlins place.  At least, that was the idea.  The problem? Graphics back then weren’t quite what they are today.  Because of this, the gremlins ended up looking like stick figure humans.  Combine the fact that the game was titled, well, Death Race and decades later researchers are still asking the question; does video game violence lead to real violence?

The video game industry is expected to grow to over $100 billion in the next few years (Irving, Janu).  Researchers have been conducting studies for over 20 years and results are still not definitive. There is little doubt that video game violence does increase aggression. However, there still is not enough proof that a first-person shooter will actually shoot someone in real life. The American Psychological Association (APA) is psychology organization in the country. The APA study also found that violent video games “lead to aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect and decreases in pro-social behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression.”  This research is interesting, but incomplete.  The study also found insufficient evidence pointing to a link between violent games and criminal violence.  (Busch, Janu)  There exists no single factor that leads a person to be aggressive or violent as it relates to video games. Rather, it is a combination of factors.  This is what makes this $100 billion industry able to continue with business as usual.  There is no definite link.  The video game is only one piece of the puzzle.

According to the APA, about 59 percent of Americans play video games which is about 185 million people. Most of the video games in the United States are purchased by adults.  The bigger titles have the kind of budget that makes movie makers envious.  Yet, for some reason, many buyers still consider video gaming a child’s thing not worthy of serious scrutiny. The more a child views violence in any form, the more he or she learns to view the world as a dangerous place where violence is deemed an appropriate response. Moreover, violence in video games often reward these actions rather than punish them.  In many shooter games, you level up or advance based on how many people you kill.