This post was inspired by someone in my discussion group who remarked that Mario punching a Koopa Troopa in Super Mario World was uncharacteristically violent.
Does violence occur in videogames?
I would argue that no violence occurs in videogames.
While Merriam Webster defines violence as “behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage, or kill someone or something”, I think such a definition is both underinclusive and overinclusive. First, the inclusion of “physical force” in the definition of violence ignores the robust discourse on non-physical violence that cursorily includes systemic, taxonomic, economic, and linguistic violence. Second, the restrictive invocation of intentionality presupposes omniscience and omnipotence and fails to accurately capture the unintentionality of vast swathes of violence. Third, the ipso facto inclusion of merely damaging something is overly broad; merely damaging something is not violence, for violence can only occur when someone has a particular form of attachment (care, dependence, etc.) to the thing being damaged.
I instead would define violence more succinctly as “enacted harm against something about which someone cares”. This can be people, possessions, conceptions of the self, the environment, cultures, and so on.
With this operative definition of violence, what occurs in Super Mario World and Braid is not violence. Stomping on a Goomba or Monstar is not violence as an act unto itself. Stomping on a Goomba or Monstar, however, can become violence if a player or observer maintain a particular form of attachment to those creatures. In that case, the violence is occurring through videogames; violence is being perpetrated by the player, mediated by the videogame, to the player or observer. Alternatively, as was Liz Ryerson’s experience, violence from video games occurs in Braid through “it’s [sic] centering Tim’s story, and attempting to rationalize of justify his guilt without really delving much into its source”. Liz Ryerson transformed this violence she experienced from Braid into the violence that many players experience from Problem Attic, whether that violence took the form of nauseating visuals, jarring sounds, feelings of hopelessness and containment, or still other virulent stimuli.
However, in any discussion of so-called violence in videogames, the concern that videogames cause violence inevitably arises. This concern takes several oft-repeated forms: desensitization (the repetition and consequencelessness of “violence” in videogames causes desensitization to violence which results in a lower or non-existent threshold to commit violent acts), encouragement (videogames reward “violence” resulting in players believing violence is actively good), and transferability (“violence” in videogames and violence are synonymous, so videogame players just become more violent). I think these approaches to videogame-caused violence are not particularly fruitful. If instead we focus on the idea that “games themselves can also directly generate concepts”, we can ask the question, “what concepts do players build playing a game and do these concepts facilitate violence?” (Jagoda 131). With this question, we can begin to see how the Manichaeism of Super Mario World facilitates the creation of ideologies of fascistic individualism and simple binary morality that facilitate violence. Violence occurring with these ideologies formed using videogames is violence occurring with videogames.
Violence can occur through, with, and from videogames but not in videogames since Goombas can’t feel pain.
I don't have a ton to add to the discussion that has already occurred, although it is all quite interesting. It is certainly an interesting position to take and I appreciate the attempt to further the definitions and dialogue surrounding videogames and violence.
I wish I could respond to particular comments, but given that I can't I'll just comment on my own post.
To jdw23
I wouldn't say there is violence in archery, as the targets lack central nervous systems, but I would classify football and martial arts as violent. Almost all people, except perhaps some Buddhists, have a relationship of attachment to themselves, and certainly one's teammates, coaches, family members, fans, etc. have relationships of attachment to players, so when someone is punched or tackled, violence does occur and occurs in martial arts and in football.
To derun and Jose Morin
I don’t think the theories of transferability, desensitization, and encouragement are false; I think they are probably, at least partially, true.…
I'll try to do more than just repeat my classmates here, but I feel there are large gaps in the reasoning you have laid out.
What you have written seems to unwittingly argue in favor of violent acts! If "violence can only occur when someone has a particular form of attachment (care, dependence, etc.) to the thing being damaged" the bombing of Hiroshima is hardly violent. Slaughter, genocide, and mass murder escape this definition of violence far too often. Detachment is one of the greatest enablers of violence. When perpetrators convince themselves a victim is not worthy of consideration it makes the act of violence easier to justify. Your definition encourages this! It agrees!
I think this is where we…
I really enjoyed your discussion on violence and this facet of reading video games and violence as occurring at times together, but not immediately in it. However, like the other commenters, I take fault with your definition. By associating some sort of attachment as a vital necessity towards being able to having violence occur, various acts can then become sort of dangerous. Although, I agree with the notion of video games not being the leading cause in increasing violent thoughts in the population, I do think having the mindset of excluding all non-associated violence as an absence of violence, leads to greater problems that can then become manifested in different manners. The subjectivity of associations and relationships can carry a…
I like how this blog post sets apart a videogame itself and how it is received by players through redefining violence. While I agree that real-life morality and definition should not be forced into virtual reality, I think the redefinition of violence here gives player too much authority in judging whether a videogame is violent or not. It should not be overlooked that the designers also hold an immense power in framing—even dictating—what players can derive out of a game. By making the deaths and killings in a game completely inconsequential or as cruel as possible, designers control the degree of violence conveyed through this game. Indeed, actual violence cannot happen in videogames, but how close that “virtual violence” resembles…