Blurring The Lines of Gaming and Reality: Root Cause or Red-Herring
This idea has come to my attention frequently. I don’t understand it, because I’ve never experienced such a phenomenon. None of my friends have either. During my active addiction, I would day dream about my gaming characters, and fantasize about getting back into the gaming seat, but I never thought I could cast spells and cleave monsters in half like my video game characters, no matter how much I wanted to. However, the biggest connections I see in the media about blurring reality with gaming is stories about mass shootings which seems ridiculous to me. Vox.com has an article saying that “video games have played a verifiable role in a handful of mass shootings…”. The article they reference as proof of the verifiable roles merely mentions the games that the shooters enjoyed. The article also lists other interests of the shooters so I’m not sure what Vox.com means by verifiable role. There wasn’t a specific video game common to all of the shooters, nor did the shooters associate committing a mass shooting to be played out like a video game. Did the hours of time the Sandy Hook shooter spent playing Dance Dance Revolution inspire a bloodlust he couldn’t contain? I think not.
There was research published by the American Psychological Association that shows a link to people blaming mass shootings on race. The lead researcher, Patrick Markey, PhD, remarked that blaming video games “…is often used as a red-herring to distract from other potential causes…” Apparently, young white males shooters are more believed to be inspired by video games while black and older males are believed to be deviant. This leaves me confused with the statement “blurring the lines of reality and video games.” Is this being said and repeated by people who don’t understand what video games actually are?
In my time playing video games (thousands of hours), hundreds of which are first person shooters, I’ve never once thought of strapping on a Kevlar vest outfitted with grenades and flashbangs, and loading up an M4 and driving down to my school because Counter-Strike instilled a vengeful and violent spirit in me. I think there is confusion between delusional violence and the frustration and anger that comes from video games. The people predisposed to committing such acts happen to play video games as well. In a 2017 survey, 72% of men between 18 and 29 reported to play video games, while a 2018 survey reported 97% of teen boys playing video games. To attribute gaming as primary cause to mass shootings; an activity that at least 3/4 of males between the ages of 13 and 29 do, is absurd. If the mass shooters all ate meat, or rode skateboards, would we then require young males to only eat vegetables, and roller skate because of this coincidence? Then why is this digital entertainment form being blamed when coincidence is all that can be attributed to it?
Video game addiction is like any other addiction; the addict gets drawn into an irresistible behavior. If that desire is frustrated then anger, resentment and many other negative emotions take hold. To bring it a step further, getting frustrated during a high-performance activity (Fortnite, DOTA, Call of Duty), which happens often, further frustrate the player back into the realm of negative emotions. I think the externalization of the negative emotion (e.g. rage, anger, etc.) gets confused for the negative emotion being harbored internally and manifesting itself in an evil act later. Dissecting “Rage Quitting” will be a topic for another time.
It’s true, like other frustrations, negative emotion can be projected onto other people, and consequently hurt other people and property. There are also themes of violence, anger, and corruption in video games, but I would argue that tv shows and movies glorify those themes just as much, but they aren’t blamed to the same extent. I wonder if it’s easier to blame a physical thing, rather than requiring individuals to take responsibility for themselves and their friends.
If you are a gamer or know a gamer that has problems with emotion regulation, video games may trigger reactions, but they are not the cause. Get some professional help. There are many resources for these problems. I specialize in Gaming Addiction and all the problems that come along with it.