Don't get into a moral panic with so-called violent video games

Microsoft, which recently revealed a virtual reality headset for its video game Minecraft, had launched a probe into reports that the Turkish government is preparing to ban the game.

According to news reports, Turkey?s Family and Social Policies Ministry is considering a ban on the game Minecraft, concerned it promotes violence and social isolation. This ban is opposed by Turkish scholars who are concerned research does not support it and the ban amounts to censorship. I?m an American scholar who studies video game violence, so I follow these issues closely. Not being a Turkish citizen and unaware of the local politics, I?m tempted to believe this entire episode must be some kind of hoax. However, plenty of similar incidents have occurred in the United States, so assuming the news stories are accurate, let me just say: the scholars are right and the government is wrong.

First, is Minecraft a violent video game? Technically, yes. You can kill spiders, zombies, etc. and nothing technically stops you from slaughtering innocent villagers. This sounds awful until you see the game with its primitive, blocky, non-gory graphics?it?s a violent game in the sense that Pac Man is a violent game. An easy target for outrage for the uninformed, but once one sees the game it is obviously no cause for alarm. Increasing research indicates that a lot of society?s fears of games comes from being uninformed. Unfortunately, the academic community has defined ?violent video game? so broadly, almost any game is a violent game. Such a broad definition can frighten people further by suggesting that, indeed, almost all video games are ?violent.? Lumping together games such as Pac Man, Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto has little conceptual utility. No more than ?violent literature,? including everything from Stephen King to most religious texts, has much conceptual meaning. It is the sloppy language of a culture war, not the precision of science.

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