Crd 2007 videogames

Video Games
Research to improve understanding of
what players enjoy about video games,
and to explain their preferences for
particular games
bbfcBritish Board of Film Classification
Prepared for the British Board of Film Classification
by Cragg Ross Dawson: Arnold Cragg,
Catherine Taylor and Ben Toombs

CONTENTS PAGE Page
A. BACKGROUND 2
B. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES 2
C. RESEARCH METHOD & SAMPLE 4
D. SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS 6
E. DETAILED FINDINGS 14
1. Some basics 14
1.1 At what age do people start playing video games? 14
1.2 Platform choice and acquisition 15
1.3 Game choice and acquisition 18
2. Patterns of use 20
2.1 Variations by age and life-stage 20
2.2 Variations by gender 22
2.3 Frequency of playing and time devoted 24
2.4 Playing against the computer or with/against others 28
3. What’s to like? The appeal of video games 29
3.1 Entertainment and fun 32
3.2 Escape and relaxation 33
3.3 A challenge 38
3.4 Social benefits 42
3.5 Graphics 44
3.6 Storylines 47
3.7 Skills and education 48
3.8 Humour 50
3.9 How distinctive is the appeal of video games? 51
4. Violence as an element in the appeal of video games 56
5. Specific games 61
5.1 Grand Theft Auto 61
5.2 Championship Manager 64
5.3 The Sims 65
5.4 Manhunt 65
6. Gamer concerns about playing video games 67
6.1 Isolation and ‘addiction’ 67
6.2 A poor, unproductive use of time 69
6.3 Violence: gamers 72
6.4 Violence: professionals 80
7. Parental concerns 86
7.1 Isolation and unsociability 88
7.2 A poor use of time 90
7.3 Violence and bad behaviour 91
7.4 Cost 95
7.5 Other concerns 96
7.5.1 Sex 96
7.5.2 Health 97
8. Supervision and regulation 97
8.1 Parental supervision 97
8.2 Regulation 100
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A. BACKGROUND
A large majority of video games sold in the UK receive a rating under the
voluntary Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) system, but some games,
about 6-7% of the total, are referred to the BBFC. In determining what
classification to give, the BBFC employs much the same approach as it does
to films and DVDs. However, as a medium, video games of course differ from
films in a number of ways, and especially in being interactive.
There has been little recent or credible research into the ways video games
are distinctive as a medium or into how games may generate different
reactions in players than films and DVDs do in viewers.
Many video games involve violent action and some people fear they may
desensitise players to violence. Media interest in this subject has been
growing. Some research in the US appears to support the hypothesis that
playing video games can make people more aggressive. There is some
pressure on both sides of the Atlantic for games to be more tightly regulated.
Meanwhile, the technology continues to advance, enhancing interactivity and
delivering ever more realistic graphics. The newest developments may
complicate the task of classifying games and increase anxiety amongst those
who worry about the medium.
B. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The BBFC commissioned this research project as part of an effort to ensure
that its approach to classifying video games is grounded on a good
understanding of the medium. They drew up a list of questions they wanted
research to address, as follows:
• why do people play video games?
• what effect do they feel the experience has on them?
• does the element of interactivity inherent in a video game significantly
alter the experience as against, say, watching a video?
• what differences are there in playing a game and watching a film
or video?
• what motivates players to complete a game?
• what challenges are posed by the games they enjoy?
• which games are the most enjoyable (and why)?
• what do gamers say about violence as an element in the appeal of
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games? Does this differ by type of game (is violence in a sports game
different from violence in Manhunt)?
• which games offer the most immersive experience?
• how do they choose which games to play?
• do they tend to stick to the same genre, or play a broad range of games?
• what distinguishes a ‘good’ game from others in its genre?
• how do the incentives/disincentives that some games include (for
example, a player losing points if he/she engages in anti-social
behaviour) affect a player’s choices? Is engaging in illicit pleasure worth
the loss of points?
• what considerations lead gamers to play on their own or with others?
• how does playing a game alone compare to playing with others online?
• is more satisfaction derived from beating other human gamers over
beating computer-controlled opponents?
• do children and parents play together?
• do parents consider games to be ‘toys’?
The above list was not treated as comprehensive; it was assumed that other
questions would emerge as the research progressed. The overall objective
of the research was to try and ensure that the BBFC had a good and up-to-
date understanding of:
• how gamers relate to the medium
• what it is about games that makes them attractive; the interplay between
– the visuals, the adrenalin rush of playing, the reward of finishing, the
social benefits of playing, etc
• what the implications are for the classification of games relative to films
and DVDs (are there grounds for applying different criteria to the
classification of games?)
• how games are perceived by the public in general and by parents of
gamers in particular
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It was explicitly stated at the outset that the research could not resolve the
issue of whether playing games desensitises people to violence in a way, or
to a degree, that has regrettable effects on their behaviour. This important
question was acknowledged to be beyond what the proposed research
design would be able to deliver.
C. RESEARCH METHOD & SAMPLE
The research was qualitative and consisted principally of interviews and
discussions with people who play games. There was also fieldwork with
parents, people involved in the production of games, games designers and
games reviewers writing in the specialist press.
Games players
16 paired interviews (two respondents who knew each other and had similar
attitudes towards gaming) and eight group discussions (seven/eight
respondents) were conducted with games players. Basic controls over
demographics and frequency of game playing were as noted on the table
below.
GAMES PLAYERS
AGE SEX CLASS INTENSITY
M F ABC1 C2DE LIGHT INTERMEDIATE HEAVY
PD 1 7/8 √ √ √
PD 2 8/9 √ √ √
PD 3 9/10 √ √ √
PD 4 9/10 √ √ √
PD 5 11/12 √ √ √
PD 6 11/12 √ √ √
PD 7 12/13 √ √ √
PD 8 12/13 √ √ √
PD 9 13/14 √ √ √
PD 10 14/15 √ √ √
PD 11 14/15 √ √ √
PD 12 16-18 √ √ √
Group 1 16-18 √ √ √
Group 2 16-18 √ √ √
PD 13 18-21 √ √ √
Group 3 18-21 √ √ √
Group 4 18-21 √ √ √
PD 14 22-25 √ √ √
Group 5 22-25 √ √ √
Group 6 22-25 √ √ √
PD 15 26-30 √ √ √
Group 7 26-30 √ √ √
PD 16 30-40 √ √ √
Group 8 30-40 √ √ √
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Light was interpreted as those who play once or twice a week on average,
‘heavy’ those who play four/five hours a day several days a week, and
‘intermediate’ are those in between these extremes.
The above fieldwork was distributed over a number of different locations
within the UK, including the greater London area, Croydon, Radlett in
Hertfordshire, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Parents
Four group discussions and two paired interviews were conducted with
parents. Each discussion would involve four fathers and four mothers (not
couples) with children seven to 17 who play video games. Most had bought
video games for their children. One of the two paired depths was with a
couple, the other with two single mothers.
The fieldwork with parents took place in some of the same locations as that
with gamers.
PARENTS OF 7-17YEAR OLD
CHILDREN WHO PLAY VIDEO GAMES AT HOME
Group 9 Parents who do not play (and have not played) video games
Group 10 As Group 9
Group 11 Parents who used to play video games but no longer do so
Group 12 Parents who play video games nowadays
PD 17 Parents of children 12-17 who express concerns at the time their children
devote to video games
PD 18 As paired depth 17
Professionals
Three professionals involved in the production of games were interviewed
individually. There were two interviews with professionals writing for the
specialist games press, and one group discussion with four writers for
specialist magazines.
The fieldwork described above was conducted in September and October
2006 by five Cragg Ross Dawson researchers: Arnold Cragg, Catherine
Taylor, Ben Toombs, Africa Munyama and Lisa Malangone. Arnold Cragg
prepared this report after internal discussions.
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D. SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS
Some basics
1. The probability is that people are starting to play games at a younger and
younger age, though the universe of gamers overall may be aging as it gets
bigger. It is not uncommon for children as young as three to play video
games. Professionals believe that the number of adult gamers is growing.
2. Households where there are gamers often have more than one game
console; these are passed on rather than discarded and they are popular as
gifts. Children usually have their console (much more rarely a PC) in the
bedroom (in part to avoid dominating the living room TV).
3. The technology is thought to be charging ahead in terms of processing
power and graphics, so that the newest consoles are the most desirable;
PlayStation 2’s dominance was upset by Xbox 360 (in part because of its
better internet capability) and this is in turn expected to be superseded by
PlayStation 3. Sony and Microsoft seem to be head to head competitors,
whereas Nintendo is seen as pursing a different strategy.
4. Gamers of course have different tastes in games and there is an immense
variety to choose from. Amongst the young, especially boys, word of mouth
and ‘peer group pressure’ is a powerful influence on choice; a few hot games
are played, for a period, by ‘everyone’. Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is the most
striking example. Children share and trade games with friends and play in
each other’s houses. There are fashionable games amongst adults also, but
older players seem to divide into ‘casual’ and ‘hard-core’ gamers, and play a
greater variety of games than the young.
5. The reputation of a game seems to develop by word of mouth and there are
few references to marketing. But it is noticeable that gamers often know long
in advance when a new game is scheduled to appear; advertising and
previews on internet sites play an important role here. Magazines, with their
free demo discs, are probably influential with many of the young, although
they are not much talked about. Comment in the media generally, usually
negative, has helped some games (for example Manhunt and GTA)
into prominence.
Patterns of use
6. These are very varied. Individual gamers differ in how often, when, and for
how long they play games, depending on: what else is happening in their
lives; mood; what they are playing, especially whether or not it is new or an
internet game.
7. Generalisation is hazardous because of the variety of behaviour. Patterns
worth noting include:
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• as would be expected, school children typically play a lot in the evening
and at weekends, and young people play more in winter than summer
because outside activities compete less strongly in bad weather
• many gamers play every day, but others play in irregular bursts; many
young players play to the limits of what they are allowed by their parents
• it is common for gamers to play for four or five hours at a stretch, and
many have stayed up all night playing, especially on a new game;
committed male gamers quite often play as soon as they wake up
• most gamers, but especially males, note that they very often play for
longer than they intended; once started, it is difficult for them to stop
• undergraduates, the unemployed, and people professionally involved
in the industry are prominent amongst those who regularly have very
long sessions
• most gamers and professionals believe that gaming appeals more
strongly to boys and men than to girls and women, but professionals say
that this male bias is steadily weakening
• there are exceptions, but girls and women typically play fewer games
and have shorter sessions; males are more likely to make time to play,
females to fit playing around other interests and activities
• most boys talk about video games more than most girls, and share their
gaming experiences more
• most males expect to go on playing as they get older (though less
intensely), whereas women often expect other priorities to squeeze
out video games
8. Different games have different playing modes, and different players have
different preferences. Most young players play against the computer; they
like being engrossed in a game, on their own, in their room. Watching
someone else play is not usually regarded as interesting unless it is a very
new game. Men who play sports games, especially football, like playing with
a competitor, or in groups. Massive Multi Player Online Games are of course
played with many players on the net. Many parents think there are risks
attached to their children playing online games.
What’s to like? The appeal of video games
9. There is huge and growing diversity in video games and of course gamers
respond to different elements. The answer to the question ‘what is their
appeal?’ is the same for games as it would be for novels or films: lots of
different things, and different strokes for different folks. Any summary is
bound to be reductive.
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10. Gender differences are prominent in what gamers like about playing, as they
are in patterns of use. Girls and women tend to play different games – more
driving, ‘strategic life simulation’ (The Sims), and puzzle games, less first
person shooter, hack and slash and sports games. There are certainly
exceptions, but it is probably fair to say that girls and women stay calmer and
set achievable objectives whereas boys and men tilt towards jeopardy and
excitement. In part because of the games they play, the social rewards of
gaming – bragging about it, helping each other, playing against each other –
are less evident amongst girls than boys.
11. Gamers play games because they enjoy it; they are curious, they persist, they
find it rewards them in various ways and is, in the round, an easy, absorbing
way to pass the time that compares well with the alternatives of chatting,
reading, playing a board game, watching TV or a film.
12. An important strand in the appeal is certainly escapism. You escape from
everyday life; to play you need to concentrate and doing so distracts you
from your usual preoccupations. Moreover, games are a safe environment in
the sense that what happens is structured by learnable and reliable rules. A
game is also reliable in that, if you know it, you know what the experience will
be like. Many gamers find this dependability makes a video game more
effectively relaxing and de-stressing than more passive activities like
watching TV.
13. You also escape to excitement and adventure or an alternative you. Games
enable players to do things they could not, or would not, do in real life; they
play at being people they are not. Many players, and especially boys, like
the stimulation of this; they like games because games are different – more
action-packed or more predictable, simultaneously more perilous and more
under your control – than real life. Moreover, games offer what feels like
adventure without risk; however many times you crash, you are never going
to get hurt. Simulation games, perhaps especially those online, offer an
escape to a different ‘reality’ and many gamers find this highly seductive.
14. Competing is central to the appeal of many video games; they set a
challenge to which gamers respond. Gamers want to win, to do better than
they did last time, to get to the next level, to complete the game. Problem
resolution is usually the key to progression in games, and most games have a
modular structure, so gamers are continually confronted with another little
problem that opens the door to the next; the challenge keeps renewing itself.
Sports games offer a challenge of a more conventional sort; trying to beat
your opponent(s).
15. Because they are often challenging, games deliver a sense of achievement.
Gamers are in control, and when something happens, they have made it
happen; films and television are passively watched and are not, many gamers
find, as satisfying. Online games are challenging in a different way; the
multiplicity of players produces uniquely complex interactions and
relationships which generate passionate involvement amongst some gamers.
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16. Many parents and gamers think of video games as profoundly antisocial
because gaming is so often a solitary activity, an alternative to relating to
other people. But part of the pleasure for many gamers, especially boys and
men, is social. Gaming is an important talking point and sports games are
played in pairs or groups with an atmosphere not unlike a ‘real’ sporting
event. Players of online games feel they make significant connections with
people they have not met.
17. The quality of graphics attracts comment and good graphics clearly
contribute importantly to gamers’ enjoyment. Graphics on recent games are
frequently described as ‘amazing’. There are games that are said to be
‘staggeringly beautiful’. The brilliance of a game’s graphics is quite often
quoted as a reason for liking a game. It may be that the better the graphics,
the more easily players become immersed in games. The expectation that
graphics will keep getting better excites many gamers, again more men than
women because of the nature of the games they play.
18. For most gamers, but with emphatic exceptions, storylines appear to be a
relatively weak element in the overall appeal of games. Gamers may have
some curiosity about how the elements in a game will come together in a
final resolution, but it is their progression through the game, rather than a
strong story line, that grips their attention. In part this is because they solve
problems to make progress, but cannot influence the ultimate outcome. In
Tomb Raider, for example, gamers steadily unlock the inevitable narrative;
they are not held by the story, but by the problem solving.
19. Games are better at developing action than building character and this
contributes to the weakness of storylines; gamers may not care very much
what happens in the end so long as the action is exciting and they make
progress. However there are gamers who find some games emotionally
powerful – more powerful, in some ways, than films or books. An affecting
account of how a game can make a player cry is quoted in the body of the
report (page 54).
20. It is often said that playing video games develops eye hand coordination
and reaction times; getting better by improving in these ways is one of the
rewards of playing. Some gamers also claim that playing is educational; it
familiarises you with ways of being and doing that you would otherwise not
know about. It is sometimes laughingly conceded that much of this learning
has little relevance to ordinary life. However, many gamers would insist that
playing games is mentally stimulating (more stimulating than watching TV
typically is).
21. Humour is not a conspicuous element in the appeal of games. Nevertheless,
some are described, especially by boys and men, as ‘a real laugh’. When
there is humour it often arises from an acute dissonance between everyday
life and what happens in a game; gamers find themselves ‘doing’ things that
are vividly, and humorously, unlikely and out of character. A kind of humour
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also arises in other sorts of games in which characters with cartoony appeal
behave in cartoony ways.
22. Gamers seem to regard video games as distinctive – unlike anything else.
They are occasionally compared with board games though most gamers
unsurprisingly regard the latter as very much more limited. Comparisons
with novels are rare, although the investment of time is similar. The most
common references are to television and film, in part because these are also
screen based. As already noted, games are appreciated as more involving
than either television or film because nothing happens without some input
from the player, who as a result feels triumphant or frustrated according to
how things go.
23. Gamers appear to forget that they are playing a game less readily than
filmgoers forget that they are watching a film. There are a number of reasons
for this: gamers have to participate in the game for it to proceed; they get
used to saving and restarting games; the action in games is often highly
unreal; graphics are not as real looking as film. The fact that gamers may not
be very engaged emotionally is also relevant. This is not to say that gamers
do not concentrate intently whilst they are playing; many do, and parents
report that it can be impossible to get their sons’ attention whilst they are
playing. However intense concentration, and fierce determination to win or
make progress, are not the same as deep emotional involvement.
Violence as an element in the appeal of video games
24. We need to note that many games, including some of the most popular, do
not contain any violence at all. However, violence is conspicuous in many
games, often running throughout the game, so that much of the tension and
excitement and progression is dependent on violence.
25. Some ‘violence’ – like Spyro for example – is symbolic and not intended to
look remotely real. Violence in many more recent games, by contrast, seems
to have been designed to look as real as possible, involves a lot of gore,
and appears intended to be a focus of interest in itself. As graphics have
improved, wounds and suffering have become more real looking, along
with weapons and scenery.
26. Some gamers certainly enjoy both the violence and the fact that it looks as
real as it does: ‘it’s just good!’ Some like the fact that they are inflicting the
violence; they say straightforwardly that what makes the bleeding ‘fun’ is
knowing you’ve just hit him. They would rather kill someone in a game than
watch someone being killed in a film.
27. This is a difficult subject. A number of points may be made that, taken
together, make the incidence of violence in games more comprehensible
and perhaps less malign than may initially appear. First, violence, in the
sense of eliminating obstacles, is built into the structure of many games and it
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would be impossible to progress without it. There are technical reasons to
do with how computers work that help explain why weapons are a mainstay
of games. Most gamers see eliminating enemies as another step in the game
rather than something to savour for itself. Second, violence contributes
mightily to the tension in games not least because gamers are not just
shooting, they are also vulnerable to being shot. Most gamers concentrate
on their own survival rather than on the damage they inflict on others. Third,
the opportunity to be violent, without being vulnerable to consequences,
clearly underscores the appeal of some games as escapist; the violence
helps make the play exhilaratingly out of reach of ordinary life. Fourth, the
point made above; gamers seem not to lose awareness that they are playing
a game and do not mistake the game for real life.
Gamer concerns about playing video games
28. This heading should not be taken to imply that it is usual for gamers to
worry about playing video games; most are happy they do and intend to
go on playing.
29. However, many gamers would acknowledge that it is possible to devote too
much time and thought to games. Playing very intensively can make gamers
isolated, anti-social and boring (because they neglect other interests).
Perhaps more seriously, to become obsessed with a game can lead to
prioritising an electronic world over the real one and this is regarded by
gamers as ‘sad’. Games are part of a good life but not a substitute for it. It
appears to be online games like World of Warcraft that are most ‘addictive’
and which have the most potential to distort personal priorities with
unhappy results.
30. Playing video games can be compulsive and soak up time. Some gamers
seem to feel a bit sheepish, looking back, at the amount of time they have
spent playing. The sense of achievement games deliver is often fleeting,
partly because ‘it’s only a game’, partly because, for many, playing is a rather
cold, emotionally shallow experience. Gamers do not dispute that it might
have been better if they had been doing healthier, worthier things like
studying, playing outside, housework, etc, but they enjoy games and do not at
all agree that watching TV or a film, or reading a book, are self-evidently
better uses of time.
31. Gamers in general recognise that the amount of violence in games is an
issue; most are aware of media interest in the subject. Some young gamers,
under 15, find some of the violence (usually in 18+ games) upsetting, and a
few report having nightmares. They are uncomfortable about gore – very
bloody deaths – and also about ‘wrongness’ – the perception that
wickedness is prevailing over innocence. Shooting the enemy from a
distance is a lot less troubling than stabbing ‘a civilian’ close up.
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32. Some adult gamers are also uncomfortable about vivid and imaginative
slayings involving blood and wounds. They wonder vaguely and
inconclusively ‘where it will end’ – what images will the newest technology
deliver, and are there limits to what is acceptable?
33. However most gamers are not seriously concerned about violence in games
for the reasons given at paragraphs 23 and 27, and also because they think
violence on television and in films is more upsetting than violence in games.
Film images are more ‘real’ than computer graphics, and film creates a more
compelling illusion; they feel these two factors transcend the fact that games,
uniquely, inspire ownership of the violence because they are interactive.
34. Gamers are virtually unanimous in rejecting the suggestion that video game
violence encourages people to be violent in real life, or otherwise
desensitises them to violence. A few appear to think that playing ‘a lot too
much’ may make people aggressive. And some feel that people ‘who are
already unhinged in some way’ may be inspired or prompted or pushed
over the edge if they play violent games obsessively. Gamers exonerate
games of any responsibility for real violence because they are so confident
that their own propensity to be violent has not been affected by
playing games.
35. Some professionals are concerned that violence is such a conspicuous
feature of video games; ‘the depravity of it and the unflinching enthusiasm
with which it is displayed’. They worry about the trend towards more realistic
depiction of wounds and suffering. However they also point out that there are
technical reasons why games depend on the elimination of elements, and
believe that most gamers treat violence in games as a sort of code. Like
‘ordinary’ gamers, professionals quote their own feelings and experience in
support of their contention that playing video games does not desensitise
to violence.
36. There is no consensus amongst professionals on whether interactivity makes
the violence in games worse or not so bad; it is perhaps worse because
gamers are making the decision to commit it, perhaps not so bad because
having to decide reminds them it is only a game. Most professionals agree
that violence on TV and in films is much more upsetting to look at than video
game violence.
Parental concerns
37. Not all parents have any significant concerns about their children playing
video games. Many are relieved they are in their bedrooms quietly playing
games rather than: roaming the streets; frequenting internet chat rooms or
porn sites; noisily under their feet in the kitchen.
38. However some are regretful about the amount of time their children spend
gazing intently at screens in darkened rooms. They do not like the fact that it
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happens indoors, and is all ‘unreal’. Parents would rather their children were
involved in more physically active, sociable and traditional pursuits – playing
football, or pulling on gum boots and building a den in the woods. They
complain that children who play a lot of games become monosyllabic and
unsociable, emerging from their rooms pasty-faced and zombie-like after
hours of incomprehensible engagement with a fantasy world. Parents who
play are unsurprisingly better informed and less bothered than parents who
have never played. Negative attitudes amongst the latter are often driven by
bewilderment; games are a mystery and their negative image in much of the
media means they are not given the benefit of the doubt.
39. Some parents recoil from the violence in games, and are surprised by it.
Most are aware of publicity surrounding a possible association between
video game violence and real violence but, like gamers, tend to think that
only people with some unusual, pre-existing propensity to be violent would
be prejudiced by the violence in games. They are confident their own
children have no such propensity. However, some believe they have noticed
children imitating the language, and some of the actions, in games.
40. Parents do not seem to have thought much about interactivity as a factor
possibly aggravating the effects of game violence on children. Again like
many gamers, they think the greater verisimilitude of film is more upsetting.
Some concede that repetition – the fact that violent scenes in games are
frequently replayed – may justify worrying about game violence.
41. Parents in general are more frightened of ‘stranger danger’ from the web
than they are about sex in games. Many seem unaware that there is sexual
content in games like Grand Theft Auto and often seem disposed to be
more indignant about sex than about violence.
Supervision and regulation
42. Many parents see the amount of time their children devote to video games,
rather than the content of specific games, as the problem. They try and
ration access but with very uneven success.
43. Some parents have never had a video game box in their hand and the
classification of video games appears to be less familiar and less respected
than the classification of films. Some parents simply ignore classifications;
either they do not think about it, or they feel restrictions (however sensible in
principle) need not apply to their own children.
44. Those parents who are motivated to enforce classifications are often defeatist
about doing so: children get access to forbidden games elsewhere,
from friends; fathers frustrate mothers; relatives give their children age-
inappropriate games; older siblings or friends buy out-of-age games; etc.
Many parents seem inhibited about exercising authority in this area; some
keep the issue at arm’s length because they are conscious they do not really
know anything about games.
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45. There is widespread agreement that some regulation of video games is
needed. Some professionals believe that regulation will become more
important as the technology develops. The current classification system is
generally regarded as fit for purpose and some professionals admire the
common sense with which it is administered. The problems are in the area of
compliance; many parents buy their children age-inappropriate games and
retailers are said not to take game classifications as seriously as those
applied to DVDs.
46. The video game classification system does seem to be recessive relative to
that applicable to film. Reasons for this include: most parents have not
themselves grown up with it; when they buy games, some parents have little
appreciation of what they are buying and are therefore more vulnerable to
pressure from their children; some parents are more concerned about sex
than about violence and assume that sex is not an issue with games.
47. Some professionals wonder if enough has been done to ensure that the
public are aware of the classification system, understand it and appreciate its
importance. The case for raising the profile of the system will strengthen
if, as many expect, graphical representation of violence approaches the
‘realism’ of film. The newest consoles apparently have blocking devices, and
if these are effective there may be a need to educate parents about their use.
E. DETAILED FINDINGS
1. Some basics
1.1 At what age do people start playing video games?
The average age at which the gamers in the research sample had started to
play was about seven. Boys generally seem to start at a younger age than
girls. There are a number of patterns: younger siblings tend to start earlier
because their interest is stimulated by older brothers or sisters; the children
of gamers start earlier for the same reason; going to school stimulates
interest via peers.
“They start as soon as they go to school and speak to
their friends.”
Gp 11 Parents who have played, Birmingham
The trend appears to be for children to start at a younger and younger age;
there are three year olds who play video games regularly. Precocity is a
feature of consumer behaviour in this market (see also under Regulation,
Section 8).
“I have trouble getting on because my six year old wants
to get on... She’s better than me on some of them... She’s
on World ofWarcraft at the moment. You are supposed to
be 12 years to play on it but she’s six and she’s playing.”
PD15 M 26-30 C2DE heavy Leeds
15

It is also probable that the universe of gamers is aging; adults who played
as children continue to play, and more games are produced for an adult
audience. Both gamers and professionals expect this to continue. Many
gamers (though men more than women) expect to continue to play video
games when they are older – they concede they may not have as much time
to devote to games but they expect the appeal to hold up. Moreover the
expectation often is that games will get better and better as the processing
power of computers expands and games designers develop game structures
in imaginative ways.
“If you play when you are younger, as you get older you
are still going to enjoy doing it.”
“The games are going to get better and better.”
Gp4 M 18-21 C2DE intermediate Birmingham
1.2 Platform choice and acquisition
Many gamers have more than one platform, and it is not uncommon for
households to have consoles from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo as well as a
PC. Portable consoles are also common, especially amongst younger
gamers (whose need to have games on the move is comparable to the more
universal need to have music on the move).
Even young players often have a lot of equipment to choose from; in this
sample, the two eight/nine year old boys in paired interview two each had a
Playstation 2 and an Xbox, one also had a PSP and the other a PlayStation 1
and a Game Boy.
In some cases, having a range of consoles reflects a single player’s passion
for gaming and insistence on having the latest available equipment, the best
graphics, the widest selection of games, etc. More often, several consoles in
the home results from there being several gamers: older models are handed
down from parents to children, or from older to younger siblings. Younger
children often cut their teeth on otherwise neglected consoles; the Nintendo
Game Boy is often mentioned in this role.
Most gaming households seem to feel there is virtue in variety; generally the
preference is to have an Xbox 360 as well as a PlayStation 2 rather than two
PlayStation 2s. However two families in our sample had bought a second
PlayStation to prevent their children fighting over it (in one case they
continued to fight over the PC).
As noted, many young gamers play on consoles passed on by parents or
older siblings. Under 15s who have new consoles have generally been given
them by their parents for birthdays or Christmas, and gifts are important for
many older gamers also. However a surprising number of gamers still in
their teens say they saved up to buy consoles themselves, or contributed
significantly to purchases subsidised by their parents. Relatives – uncles,
aunts and grandparents – are often mentioned as donors of consoles.
16

The extent to which parents fully understand what they are buying, and its
implications, when they give platforms to their children is very variable.
Those who are or were gamers themselves of course know perfectly well;
many look forward to introducing their children to gaming. However there
are some who have very little grasp of what playing video games is like, or of
what games their children will want to play (see also below Section 8).
Ownership is sometimes obscured by inheritance and sharing, but most
gamers over about ten seem to have a console in their bedrooms. Many
parents want to avoid the main family TV being dominated by games playing
and this consideration argues for consoles to be bedroom-based. Most
parents are much more reluctant for their children to have a PC in their
bedrooms than a games console (see also below Section 7.5.1).
Choice of console is influenced by a number of factors. Confidence that the
technology is always moving on means that anything new is assumed to be
better – better graphics and better game play. There is strong peer pressure
amongst the young to have the new consoles soon after they are launched.
However price is a constraint in many households; young unmarried men in
their 20s are those most likely to upgrade early to the most recent consoles
(and most firm in their determination to buy the PlayStation 3 when it
appears). Some parents resent the pressure to buy the latest console, in part
because they know it will lead to pressure for further expenditure on
new games.
There did not appear to be much brand loyalty to Sony or Microsoft as
platform producers. As already noted, many gamers have more than one,
and the young often play on friends’ consoles. Console brands do not
appear to be cool in the way that games can be; a console is cool if it is very
new on the market, but not because it is a particular brand.
The main differentiator appears to be the quality of the graphics and here
newest is best. Graphics make an immediate impression and the general
opinion appears to be that the more lifelike, ‘real’ (more like film), the
images, the better. The Sony PlayStation 2 raised the bar on graphics but
has been overtaken by the Xbox 360 which in turn is expected to be bested
by the PlayStation 3. Graphics as an element in the overall appeal of games
is discussed further below (see Section 3.5).
Game repertoires are another important differentiator. The PlayStation 2 is
praised for the number and variety of games available for it. The Xbox 360
is said by some to have a greater number of exclusive games. Good games
are ultimately expected to become available on all platforms, but many
gamers are very impatient to play the newest games.
PCs and the Xbox 360 are preferred by those who want to play games with
others over the internet. The Xbox 360 potential here is said to be much
superior to the PlayStation 2. Many gaming respondents, and all the
17

professionals interviewed for this study, said they believed that internet
gaming will grow rapidly (see also Section 2.4).
“Sometimes when I’m playing a game on the computer
I’m also on MSN...You can get games on MSN that you
play against the other person.”
PD8 F 12-13 ABC1 heavy Croydon
“Xboxes are good because they’ve got Xbox Live... which
you can play against people all round the world, on
the internet.”
PD11 M 14-15 C2DE intermediate Leeds
A few gamers prefer one platform to another because they like the controls
better, often because they are more familiar with them. Some, especially
those who like strategy games, prefer a PC for the same reason.
“I don’t like games on the Xbox and that because there’s
too many buttons and it’s too fiddly, whereas on the PC
it’s just keyboard in one hand, mouse in the other, much
easier to control.”
Gp8 M 30-40 C2DE heavy Radlett
Inability to master the controls is often quoted by parents as a reason for not
being interested in games. The Nintendo Wii control is said to be modelled
on a TV remote in the hope that this familiarity will make it easier to master
and thereby make gaming more accessible to older audiences.
Despite its having produced some of the most popular of all games,
Nintendo is mentioned less often by gamers than PlayStation and Xbox.
On prompting it is sometimes regarded as pursuing a different strategy and
its consoles are not subject to the same comparisons. Professionals,
unsurprisingly, generally have stronger views on how it compares with the
others, and see Nintendo as radically different in its approach to what
gamers want.
“(Nintendo) don’t see games as an extension of the real
world in the way that a lot of people developing for
PlayStation and 360 do. They see games as a place of
pure imagination.”
Games reviewer 1
Although volume and quality of sound depend on other equipment, not the
console, it is worth noting briefly here that serious older gamers often have
surround-sound systems.
“A very large amount of people who’ve got home
cinema also have played games.”
Professional involved in producing games 2
18

Loud sound effects and stereo music are said to be an important part of the
gaming experience, perhaps particularly for players of war games.
1.3 Game choice and acquisition
What games they choose to acquire of course reflects what gamers like
about gaming and this is discussed at length in subsequent sections. A
number of influences on choice are briefly noted here.
Peer pressure is important amongst the young, who want to be playing what
other kids their age are playing – the games everyone is talking about, often
the latest games. There is kudos in having (or just knowing about) the
newest games and certain games are cool, though often not for long.
Boys who know the latest cheats in popular games are sought after in
the playground.
“It is like when you have a puppy, everyone wants to
know you. When it grows a year older they don’t want
to know.”
PD3 M 9-10 C2DE intermediate London
“If you have Lego Star Wars you are cool.”
“No.”
“But you get a bit of respect.”
Games, and especially new games, are discussed amongst young game
players, especially boys; young people know what games their friends
are playing.
“They obviously talk about it at school. They all seem to
know what everyone else has got.”
Gp9 Parents who do not play, Leeds
Word of mouth is yet more important as an influence on choice amongst
boys than girls. Boys typically play more games; their interest in knowing
about games is keener. Social interaction related to gaming, and especially
discussion of how you are doing in a game, is less common amongst girls
than boys, partly because girls are typically less interested, and partly
because they tend to prefer games they play on their own (eg The Sims)
rather than games played by a group of friends (eg FIFA Football). A few of
the girls interviewed for the research seemed faintly embarrassed to be
talking about games but this was not at all the case amongst men and boys.
As well as talking about them, boys share games. If one of your friends gets
a hot new game, you expect to have a go on it, or to borrow it for a day or so.
Parents report that their children lend and borrow games regularly.
19

“If someone recommended a game, they’d generally
bring it around to your house and you’d have a go of it
anyway.”
Magazines are an important medium informing young players about new
games; they often come with free demo discs enabling gamers to trial
games. However one professional with responsibilities for marketing said
that the influence of magazines is declining as the average age of gamers
goes up; older, more casual gamers are less interested in buying magazines
and advertising is said to be migrating to more general media.
There were very few unprompted references in these discussions and
interviews to advertising or to marketing activity. Many gamers give the
impression that they, or their social group, make their own minds up about
which are the games worth playing. They present themselves as
independent minded, not easily influenced by magazines or marketing.
“I don’t rely on the review of a magazine too much... I
wouldn’t go out and buy a game because a magazine
said it was good.”
However it is noticeable that gamers very often know about forthcoming
launches of games. These are anticipated keenly, especially if they are new
versions of existing favourites. Publicity about new games clearly reaches
many gamers.
“Some games are secretive. Like Halo 3. They only
brought out one trailer. Usually you know it’s going to
come out and you get demos for it and stuff. But with that
one there was only one trailer and you can only get it if
you’ve got an X-Box 360.”
Young gamers often say they save up and buy their own games, but many
games come into households as gifts from parents or other relatives. Parents
come under pressure to buy the fashionable games and many have little idea
what the images and action in the games are like (see also below under
regulation, Section 8).
“All their friends had that game (GTA). It was the buzz
game of the moment.”
PD17 Parents (kids 15, 18) with concerns Edinburgh
“You think - ‘Oh just get her it’. You want to get them
what they want, then you spend a year regretting that you
ever bought the bloody thing.”
PD18 Parents (kids 13, 13, 16, 17) with concerns Radlett
20

A few young respondents said they sometimes rented games from
Blockbuster or the like, keeping them for a week and then exchanging
them for something else. One or two said they rented games to see if
they were worth buying.
In some areas there are game exchanges where gamers can trade in
games they have finished or got bored with. Parents are often alarmed at
the amounts spent on new games and some encourage trading.
“At one time they used to own lots of games... Now they
have two games. As soon as they’ve played on that and
played it to hell, they go and take it to the trading shop
and trade it in... With Trader it does make it a lot easier.
Before it was parents shelling out all the time. Now they
will get two or three games and then trade them in. You
aren’t shelling out so much.”
2. Patterns of use
Variation was built into the sampling controls, with respondents divided
between light, intermediate and heavy gamers. It is important to make
clear that patterns of use vary enormously within as well as across these
crude categories. Indeed the nature and level of any individual gamer’s
involvement with games often varies: he or she will have periods of playing
intensely, and other periods when they hardly play at all; how long they play
for, and what they play, varies by mood.
“It depends what mood you’re in. If it’s raining outside,
then you’ll play on it, but if it’s sunny you think – ‘I’m not
playing on this today, I’ll go out with my friends.”
“You go through phases of going out of it and going back
to it.”
Generalising in the face of all this variation is hazardous but some broad
patterns may be noted.
2.1 Variations by age and life-stage
For those of school age playing games has to fit around school and other
activities. Portable consoles are occasionally taken to school but most school
pupils play outside school hours.
21

“After school my son will always go to the PlayStation.”
“I go home (from school), play straightaway until I’ve had
my tea, and then I go out until about nine and then come
back here and probably play until about … I don’t know, I
play until I get bored.”
The balance between gaming and other leisure pursuits, and the time
devoted to gaming, varies enormously. Some parents impose restrictions of
one kind or another (see Section 8.1), either limiting time on consoles, or
insisting that their children engage in other activities. In general it seems that
school age children play video games more in winter than in summer
because outside activities compete less strongly in the colder weather.
“I mostly play it if the weather’s not good because... I
play out more than I play in.”
It was often said by these research respondents that one of the attractions of
gaming is that it is ‘something to do’; video games absorb ‘free time’.
Graduates quite often report that they spent more time playing whilst at
university than before or since. Periods of unemployment and of
illness/convalescence are likewise identified as times of exceptionally
intensive play because they are clear of work obligations. Young gamers
often assume that they will play less when they are older and in employment;
they do not expect to have the time.
“I know people of 17 or 18 and they don’t play all the
time because they’ve got jobs to go to. They don’t have
very much spare time.”
PD9 M 13-14 C2DE light Newcastle
Personal circumstances obviously have significant effects on both desire to
play and opportunity. Gamers living with their parents and socialising with
other gamers play a lot because they have the time and are stimulated by
interaction with others. Romance and co-habitation are often less conducive
to long periods spent gaming; other priorities intervene.
“My son is 16, so he has found ladies a bit now.”
“I play less and less because my priorities are changing.
When I lived at home with my mum and dad it was like
my time, it was leisure time, but now I live with my
girlfriend and my time revolves around getting to work,
spending time with her, socialising, doing housework.”
Gp7 M 26-30 ABC1 intermediate London
22

Many older gamers make time to play; video games are a key interest and
many hours are devoted to them in evenings and at weekends. The
professionals interviewed – aged from late twenties to early forties – were
amongst the most enthusiastic and intense gamers in the whole sample.
They of course had a professional reason for playing, but in every case it
was clear that they played because they enjoyed it as well as because it was
their job.
2.2 Variations by gender
Many gamers of both sexes say that girls and women are less interested in
games than boys and men. Parents with both sons and daughters often
report that their sons are more interested than their daughters.
“It is not the be all and end all to my daughter but to my
son it is. He lives for his PlayStation.”
Most male gamers appear to regard women who are keen on games
as unusual.
“Women aren’t very good at wasting time. Blokes are
better at wasting time.”
There were some enthusiastic female gamers in the sample but with very few
exceptions they appeared to devote significantly less time to playing than the
enthusiastic men, and they played a more limited range of games. Female
players seem to see video games as an entertaining option for occasions
when there is nothing more sociable or dynamic on offer. It does not seem
that they make time to play as often as many male players do. Broadly, girls
seem to fit gaming around other interests, whereas for many boys/men it is
an important interest in itself. A consequence of this is that boys quite often
get their mates round and play together, whereas gaming for girls is a way of
occupying time when they are not with their friends. Dance and karaoke
games, popular amongst some girls, are an exception to this pattern.
It did not seem from these accounts that many school girls are preoccupied
with gaming as they go through their day, as boys are prone to be; many
boys look forward to playing and think about strategies.
“In school you look forward to playing it after school.”
“Because you are concentrating so much on it, sometimes
you find that you don’t pay much attention at school
because you are thinking about it too much. You can’t
wait to get home and play it.”
PD5 M 11-12 C2DE heavy Birmingham
23

A range of other indications suggest that gaming occupies a more important
place in the minds of male than female gamers. No girls or women in the
sample reported playing until they fell asleep, and then starting again as
soon as they woke up, whereas many men had been through periods when
they did this frequently. Partly because of the games they choose to play but
also because they prioritise other activities, female gamers, with occasional
exceptions, seem able to play for shorter periods. There are obsessive
female gamers, but they appear to be rare. Whereas males are liable to get
hooked and play for longer than they anticipated, the pattern of female play
is more often periods of about half an hour or so. They seem better able to
stop once they have reached an objective – got up to another level – and not
to lock on immediately to the next objective. The Sims is a favourite game
with girls and women (see Section 5.3) and although it can be absorbing for
hours at a stretch, it also rewards a ten minute check on what is happening.
As already noted, men and boys often talk to each other about games. It is
also quite common for them to help each other reach the next level; women
seem much less likely to do this. Girls in general think gaming will prove to
be a transitional interest; they do not expect to play when they are older,
often, it seems, because they assume they will have better things to do. Boys
by contrast usually think – ‘why wouldn’t I’? – although most anticipate having
less time to devote to it.
“I don’t know many girls who are older, like late teens or
twenties, who play computer games, but I know a lot of
men that do.”
Professionals believe that the bias towards males in gaming is diminishing
and will continue to do so.
“The gender divide is much less marked than hitherto.”
Games reviewer 1
“More women are playing games. I think we are in a
time of great change.”
They point out that the bias amongst gamers reflects the bias amongst
games producers; the people devising games are much more likely to be
male than female. This of course affects the type of games produced and
thereby the audience for games.
“When you’ve got the majority of males in an industry,
then it’s going to end up producing male type content.”
24

It is clear from many gamer accounts that involvement and immersion in
gaming is contagious in the sense that children who grow up with older
siblings or parents who play a lot are likely to play a lot themselves. Girls
who become keen on gaming following the example of their brothers often
become ‘hard core’ gamers, playing games more often associated with boys.
“I’ve got three younger sisters who, because they were
brought up with me, they’re quite comfortable with
games and will happily go and buy their own, and they’ll
buy gamey games, long Japanese role playing games for
instance, like Final Fantasy, Harvest Moon… These are
hardcore serious games that you might think are aimed
at boys but in fact have a huge female popularity.”
Group of game reviewers
Although enthusiastic gamers may be more numerous amongst boys than
girls, almost all children have some familiarity with games. It may be, as one
professional proudly claims, that more children know how to play games than
know how to read.
“The last research the BBC did, the percentage of
children between five and 10 who game, both boys and
girls, is 100%. Game literacy is now higher than actual
literacy at that age.”
Games reviewer 1
2.3 Frequency of playing and time devoted
As would be expected, frequency of play varies enormously by individual.
Some gamers play regularly for an hour and a half or so a day, and then
more intensively over the weekend. Others play two or three days a week,
but often for five or six hours each session. Yet others may not play for weeks
and then play intensively, three or four hours a day, every day for a week or
so. Some younger respondents play to the limits of what they are allowed.
“I play PlayStation 2 for an hour and a half and then I play
my Nintendo for about two hours.”
“I try and play for as long as possible. I beg my mother.”
School pupils and university students are amongst those who play most
regularly. Gamers in employment usually have a more sporadic pattern of
play, though they may play for longer at any one session. For obvious
reasons, evenings and weekends are generally favourite times to play for
those in education or employment. Although many (especially male) gamers
are prepared to make time to play, computer games come strongly into their
own when there is nothing else to do.
25

“Because I play until, say, eleven, some of my friends say
‘That’s sad’. But what else can you do? You can’t go out
on a bike ride at eleven o’clock at night, so computer
games are good.”
It is perhaps worth noting here that some parents do not allow their children
to play in the late evening because they feel it interferes with sleep (though,
and see Section 3.2, some adult gamers play in order to wind down and relax
so that they can sleep).
“I don’t let my son play it before he goes to bed as it
keeps his mind active and it is a nightmare. They do get
so wound up.”
At the other end of the day, it is not uncommon for male gamers to play as
soon as they wake up, especially at weekends. Some parents say they have
to intervene to prevent their children playing before going to school.
“I play as soon as I get up. It sort of wakes me up.”
“At the weekends you wake up and start playing.”
Some gamers, and especially girls/women, play for short periods of half an
hour or so. But many, including some girls, report having long sessions,
sometimes all night. One parent in the sample said that her 15 year old son
regularly played “from eleven to eleven”, stopping only briefly for lunch and
tea. Long sessions quite often cluster in periods when interest in a particular
game is exceptionally intense, or when there are few other demands on time.
“On The Sims I usually play for hours and hours. The
games with levels and stuff I usually play them for half an
hour at a time.”
“The longest I’ve played was... from eight in the morning
until about five in the morning, with a tiny break in
between... which is ridiculous.”
“If you are really into a game then you really want to get
on with it and you could sit there all day.”
“It depends on what shifts I’m doing but I’d say a couple
of hours a day or if you are on a roll then you might do
an all nighter... nine or 10 hours.”
“I’m probably more. It’s more like four to six hours a day
because I’m really into this one game (World of
Warcraft) at the moment.”
26

“I wouldn’t go out till I had finished. I mapped my day
around Grand Theft Auto and if I hadn’t finished a
mission I wasn’t going to my lectures... I would get up
and the PlayStation would be on from when I fell asleep
playing it and I would play it before breakfast. Normally I
played about five hours a day, but if I wasn’t doing
anything all day then I’d play all day.”
PD13 M 18-21 C2DE heavy Richmond
Getting into a new game commonly results in long sessions.
“When a new game comes out, like Grand Theft Auto,
and you’ve been waiting for it, you don’t want to stop.”
“The first few weeks it’s an obsession with me and I like
to get the character (in Halo) up, get him strong, get him
all these things he has to get. Then it’ll tail off near
the end.”
The length of sessions is one of the concerns of parents (and see Section 7).
Many are exasperated by the sheer number of hours their children devote to
video games. Long sessions can create tensions with partners also.
“They can’t just do it for an hour. It is either four hours or
a week.”
“I’ve been playing Living(?) for about six weeks now, five
or six hours a day. I get an earache for that from my
girlfriend… If she gives me enough stick I come off it
and give her some attention.”
Many gamers acknowledge that they often play for longer, sometimes much
longer, than they intended when they sat down. Time passes unnoticed.
“I was round my friend’s house and I was playing in his
computer room on the same game and I realised it was
three or four in the morning... It doesn’t seem like you are
spending that much time on it.”
“Some games can tell you how long you have been
playing overall and there was one I had played for 94
hours and that is like more than three days straight. I
don’t think you feel guilty but surprised. It just shows how
immersed you are.”
27

“Time can go really quickly. There’s a bit of escapism
and you get caught into it and the rest of the world just
sort of fades into insignificance. You can look up and it’ll
be dark outside.”
“You think – ‘I’ll just play this for an hour’ – and it turns
into eight hours.”
Getting to the next level regularly takes longer than gamers hope or expect,
and this is one factor prolonging sessions.
“If I get to a certain level of a game that I can’t do, I get
really frustrated with myself and that usually makes me
play for longer because I want to finish that level.”
For many (mainly male) gamers, gaming is straightforwardly compulsive; you
play until you have to stop.
“It is easy. It’s there, and you just keep doing it and
doing it.”
Concerns about ‘addiction’ are discussed further below (see Section 6.1).
It is perhaps worth noting here that gamers of both sexes sometimes seem
sensitive or a little abashed about the amount of time they spend gaming.
On the other hand there were in the sample many respondents in all
categories, ‘light’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘heavy’, who had plenty of other
interests they did not neglect. One ‘heavy’ 12 year old was a regular in the
church choir, spent a lot of time in the gym and did not take his console away
with him on holiday. An 18 year old in the same category played a lot of
chess. Several were enthusiastic skateboarders or footballers or played in
bands. ‘Light’ and ‘intermediate’ gamers often said they prioritised other
activities, including watching television.
“I’d rather watch telly, but if there’s nothing on telly I’ll go
and watch my Xbox.”
“When I was younger I played every day but now I play
two or three times a week because now I go out more. I
usually go out every night now, go and play football, go
and meet my friends and all that.”
“It is not the most important thing, but it fills the gap
when I am in the house and there is nothing else to do. I
won’t put the computer over seeing my friends. It is not a
priority... If I am in the house I am playing because there
is nothing else to do really.”
28

2.4 Playing against the computer or with/against others
Gamers play with other people in different ways. Some play with their
friends in the sense that they are in the same room and playing the same
game, but not competitively – taking turns at the controls of a one-player
game. Not many gamers are enthusiastic about playing like this. It is boring
watching other people at the controls and they do not like waiting their turn.
“The Sims is more on your own because... there’s
nothing to say when it’s someone else’s go... Most of the
time I play on my own.”
Having your friends around can be fun but many young gamers prefer to
play on their own because there are no distractions – they can become
thoroughly immersed in the game. Having people around interferes with
your concentration. Being engrossed in a game seems, for many, a precious
private space.
“Sometimes it’s nice when you come home after you’ve
been playing out, it’s nice to sit and play by yourself. But
other times, when you don’t play out, it’s nice to be
together and talk and stuff when you’re playing.”
“If there is a decent enough storyline to keep me
entertained, I don’t want to have to bother talking to
other people. I just want to play.”
“And you don’t want to kind of hand over the game.”
PD10 M 14-15 ABC1 heavy London
“I wouldn’t play a game with other people. I would say –
‘let’s sit and watch TV’. I’d watch TV every time (if friends
are there) because it’s just easier.”
Some young boys say they think it is more difficult, and therefore more
engrossing, to play against the computer. It is also occasionally argued that
some games are not so good when configured for more than one player.
“Generally the one player modes are better than the two
player modes.”
“Football Manager is better as one player.”
However many gamers, and especially those in their late teens or early
twenties who play sports games, notably football, love the competition and
the camaraderie of beating their mates. Many play at weekends, after a
session in the pub.
29

“Most of my games are with mates. You get more sense
of enjoyment competition wise... I like to beat my mates.
It is a massive competition.”
Life stage is sometimes a factor influencing whether gamers play on their
own or in groups.
“When I was younger, at uni, we used to play in groups,
but since I’ve moved out of home it’s just me.”
PD14 F 22-25 ABC1 heavy Manchester
Many of these respondents played games competitively via the internet.
Sometimes they were playing friends, but often, as in the Massive Multi Player
On Line Games (MMPOLG) they were playing people they had never met,
often living in other countries. These games, like World of Warcraft, are
amongst those generating the most passionate interest and commitment.
Parents are often reluctant to allow their children access to the internet in any
form (Section 7.5.1) but young gamers familiar with internet games are often
intrigued by the idea of playing people from all over the world. Knowing you
are playing real people whose only connection to you is via the game, but
who are as determined to beat you as you are to beat them, is, for many, a
seductive and relatively new attraction of video gaming (see also further
below, Section 3.4).
“In the olden days it was a very sort of selfish activity.
Now it’s massive, with the internet, and you can play with
hundreds of people anywhere in the world at any time.”
“It gives something different to the game when you are
playing against people rather than the computer... Far
more enjoyable... I could be playing against someone in
Florida at Halo and talking to them as if they were
next door.”
3. What’s to like? The appeal of video games
Just as their patterns of use vary, people of course differ in what they like
about video games. Many gamers have preferences for particular genres,
but they often like different things at different times or in different moods; they
have more than one game on the go. Some have narrower tastes than others.
“I like to play all games. I like adventure and all that lot.”
“I play football games... I don’t play strategy games, I
don’t find shoot them up and beat them up or anything
like that interesting.”
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Gamers respond to different elements in games. Professionals emphasise
this and believe that the trend is for gamers to expand their repertoires and
play a variety of games.
“People look for different things in games. Lots of games
are about skill and getting the highest score. Lots of
games have stories so some people are literally trying to
get the story out of the game in the way that they’d read
a good book, to fantasise. Other people play it for social
reasons, because all their mates are gamers. Other
people, it’s just part of an entertainment mix, purely for
fun, in the same way they might pay football or read a
book for fun... A bunch of people are into games because
they’re looking for innovation.”
“Increasingly there are fewer people who are exclusively
tied to the one type of game.”
There is huge variety in what games offer players, a variety plausibly
comparable in extent to that offered to readers of novels. The Sims is a world
away from Medal of Honour which in turn is nothing like Geometry Wars.
On top of this, there is of course much appreciated variety within games.
“A good game, like Halo, is where it’s not all the same all
the time. It’s not all the same thing.”
“You want something that changes, like you can turn it on
and not have the same thing that you’ve just done again...
You want to be doing something different all the time.”
The research did not catalogue all the games respondents were playing
‘nowadays’ but over 100 different games were mentioned. One 18 year old
man reckoned he personally owned some 70 games.
In the face of this variety generalisation is again difficult but some patterns
and trends emerge that are worth noting. Gender differences are prominent
in what gamers like about playing just as they are in patterns of use. There
are exceptions but female gamers are in general much less interested in fast
action, first person shooter, ‘swords and sandals’, ‘hack and slash’ games than
males. Young boys are prone to boast about having played 18+ games, but
girls appear not to regard these games as cool in the same way. Girls and
women rarely play football games, whereas these are popular amongst many
males, and girls/women seem in general to be less interested in keenly
competitive games. In part for this reason, they play less often in groups than
the men. More broadly, the social rewards of gaming – talking about how you
are doing, playing together, helping or beating each other – are less a part of
the attraction for females than males.
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It is probably fair to say that most female players – with some exceptions –
seem to get less involved in playing, less ‘immersed’ than most of the males,
although they are often very determined to do well in the sense of beating
their best time, or getting to the next level. Their emphasis is more often on
relaxation and ‘chilling out’, although many enjoy the excitement of
driving/race games.
“Puzzle games, platform type games, pretty
straightforward games really. Nothing that requires too
much thought... Crash Bandicoot, that sort of thing. Little
cartoon characters running along the screen. You’ve got
to collect objects and it’s quite straightforward... When I
play it’s to relax a bit.”
“It’s like your own ‘down time’ and you want to just do a
bit of chilling out and you don’t want to concentrate
because you’ve been working all day. It tends to be like
a driving game where you can just drive, or a game
where you don’t have to think a lot.”
Many male gamers think women are different to men in their attitudes
towards games. According to the men, the key differences are first that
women are not as willing to devote time to playing as men, and second, that
they are not interested in fighting. Men thought this explained women’s liking
for ‘puzzle games’, which are an entertaining distraction for brief periods, or
The Sims, a virtual world echoing some women’s real life interests.
“A lot of them are fighting and action games and girls
want to do their hair and makeup and things, and not
many games do that.”
“The Sims you can dress up and all that, change outfits,
build a house. Girls play Sims.”
“(Girls) won’t play shooting, will they? Like Doom 3,
because it’s like pump-action shotguns in people’s faces
and stuff, blowing their heads off. But they might play
Nintendo or Spyro or something like that. Or Crash
Bandicoot.”
“Boys like more gore, don’t they? Blood and guts
and stuff.”
“Guys definitely like football games and violent games
whereas girls are into puzzle games... I do play the puzzle
games. It just keeps your mind active.”
By their own account, and those of their parents, it seems that most female
gamers play fewer games than the men and boys. With some exceptions
they seem not to have an urgent curiosity about what new games will be like.
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“My son will play StarWars. He could be dead in five
minutes and he’ll start again...And he’ll play the football
ones. Whereas my daughter only plays one game – Sims.”
Some age differences also deserve brief mention. As would be expected,
young gamers – males aged up to about eleven or twelve, females a few
years older – enjoy fantasy contexts like Spyro the Dragon; they are not so
desperate for ‘realism’. After about twelve, male admiration often switches to
more credible, ‘real life’ settings. Some men avoid fantasy, which they think of
as childish, in favour of scarcely less likely but grittier ‘realism’.
“All Grand Theft Auto style games where one person is
on a mission to do something, I like all them sort of
games. I ain’t too worried about dragons and aliens and
that, it’s too unrealistic. I mean I know a lot of Grand
Theft Auto is unrealistic, but it could happen.”
Whereas many adult male gamers enjoy violent action, boys aged up to
about eleven are often uncomfortable about violence especially (and see
Section 6.3) if it involves ‘innocent people’.
3.1 Entertainment and fun
Trying to break down the appeal of video games into constituent elements,
as in the sections below, risks complicating what may often be quite simple:
gamers play for the fun of it. Video gamers like playing because they are
curious, they persist, they find it rewards them in various ways and is, in the
round, an easy, absorbing way to pass the time that compares well with the
alternatives of chatting, reading, playing a board game, watching TV or a film.
It is quite common for people to say, in response to the question – ‘why do
you play video games?’ – that it is a convenient diversion, a way of not
being bored.
“It is just something to do.”
“Chilling out.”
It was clear, however, that most of the gamers in the sample felt more positive
about playing than this response suggests. For most of them, playing was not
the default position, taken up for want of anything better, but what they
actively wanted to do. This was more consistently and emphatically true of
male gamers than female, but all respondents, including girls and women,
played because they enjoyed it.
“It’s fun.”
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“It’s something to do that doesn’t cost a lot and is
good fun.”
“Chess is like a game you play when you’re in a caravan
and it’s raining... Video games, people choose to do it
over everything else.”
The fun comes in a huge variety of different guises, difficult to summarise.
Games like Dance Mat or Sing Star are boisterous family activities not a
million miles from ‘Twister’. In complete contrast, Nintendo’s Professor
Kawashima’s Brain Training is entertaining and challenging after the fashion
of crosswords or sudoku. Football and golf games evoke some of the
pleasures of playing and watching these sports and, in the case of
Championship Manager, of being in charge of a team. Those who like
driving games regard them as successfully simulating many of the
challenges of driving fast. The many games involving violent action test
reflexes, and are strategically as well as tactically challenging; those who play
them find them totally absorbing. These and other games afford
opportunities not readily available in everyday life on a risk-free basis;
however aggressive and foolhardy you are, you live to compete/play again.
Games licensed from films or toys – like Lego Star Wars or Indiana Jones –
include, with varying degrees of success, some of the entertainment values
of the parent property. Younger gamers often enjoy them because they are
enabled to direct and even reconfigure well known characters and situations.
“Say you have a game based on a film, if you see the film
it is quite good playing the game because you know all
the characters, what they do. Much funnier.”
In short, before attempting to separate out various strands in their appeal, it
is important to emphasise that video games are played for fun, though what
gamers regard as fun obviously varies.
3.2 Escape and relaxation
Gamers are no more reflective about their reasons for playing video games
than people normally are about watching television or pursuing any other
leisure activity. Under interrogation many come to the view that gaming
provides an effective escape from the preoccupations of everyday life. Video
games demand active engagement – you have to concentrate because you
are in charge. Giving your attention to games means that other concerns are
reliably edged aside.
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“It puts everything else invisible to you, apart from the
computer game. So you forget about your mum and dad
telling you off for coming in late.”
“It’s like you’re here and you can forget about
everything else.”
“It’s a bit like escapism. You just forget all about your
class work, and say – right, I’m doing this for half
an hour.”
“It’s like reading a book...You sort of escape... It takes
your mind off anything else. It takes your mind off work.
It helps you to switch off.”
Being interactive makes video games, for many gamers, a more effective
distraction than television. Gamers are actively playing rather than passively
watching, and therefore more involved.
“TV – if I’ve been at work I’ll just sort of sit there and
stare at it and not really watch it. Whereas if I’m (playing
a game)... it’s occupying your mind and so you’re not just
staring and thinking about things you’ve got to do the
next day.”
Their degree of involvement is, typically, intense. They are totally absorbed,
often for long periods.
“His (husband’s) concentration span seems endless
during a game.”
PD16 F 30-40 C2DE Light Edinburgh
Many gamers say they play to relax or relieve stress. Playing helps them
wind down by chasing away their preoccupations and transporting them to
another place.
“It is a nice way to unwind. Some of the games anyway.”
WHAT SORT OF GAMES?
“Where you shoot people.”
“It’s good if you just want to do something to wind down
after work.”
“I find it quite stress relieving.”
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Playing games is often said to be more relaxing, as well as more distracting,
than television. In part this is because it holds your attention better, in part
because you are in charge and not subject to the twists and turns of a plot.
“I find it more relaxing than TV. Games, you can do what
you want.”
Games have a structure that players become familiar with; however fast and
furious the action, the game follows its internal structure – it obeys its rules.
A video game, even if you are losing, has reliability, even predictability, to a
greater degree than television or social interaction. For all its frustrations, a
game is a known quantity and to this extent constitutes a safe place to be.
“When you’re playing a game, you know what it is and
you know it’s quite enjoyable. Whereas you can sit and
watch telly and there’ll be nothing on and you’re just sort
of flicking... It’s a different kind of relaxing.”
One professional interviewed laid great emphasis on this quality of games.
Whereas life is liable to be capricious, games reliably reward concentration
and effort. There is a reassuringly consistent justice and fairness about
games that makes them a comforting refuge.
“Everything is beautiful and you get to be a hero, and if
you do everything right then everything will go right.
This is one of the most seductive things about games.
What is really fantastic about games is not flying cars and
spaceships, it’s... the way you were always told the world
was going to be, and then it isn’t, whereas in games, if
you do this preparation work that you’re supposed to do,
the thing you’re trying to do will go well and you’ll get
the credit for it. One of the reasons that adults find them
so engaging is that most of us have lives where that really
isn’t true. Where you do everything right and it still goes
wrong. Or it does go right and the credit goes to
someone else.
“If I have a bad day and something goes wrong... People
letting you down, things not coming out right, I do think –
I can’t wait to get home and play Warcraft for four hours.
There will still be victories and defeats but everything
will be as it should be. Everything will be fair,
measurable. If I do well, I’ll get prizes.”
Games reviewer 1
A session on a game is said by some to be a good way of calming down if
you feel angry, and this works even if the game you are playing is violent.
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“Sometimes when I get really angry I go upstairs and
play some games and it calms me down.”
One gamer in the sample, a businesswoman, played regularly in hotels,
saying video games helped her relax before going to bed.
We should note in this context that many gamers look far from relaxed when
they are playing. Often they are not only concentrating intently but physically
alert and active – bending with their bodies, stiffening to avoid crashes, on
edge. The feeling of relaxation, of having a break, comes from immersion
and not thinking about anything else. It is more about de-stressing than
passive relaxation and relies on the principle that a change is as good as
a rest.
Of course not everyone’s priority is to relax; many are looking for stimulation.
“Playing a game would be more active. When I want to
relax I’ll just watch something on telly.”
Gamers look to games as a means of escape not only from ordinary
preoccupations but also to activities and environments that are far from
ordinary. Playing games enables them to do exciting, exotic things they
cannot do in real life.
“Playing games is about escaping – doing stuff that you
can’t ordinarily do.”
“Yeah. Like in GTA, I like to lose myself in the game and
think – Oh I can shoot that person. And sort of go round
beating people up.”
“Yes, or just steal a car.”
“It’s the fun of knowing that you can do those things in a
game, but obviously you can’t in real life.”
“It’s (RuneScape) just good. You feel in control.
Something you can’t do in real life, going round shooting
people, but something that’s fun.”
“What you can’t do in real life you can do in a
computer game.”
In the context of gaming, stimulation and relaxation can amount to the same
thing, not least because however perilous and exciting the action, games
players enjoy immunity. Gaming offers an escape from responsibility; there
are no consequences.
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“It’s taking time out from reality.”
“It’s something you can’t do in real life. You can’t go
round shooting Germans.”
“It takes the stress out of the working day, takes you away
from reality for a couple of hours.”
“You can’t actually go outside your house with a very
large gun... It is about doing something that you can’t do.
It is like racing games. You can’t drive a souped up Golf
around here.”
“And it doesn’t matter if you crash.”
“It is like living in a dream.”
Of course gamers often want different things at different times, depending on
their mood.
“It is your mood... If I’m in more of an aggressive mood,
then I would try and beat my time on the driving game.
Whereas if I was not in an aggressive mood I would play
Mario or something like that.”
”Probably also it’s the kind of day you’ve had at work. If
I’ve had a mad busy day at work then I don’t want to
come home and play something I’ve got to put any
thought into. I’d just play a straightforward platform
game. Whereas maybe if I’ve been at home and I’m
bored... then I’ll play something a bit deeper.”
A danger for many video game players, perhaps more male than female, is
that they play with a view to winding down and then get caught up in it,
playing on longer than they intended.
“You get caught up in it and end up staying up too late.
Then I do get a bit annoyed with the fact that I’ve got lost
in it and have to get up in the morning... But I don’t ever
think – ‘Oh, that was a waste of time’ – because that’s
what the computer game’s there for. It’s sort of to switch
off, so I don’t feel I’m wasting my time on it.”
Although relaxation is clearly a benefit for many, it is also quite common for
gamers, especially amongst the young, to end a session feeling agitated and
wound up. Games can be very frustrating and gamers quite often need
some less demanding recreation – watching TV – to settle them down.
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“Watching a TV programme you can sit there and relax
but I can’t relax when I’m playing a game, because I’m
constantly focusing and getting agitated when I can’t
do something.”
“Before I go to bed I watch telly for a while. When I play
games, they can get me quite frustrated and agitated and
I can’t get to sleep.”
“In the evening, before I go to bed, I would probably
rather watch a film, because watching a film you can just
lie back and put your feet up.”
PD7 M 12/13 ABC1 intermediate London
“I find that when I play a game I can’t go to sleep straight
away afterwards. Your head is racing, buzzing.
Sometimes it can take up to an hour. Sometimes I watch
TV after a game, to relax.”
It is perhaps worth emphasising that whilst a benefit of playing is often
identified as relaxation, the motivation to play at any particular time generally
seems more dynamic than this suggests – a thirst for excitement, a need for
stimulation, response to a challenge. Referring back to section 3.1, many
people play games because they are exciting and fun and they get very
caught up in them.
3.3 A challenge
Video games can be difficult and gamers find it satisfying to work their way
through them, attaining different levels, and getting better at it. Many gamers
play because they enjoy responding to the challenge games set. Television
and films are not challenging in the same way – you yourself are not doing
anything, not affecting outcomes – and do not deliver a comparable sense
of achievement.
“(If) I’ve completed what I wanted to complete, or beaten
my time... I would feel more of a sense that I’ve actually
done something... Whereas if you just start watching TV I
don’t suppose you feel you achieve a great deal.”
“It’s like watching TV but there is a sense
of achievement.”
Many games have levels, and levels within levels. Games are therefore
punctuated with thresholds of various kinds and this is of course one of the
reasons they are as compulsive as they are. Players are reluctant to stop until
they reach the next level, and absolutely hate to stop if they have not got to a
39

point where the game can be saved (because they do not want to have to go
over the same ground again). Completing a game, and climbing to the next
level, demand concentration and skill. Failure is frequent and frustrating;
success accordingly produces a feeling of triumph. Boys in particular
respond to the challenge set by games, in part because their standing
amongst their friends benefits from completing games.
“You think – right, I’m going to do this... It’s just sort of
determination to finish the game – ‘I’ve completed that’.
It’s the satisfaction of completion.”
“It’s like it’s your own work. You’ve got something to
show for what you’ve done... If it takes a while, it really is
a sense of achievement (getting to another level or
finishing a game).”
“It’s nice to say – Yes, I’ve finished that game’... The sense
of achievement you get from it – the bragging rights to
sort of turn round of say – ‘yeah, I finished that one, that
was easy’.”
Young gamers are often in a hurry to finish games (so that they can announce
this) and it is pursuing this goal that keeps them playing over unusually
long sessions.
“When I was younger I used to lock myself away when I
got a new game, until it was completed... When you
played one of those games like Donkey Kong or Mario,
you had to say – ‘I completed it in two weeks’ – and if you
said you’d done it in five days you’d have to bring your
memory card to show you’d done it in five days.”
It is occasionally argued that being in a rush to finish is a mistake; you do not
give yourself time to savour the game.
“You can complete a game but you are in a rush to
complete it and then you can’t enjoy it. I’ve completed
some games in a couple of days but I haven’t really got to
know the game and I haven’t really enjoyed it. I’ve just
rushed it.”
The intensity of the feeling of triumph gamers get if and when they complete
a game depends on both the individual and the game. Some gamers seem
to enjoy the game play without responding very strongly to the challenge of
getting to the end. The degree to which games have a linear progression
from beginning to end (or an end at all) also varies and this clearly affects
motivation to complete. Some games, notably Grand Theft Auto, include
40

such a rich variety of different ‘missions’ and ‘side plots’ that getting to the
end may seem relatively unimportant. People go back to GTA but are
less likely to return to a game like Tomb Raider, with its stronger
narrative structure.
“Once you’ve done it you just put the game away and
that’s it – never get it out again... For me Tomb Raider is
finished now.”
There is some evidence, from adults more than children, that the sense of
triumph gamers get when they complete a game can be rather fleeting. It
feels great the moment you get there but can quickly give way to anticlimax,
even a feeling of sheepishness that you have devoted such an amount of
time, and felt so triumphant, when it is ‘only a game’.
We should note that the challenge set by a particular game is renewed if it
evolves into a new game. Gamers often lock on to series of games; they find
sequels are often an improvement on the original.
“There’s a lot of games that get updated, like Pro
Evolution and it’s not that I think the first one is crap, just
that I think the latest one is the best. Boxing 99 was crap
but Boxing 2004... Every year they get feedback, the
technology improves.”
The ease or difficulty of making progress in a game is one of the most
delicate judgements games designers and producers have to make. If a
game is too difficult, gamers get bored and give up. If it is too easy there is
no challenge, no satisfaction and no kudos. To be successful, a game needs
to have the right level of difficulty (and plenty of variety).
“It’s got to be challenging, yes, but not too challenging.
A nice in-between somewhere.”
“I need it to be hard so that I can’t just do it straightaway,
so that it takes a bit of my time, but not so much that you
have to mess around getting cheats and things like that.”
“It’s good to be difficult, but not too hard... Easy games
are very irritating. There was a game called Star Wars
and that was just fun, I guess, but very repetitive and it
was just too easy and you didn’t find it a challenge.”
Video games of course set different sorts of challenges and gamers differ in
what motivates them. Some players respond to the clarity of scores; a better
score, or a quicker time, is a straightforward and unarguable indication of
improved performance.
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“With driving games I have to beat my time, and then I
have to beat my time again and again, whereas with a
fighting game it just sort of occupies me for a bit and
then I get bored with doing the same sort of thing.”
Two and multi-player games offer more conventional player-on-player
competitive challenges; players fight to overcome each other rather than just
‘the computer’, or the hazards/tests built into the game, though these of
course provide the competitive structure. Whether or not gamers prefer the
challenge of the computer to the challenge of competitors seems to vary.
Progressing, on your own, through the labyrinthine intricacies of a game
generates intense involvement over long periods amongst many gamers.
Many of the young in particular seem to prefer this to competing against one
another, where the satisfaction of beating your opponent(s) is perhaps more
ordinary. Gradual migration away from first person shooter to sports games
appears to be quite common amongst adult male gamers and it is widely
agreed that sports games are more fun if you are playing against mates
rather than against a computer.
“I liked going around blowing everything up and
shooting people. Now it’s golf.”
Once you complete a one player game – ‘defeat’ the computer – that is
usually it; gamers tend to put the game away and play a new one. If you have
a human competitor, interest is often more sustained, not least because the
outcome may be different next time.
“I prefer a game where it’s me versus you, rather than
me versus the computer. I prefer to be sitting next to
someone trying to beat them... In Grand Theft Auto, once
you’ve beaten the computer you’ve beaten the computer,
but with interactive games with people, like you never
truly beat them unless you beat them, beat them, beat
them, and they never ever beat you.”
Two or multi-player games, especially sports games, can be more fun,
because of the interaction with other gamers and the competitive ambience,
but winning delivers a different sort of satisfaction to completing a difficult
game on your own.
“With multi-player, it’s just more of the fun side... It’s more
interaction and knowing that when you get killed it’s
irritating but when you kill them it’s just as irritating
for them.”
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However, as already noted, MMPOL games generate particularly intense
involvement and this despite the fact that they are usually on-going,
continually evolving and therefore impossible to complete. Clearly the
challenge of on-line games is of a different order; the balance is often
towards frustrating opponents as opposed to working out a puzzle (though
these objectives are far from dissonant).
“The (internet) games change every time. It’s not just
the same repetitive tactics that the computer uses.
Every one is different and does it in a slightly different
style... And it’s more fun to know that you’re not just
against the computer but you’re actually irritating
someone specifically.”
“One-player is more of a challenge, it’s more of a puzzle,
you’ve got to think your way through it, whereas on line
the game is simple – you just annoy other people.”
An attraction of online internet-based games is that the greater number of
adversaries/participants produces a greater variety of game play. Intense
involvement also seems to result, at least in part, from reluctance to
jeopardise hard won positions vis-à-vis colleagues and competitors. A good
player makes his/her position in the game stronger by playing well and
playing a lot. If you do not put in the effort your position is liable to
deteriorate; the temptation is to keep playing to avoid this.
3.4 Social benefits
Many parents and indeed gamers (see Sections 6.1 and 7.1) think of video
games as profoundly antisocial; people closeted in their rooms for hours,
often on their own, glued to a screen. In many households, the sociable thing
is to watch TV together. By contrast, if you feel like being on your own you
play a video game.
“Some nights you want to be with people, talk and watch
Eastenders, and some nights you just want to be on your
own and play games.”
There are however significant social benefits to playing. Some of these
belong straightforwardly to games such as Sing Star and the various ‘dance
mat’ games which are designed to be played amongst family or friends and
which can reportedly be relied on to generate an exuberant atmosphere.
These games are clearly very different from the other main genres and we
do not know how popular they are, although many of these respondents knew
of them and a sizeable minority had played them at one time or another.
“The Pop Idol game – we have so much fun with that,
such a laugh.”
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As noted in the previous section, games generate a lot of conversation and
social interaction, particularly amongst boys. Gaming is, for many, a major
hobby that takes up a lot of spare time. They often play on their own but they
also talk about it, share games, share ‘cheats’, boast about their prowess,
compete against each other, help and deride each other, etc.
“If you complete a game you go into school and brag
about it.”
“They used to come in (to school) with print outs of
cheats and you always used to be swapping them and
things like that.”
Games in two or multi-player mode bring gamers together for what can be a
boisterous social occasion, perhaps especially if the game is football.
(Moreover, once you have got the console and the game, the evening’s
amusement is free.)
“It’s a lot cheaper (than going out). We’d get eight to 10
people round, have a soccer evening... Play the world
cup, the whole tournament – four or five hours... First
person shooter games are more setting yourself
individual challenges. With football you get your mates
round and it’s social.”
Some gamers certainly prefer playing against another person rather than
against the computer because they are better motivated, or think of it as
more fun. But the social benefits are important also. When players are at the
same location, each intently concentrating on the same activity, even non-
sports games can generate an exciting collective atmosphere. One
professional thought playing ‘cooperatively’ in this way was video gaming at
its very best.
“There’s a game called Halo on Xbox and my mate has
two TVs. We were playing in two separate rooms and it
was four against four. If you’re playing on one screen you
can see where everyone is, what their game plan is. It
became like a real battle, eight people, two TVs, two
rooms, it was brilliant. The atmosphere was amazing.”
“The most fun I used to have with (my 17 year old son)
playing games was when we had two pcs and we could
play cooperatively. That, for me, is when gaming is the
most fun, when you’ve got like an office and everybody is
playing Quake and you can hear everybody and
you’re shouting“
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This point may not belong under the heading of ‘social benefits’, but one or
two respondents who regularly played games like World of Warcraft over
the internet referred to ‘making friends with people you never meet’. One
professional interviewed had friends she ‘knew’ only in their gaming roles,
and there were others who said they felt they got to know other players
‘really well’.
“It (World of Warcraft) is genuinely mentally stimulating.
I have good friends now whom I’ve met among games
people, whose weddings and christenings I’ve been
invited to, across the world. We have this kind of shared
experience that you’d have no other way.”
Games reviewer 1
As video games producers continue to exploit the growth in processing
power and offer a wider variety of games, and the market consequently
broadens, non-players may cease to see gaming as odd or geeky. Gaming
may be ‘normalised’ and come into the mainstream alongside films,
television and the internet.
3.5 Graphics
The quality of graphics attracts a lot of comment amongst gamers. The
steady improvement in their quality over the last two decades is regularly
noted. New consoles are expected, by professionals as well as gamers, to
deliver yet better graphics and this contributes importantly to their
desirability; many players, perhaps particularly the young, are excited by the
prospect of playing on PlayStation 3 because they expect the graphics to be
‘amazing’. Anticipated improvements in graphics are a reason why many
gamers expect to go on being interested in video games as they get older.
The brilliance of a game’s graphics is quite often quoted as a reason for
liking a game and graphics are a frequent talking point among the young;
good graphics are cool.
‘Good’ applied to graphics often means ‘realistic’. This word is adequate
shorthand but we need to note that not all games are aiming at realism – they
depict creatures and contexts that do not exist in the real world. Good
graphics in this sort of fantasy game mean polished, not pixilated, eye-
catching, cool. Lego Star Wars is an example of a game with what are
regarded as excellent graphics that are not aiming at realism.
However, the most remarked development in graphics over the years has
been the progression towards a more filmic quality, so that people, scenery,
cars, weapons, etc, look more real, more like film, less ‘cartoony’ (though
many believe graphics are always and easily distinguished from film, see
Section 6.3). Within this overall merit of ‘realism’, good graphics are
appreciated in slightly different ways. A few games are admired for their
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beauty; the characters and settings are lovely to look at. Beauty seems to be
admired particularly by the heaviest gamers, among them those
professionally involved with video games.
“There are different reasons for wanting to carry on. It
might be playing against another real life opponent, or
else the game is so beautiful you have to carry on and
see the next thing.”
“In Okami the whole thing looks like a Chinese brush
water painting. It doesn’t look like anything you have
ever seen before. It is staggeringly beautiful. You play a
wolf who’s a sun god who has taken wolfish form and he
has been given the ability to use his tail as a paintbrush
and the things he paints can become real. It’s a
fabulous game!”
Games reviewer 1
Most games, however, are not aiming at beauty, and it is the quality of detail
that attracts admiration – footballers whose faces you recognise and who
sweat; walls that splinter and crack before disintegrating impressively when
the stone hits them. In some adventure games it is the scope of the settings
that impresses – huge vistas of elaborately furnished landscapes.
“It’s not just the violence it’s the beauty of it, because if
you look at a game that’s been really well done and is
realistic, I appreciate that.”
“The graphics on (FIFA)... the facial characteristics of the
players, the tackling and dribbling skills. They are very
realistic… It’s revolutionary how they actually are
mimicking the players.... With FIFA 06 on the TV screen
some people think they are actually watching Match of
the Day, it’s that realistic now. The sound and
commentary etc. That is what’s attracting people.”
“Unreal Tournament. It’s set in the future. That’s
good because there’s loads of weird types of guns
and everything.”
Good graphics are quite often said to intensify involvement. The feeling from
professionals as well as gamers is that the more realistic scenes and action
look, the more gripping they are.
“The graphics matter... If they look a bit more real I get
more into it.”
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“People want a much more immersive experience and
the next generation consoles are going to enable this to
happen. In Fight Night, the boxing game, the characters
are so detailed that when someone is struck sweat flies
off them. There’s a much greater connection between the
player and the game, the emotional content of the game.”
Gamers adjust to a higher quality of graphics quickly and soon take it for
granted; the graphics on older games and consoles rapidly become
strikingly deficient.
There is an argument that improved graphics will not inevitably result in
images being more easily confused with reality. Currently graphics are
treated as mere representations of something real. The better they are, the
more they invite scrutiny and comparison with real things, and the more they
are identified as unreal.
“The more real a face becomes the easier it becomes for
people to compare it with a natural face, to its detriment,
rather than accepting that it’s just an abstract
representation of a face.”
Professionals focus on different things when considering where greater
verisimilitude (if that is what it is) will lead. Some appear to feel that games
developers will have to become more restrained in their inclusion of violent
action if graphics start to look like film.
“The photorealism is beginning to become apparent now
with the next gen consoles. There’s less and less
differentiation between what games look like and what
films look like, but then you’ve got the interaction of the
game... There is going to be a greater need for games
developers to look at what people can actually do in the
game, because the immersion is so much deeper now...
Up until now, if you shot a character in human form on a
PlayStation 1 or a pc it’s very like pixilated, and it doesn’t
have that visual impact of a film. Now it’s getting to the
point where the stuff that you can do, like facial
expressions, characters that track you with their eyes, it’s
becoming really photo real development. There’s going
to be a much greater level of immersion in it, so that
comes with extra responsibility.
On the other hand, better technology, including better graphics, (together
with greater familiarity and social acceptability generated by the passage of
time) is expected to expand the audience for video games, and a broader
audience may mean a smaller proportion of violent games.
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“The more the market expands... the more the inclination
towards violence in games is going to be diluted. A more
diverse audience requires a more diverse experience.”
3.6 Storylines
In comparison with graphics, storylines – clear and compelling narrative
progression – are less often mentioned amongst criteria for assessing games
and seem relatively unimportant to many gamers. The tension and suspense
in gaming usually arises from the immediate situation, rather from
speculation about the ultimate resolution. With a few striking exceptions in
this sample, notably among the professionals, it is a sense of progression
through the game, as distinct from a strong linear storyline, that is
appreciated. Gamers like clear and coherent objectives and do not like
games when it is unclear how to progress, or when they seem to get stuck
doing similar sorts of things. The best games combine a sense of
progression with a lot of variation (see also discussion of GTA, Section 5.1).
WHAT DO YOU WANT IN A GAME?
“A good story, good game play.”
“Something that grabs you as well, something that keeps
updating itself and good artificial intelligence from the
computer so you don’t get bored doing the same thing.
Just a bit of variation in the game.”
Unlike the sort of involvement generated by most novels, gamers often do not
care much, when they are in the middle of a game, how it will ultimately end.
They are absorbed by the detail of what they are doing at each stage, and
the attendant excitement, rather than speculating about the end.
“A lot of people are not looking for story, they’re looking
for thrills and kicks.”
The storyline in games is of course constrained by the structure through
which the gamer has to pass. In Tomb Raider what you are trying to do is
unlock the inevitable narrative; you are not held by the story but by the
problem solving. This is not to say that the story is wholly without interest or
importance. Players of Tomb Raider, as they move through the levels and
travel around the world, may well wonder how everything will be resolved at
the end. Games like Final Fantasy have numerous successive incarnations
each of which sustains and develops the story. This story clearly contributes
to the character and appeal of the game. Nevertheless it is the immediate
challenges that seem to keep gamers playing; they are not gripped by
wanting to know what happens but by what they have to do to make progress
in the game.
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Some professionals – and those in this sample all devoted a lot of time to
playing games – speak rather differently about the interest of storylines than
most gamers do (Section 3.9). Ordinary gamers seem not to get very
involved in stories, in part because they do not care much what happens
except in so far as this affects either the excitement of the action, or their
progress through the game.
3.7 Skills and education
It is often said that playing video games improves hand eye co-ordination
and reaction times.
“You’ve got to have good hand-eye co-ordination, and
that’s what it teaches you.”
“Probably it teaches you, when you’re younger, that sort
of hand-eye co-ordination and different things.”
Playing video sport games is sometimes said to develop skills ‘in real life’.
“I think my football actually got better by playing FIFA.”
“With positional play in football you learn a lot from
FIFA... They are written by pros so you learn a lot from it.
You learn a lot about golf as well.”
And some players think that driving games may improve their driving,
claiming that games are used by professionals as training or to warm up.
“Formula One, I think my reflexes, because it’s so
realistic with the mirrors... The real Formula One guys,
whilst they are waiting to go out on their test lap, they
are actually playing the games because the tracks are
so realistic.”
“Well, it’s what airline companies use to train pilots.”
However, it is also occasionally acknowledged by adult players that the
potential learning from many games has little or no relevance to real life.
“If I was going to storm an embassy there’s a few things I
now know, about grouping people, taking them into the
shadows. But that’s not very useful is it?”
Younger players quite often argue, not always very convincingly, that they
learn useful things from games.
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“You do get a lot of knowledge from it, because, like on
Moonscape, it tells you how to do things, how to fish, in
real life, how to make certain things. It tells you how to
make steel, and cakes and how to mine. You wouldn’t
want to go mining for clay or anything, but it tells you how
to make stuff.”
From this perspective, games can be regarded as educational because they
broaden experience of what life is like, whether ‘ordinary life’ (The Sims) or
the lives of people you would not normally meet (GTA).
“It (The Sims) shows you how you could grow up in real
life... It can show you that if someone gets a really good
job and you get a rubbish job you can always go higher.”
“People that live on the edge, like gangsters and stuff,
you don’t really hear about them. If you play it (GTA),
then you know.”
“You learn about stuff.”
People who spend a lot of time playing games sometimes refer, not to
learning useful things – they acknowledge that what they learn has no
relevance to real life – but to mental stimulation. Games are complex and to
play them well you have to learn a lot about them and the world they create.
“My brain actually enjoys the process of gaming. People
like learning and games make learning colossally
entertaining. It’s just that most of what they teach you is
meaningless twaddle... About Warcraft... the things I
know, the geographies I could describe, the principles of
its alchemy, the ideas of its history... My brain loves
soaking it all in... There is a great deal of reality in the
challenge and the achievements and the skill required
and all the rest of it. All these things are real but they
operate within this completely make believe environment
that has no impact on your real life whatsoever.”
Games reviewer 1
It is of course possible to learn how to play chess or bridge by playing
electronic versions. Some games, for example Caesar, are quite confidently
identified as educational and someone who has spent many hours playing it
may well know more about the Roman Empire than someone who has not.
However, references to skill development, and to educational value, often
seem a little desperate; in the interview situation some players want to make
the case but often seem not to really believe it themselves. They play games
for diversion and enjoyment and not at all with the idea of learning things or
getting better at anything other than the game itself. It is worth noting
however that non-gamers, notably parents, are often deterred from playing
because they lack the necessary skills. Acquiring skills with a view to
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applying them elsewhere in life is not a motive for playing, but having a go
and discovering that your level of skill is hopelessly inferior to that of your
offspring certainly discourages many parents.
3.8 Humour
Humour does not immediately stand out among the qualities players seek from
video games, and many games seem, on the face of it, to be devoid of humour.
The action, and the contexts, of many first-person shooters, and platform
games, are intended to be dramatic and exciting rather than amusing.
However, when they are asked why they enjoy playing, gamers often say that
games are ‘a real laugh’. The humour usually arises from the acute unreality
of events – players become involved in actions that are absurdly remote from
their everyday life and this absurdity makes them laugh. Sometimes it is
accentuated by age inappropriateness. For example:
“My brother was playing on it once and he was in a car
with a prostitute and he was only about nine or ten... It
makes you laugh... If it was in a film, it’s like dirty, but in a
computer it’s funny.”
Gamers do things in games that are flamboyantly dissonant with their own
self images and also with anyone’s notion of reasonable behaviour. This
outrageousness can obviously be amusing.
“It is quite funny... The ambulance comes along and then
you beat up the ambulance drivers.”
In many games aimed at younger players the humour is of a different sort –
cartoon like characters with appealing ways whose cuteness generates an
on-going light-heartedness, charmingly comical rather than laugh-out-loud;
Spyro the Dragon is an example. Children are occasionally said by parents
to laugh when they are playing Lego Star Wars. The appeal is more in the
area of amusement than emotional engagement.
IF I AM WATCHING YOUR (SEVEN YEAR OLD) SON PLAY, WILL I HEAR
HIM LAUGH?
“Yes. Anyone playing a game of Star Wars will laugh all
the time. Definitely.”
WILL HE GO THROUGH A GAMUT OF DIFFERENT EMOTIONS?
“That I’m less sure about. Not to a very great degree.”
Adults can apparently amuse themselves in games like Star Wars by
distorting the iconic characters and the well known storylines.
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3.9 How distinctive is the appeal of video games?
A strong element in the image of video games is that they are new and
moreover, as the technology advances, continually renewing themselves.
This newness contributes importantly to what seems to be a general sense
amongst gamers that video games are different to other recreations, in a
category of their own. This distinctiveness also of course reflects other key
features of the gaming experience: it is often solitary; it can be very time
consuming; it relies on input from the player, and players influence events.
When we asked our respondents what gaming was ‘like’, many had to think
for a while; players seem not, of their own accord, to relate video games to
other amusements/interests.
The most common comparisons are with television and film, not least
because these are also screen based. Young players perhaps see games as
like TV or films to a greater extent than adults; early video games of course
were nothing like either TV or film.
People make a variety of points about how video games compare with films.
They are more active because they depend on input from the player, who has
to respond for the game to work. Films are relatively passive, because you
just sit there and watch them without doing anything.
“I’d say it was a form of escapism in order to do
something without actually doing something. It sounds
lazy but it is like watching a film but more than that
because it requires interaction. You can sit there for a
couple of hours. Some people say ‘come around, we’ll
watch DVDs or a box set or something’. It’s just the same
as that but it is more involved. It responds to the way that
you respond so you feel that you are doing something
more than sat still.”
“It’s more lifelike than a film. You’re doing something, not
sitting on your arse watching a film.”
“More involving.”
Because games are interactive, they are, it is often argued, more involving
than film. Someone playing a game cannot be passive and let the action
wash over them, as they might in a film.
“With a film you’re literally just sitting watching, whereas
in the game you’ve got some control over what happens
so you get more involved in it... It’s like taking part in it...
It’s more exciting... If you’re watching a film and the
police have just pulled whoever it was in the film up – it’s
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a film at the end of the day. Whereas if you’re playing a
game and it happens to you, it’s a lot more like – ‘Oh
God!’ It is exciting and it scares you a little bit more...
With a film you just sit back and watch it, you don’t really
think about it...You’re not involved so it doesn’t really
matter that much to you.”
“In a video game you’ve got control over what happens.
You control whether that person in the game lives or dies.
In a film all you’re doing is passively watching it.”
“Instead of watching the movie you’re in the movie.”
“But there’s no consequences.”
Games can deliver a sense of achievement beyond anything a film can
give you:
“You’ve got a lot more power. You are in control. In a
film, at the end everything is back to equilibrium. In a
game every time you start off, unless you’re amazing,
you’re going to die, and then you’re going to re-start it. If
I watched Grand Theft Auto San Andreas I’d think it was
a good film, but if I played it then it was because of me
that it all happened. I won because of me, whereas in a
film it was because of the characters that this happened.”
They are less predictable than films (because what happens depends on
the player):
“You haven’t got any control of the films and most of the
time you know what is going to happen anyway.”
Though they might not be as relaxing:
“It is good watching a film because it is nice to sit down
and put your feet up... But you can’t do whatever you
want. You just watch it.”
Similar points are made about how games compare with watching television.
A television audience is passive, not ‘in control’ and therefore less involved.
“I’d say it’s a bit like watching telly but you’re in control.”
“It’s better than telly because you have to use your
brain more.”
“You have to get involved.”
“It’s a challenge.”
“With TV you can sit there and drift off but when you’re
playing computer games it is more involving.”
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For many gamers, being able to influence the action makes games more
exciting and fulfilling than TV:
“It’s like watching a soap opera that you are actually
involved in.”
These comparisons with films and television perhaps underrate the appeal of
games as puzzles – riddles to decipher.
“Single-player games, it’s a bit of an adventure as you’re
going through different stages... It’s not like reading a
book, it’s not like watching a film. I would say it’s like
a puzzle.”
Rarely, games are compared with board games. Women are perhaps more
inclined than men to see games as a simple amusement, the successor to
non-computer games.
“It’s like playing a board game... It’s all playing a game at
the end of the day, it’s just that one’s computerised and
one’s not.”
Although they are often compared with films, especially in relation to the
depiction of violence, parents occasionally see toys as a more apt
comparison than films; games and toys are played with, you can do things
with them, whereas films you just watch.
IS IT MORE THE EQUIVALENT OF A TOY OR A FILM OR...?
“Toy.”
“Yes, a toy.”
“It is a toy as you play with it, and you manipulate it and
you do what you want to do with it... A film they can’t
change it or make it their own.”
But most parents see little affinity between these electronic games and what
they think of as toys. For many of them, games seem threateningly new,
technical and mysterious, dissonant with the safe world of toys.
It seems to be very rare for gamers to see games as comparable to novels.
The time devoted to each is perhaps roughly comparable but, as noted
above (Section 3.6), storylines do not contribute strongly to the appeal of
games and books are of course not interactive. Moreover it is not clear that
there are great games that rest in the mind, in the way that novel readers
would say great novels do, or that expand gamers’ notions of what it is to be
human. Games are often exciting and generate intense involvement but they
seem not to have the emotional range or depth of novels, films or TV.
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It is difficult to know this for sure, but gamers appear to lose awareness that
they are playing a game less readily than filmgoers lose awareness that they
are watching a film. The same relative failure to surrender to an imagined
world may even be true if gamers are compared with readers of novels. For a
number of reasons, the imagination is not engaged to the same degree, or in
the same way; the storyline development is usually weak, the characters have
little depth and the player retains a vital degree of control – if the worse
happens and he/she dies, they can always go back and start that section again.
For many gamers, playing can therefore be a rather cold experience;
interactivity generates a keen sense of involvement because you are ‘in
control’ but the corollary is an emotional shallowness. You care about
winning, or improving your performance relative to last time, but you do not
care much about what happens otherwise.
We have to note that there are emphatic exceptions to this pattern. Some of
the professionals interviewed argued that games are potentially very
emotionally involving.
“People are emotive beings and games are trying to
create emotion.”
A games reviewer said that she often found games moving. Because games
are interactive, players get used to being with other characters, or having
certain capacities; when the game moves on and the situation changes,
gamers have to change as well. Change is often felt on an emotional level,
and games can make players sad, especially by creating a sense of loss. In
the view of this dedicated gamer, interactivity makes games much better at
creating a feeling of loss than either films or books. For her, playing games
is often an emotionally rich experience, and she sees implications in this for
the issue of violence in games.
“There is a big debate about how extensive is the
emotional range of games. Loss is one of the things it can
do quite easily because it can give you things that mean
something to you, then take them away...
“This truism which is everywhere, that games won’t be
taken seriously as an art form or as a creative endeavour,
until they can make people cry. But only people who
don’t play games say that, because people who play and
love games blub all the time! Everybody I know who
really involves themselves in a game, and has been doing
that for many years, has had something that has got to
them. Tears of loss, or regret. Absolutely. The emotional
stakes are so high in a game because you are actively
connected to what’s going on. The games industry is so
boxed into a corner because it can’t talk about this stuff
without leaving itself open to worrying questions. If you
say that a game can be so emotionally powerful it makes
55

you cry, then how are you saying that a violent game has
absolutely no effect on the person playing it? You can’t
have it both ways, so the games industry clams up about
the whole thing and says it’s all just a bit of fun. I know
that is flatly not true. If it was true then nobody would
play games! They are difficult and frustrating and they
ask you to learn colossal amounts of abstract information
that is of no use to you whatsoever. They humiliate you. If
games weren’t doing something really quite magical in
people’s brains, making you feel things that you didn’t
feel anywhere else, then you wouldn’t see people playing
them with the devotion they do.
“The last game I cried at was Okami, simply because it
was so beautiful. It was magical, extraordinary, like
nothing you’ve ever seen, a world you couldn’t possibly
imagine... It wasn’t the narrative. It wasn’t that I had
accomplished something. It wasn’t all the things that
people tend to talk about in well known games. It wasn’t
anything I could explain but it just really stung me and
gave me one of those little moments.”
Games reviewer 1
“There’s a point at the end of the game (Shadow of the
Colossus) where everything you think is going to happen
has happened, but it hasn’t, and the horse is killed in a
rock fall. It’s just devastating... The impact it has on you.
This has been your only friend and companion who has
helped you and protected you. I really didn’t see it
coming. He just dies, then you are alone but you have to
keep going. Nothing else can do that. There are
countless extraordinary books that are extraordinarily
moving, but they can’t do that. Films and books can’t
make you lose anything. You can read about someone
else’s loss, you can empathise in a book, but a book can’t
ever take anything from you. But that game took my
horse from me. He was my horse. He was my friend by
that stage!
“In that game if I wanted to get from here to here I had a
horse and that was nice and quick and I could canter and
jump over things and now I can’t do that anymore. So in a
basic, mechanical way something has been taken
from me.
“There are lots of tragic horse deaths in all kinds of films
and books but... in a film everything that happens next is
pre-calculated so the music will come in on a particular
second and you will have your attention moved to
something else, and your feelings are then manipulated
and extrapolated by what happens next. In a game, I
stood there looking down at where he had fallen.
Nothing is going to happen until I make it happen. I
could have stood there for the rest of my life. I could
have put the game down and never played it again. Or
started again and tried to make it not happen, which it
wouldn’t. That changes the character of the experience.”
Games reviewer 1
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It is clear from this account that games can be very emotionally affecting. We
do not know what proportion of gamers is affected to the degree this
reviewer describes, but on this evidence it is not right to say that keen
gamers ‘blub all the time’.
4. Violence as an element in the appeal of video games
We should note that many games do not contain any violence, notably sports
games, driving games (if crashes are not counted as violence), and such
enormously popular games as Mario and The Sims. Many gamers play
violent first person shooter games and sports games with equal enthusiasm.
Sports games seemingly endeavour to replicate the spirit and rules of the
sport; they do not tolerate violent play.
“In football you cannot hack down your opponent
because you know you are going to get a card... Whereas
in GTA you can kick their head in until they disappear
and go into red.”
“There is some violence in football games – pulling
shirts, tackles. But you don’t want to be sent off. It’s
all fun.”
A game clearly does not have to be violent to be popular amongst gamers.
However, there is violence in a large proportion of games, notably first person
shooters, but this is of different sorts and requires some definition. Spyro the
dragon kills his enemies with fire and ice, but for a number of reasons this is
unlikely to be viewed as violence – Spyro himself is cute; the context and his
victims are all fantasies; it seems clear that the game’s designers do not
intend the fact or the manner of the ‘deaths’ to be a subject of any interest
except in so far as they perpetuate the whole fun fantasy. Similarly with Lego
Star Wars; characters that are shot disintegrate into their constituent bricks in
a way that few people would regard as ‘violent’.
“That (Lego Star Wars) is fantasy... When you kill
someone their Lego bits just fall off.”
“There isn’t blood.”
“It is just fun, all the different characters.”
Spyro is an example of how ‘violence’ provides progression in a game and is
regarded by players as symbolic, no more violent than queen takes pawn in
chess. At the other end of the spectrum, there are many games in which the
‘violence’ appears to have been designed to look as realistic as possible and
to be a focus of interest and reward.
Moreover the trend is widely regarded as towards this more ‘appreciable’
violence – violence that is designed to look real. Technological
developments in both hard and software enable game designers to make
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everything look more realistic, more like film –wounds and suffering as well
weapons and scenery. Some gamers believe that violence in games is
becoming both more lifelike and more prevalent.
“Games are getting more violent, more twisted... When I
was ten years old you could play like Duck Hunt, Mario,
things like that. Now it’s like Manhunt, Condemned,
brutal murders.”
There is an argument that violence has become more real-looking by default;
improvements in graphics have meant that everything in games looks more
and more real. Depiction of killings has had to keep pace. However some
gamers certainly say they appreciate seeing blood and having choices about
how characters are to be killed. They like their violence to look real and to
be varied. Violence that is merely symbolic, or resembles cartoon violence,
is not so satisfying.
“It’s more fun punching someone and their head coming
off and blood going everywhere than if you go ‘Bang’ and
they just lie down. The more you injure somebody in a
game, the more damage you cause them, the better it is.”
“You can shoot people there (in the game) and the
graphics are just so real... The fact that it all looks real
and you can go wherever you want and it’s just like... It’s
just good!.”
In many games, violence – the elimination of enemies in vivid ways – is
treated as the core activity. Without this violence the games would not exist;
progression consists of eliminating enemies and obstacles.
“Some games would be boring without the killing and
shooting and all that.”
“It sounds really really awful but that’s what it’s all about.”
“In the games that I play it needs to have that violence,
like Medal of Honour, it needs to have the killing and the
death. That’s part of the reason why they were made.”
Many action games allow players to decide if they want more or less gore.
The gamers interviewed in this study all said that whenever they had the
option they maximised the gore.
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“Unreal Tournament... On the options there’s blood and
you can have it completely off, medium, or high. On
medium only a tiny drop of blood comes out if you shoot
them, whereas on high, if you shoot them a lot loads
more blood comes out. If you shoot them with something
big like a rocket launcher or something then they actually
blow up and you see all their guts flying. Sometimes bits
of guts bounce on the ceiling. I put it at high, and
probably everyone does.”
“But it’s computer characters and they don’t really
resemble people.”
It is difficult to isolate the appeal of the violence per se, not least because
other key rewards and satisfactions of gaming so often depend on the
violence. First, it is largely by eliminating ‘enemies’ that you progress in a
game, and making progress is of course the objective of play and a key
reward. Second, much of the tension in first person shooter games arises
from the violent action; gamers are not just shooting, they are vulnerable to
being shot. Staying alive in hectic circumstances contributes importantly to
the fun of the game and to gamers’ sense of achievement. Third, the
opportunity to be violent, without being vulnerable to consequences, clearly
underscores the appeal of some games as escapist. Games present
opportunities to behave in ways that are exhilaratingly wicked and
dangerous – out of reach in real life. Freedom from consequences, and
hence a feeling of escaping, is appreciated most keenly where there
is violence.
“In some sense the violence is fun... We really like that
sort of stuff.”
“It’s just a game. It’s just escapism.”
“Quests aren’t real, but shooting ones, you can just sort of
go out and shoot someone, so it’s just like something to
do.”
A FANTASY?
“Yes.”
“You can be violent in a game and not have any
comebacks. It’s a form of escapism.”
“If you get Gran Turismo, for example, you are getting a
powerful sports car and driving round the racetrack
smashing into the barriers and things. I wouldn’t do that
in real life. You can enjoy yourself and you know there’s
no harm going to come to you.”
“You can do whatever you want and there is
no consequences.”
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Interactivity of course enables video games players to be involved in the
violence, rather than simply witnessing it as they would with a film. Some
gamers say straightforwardly that being responsible for it is what makes the
violence enjoyable.
“I hit him (in boxing game) with a haymaker and it’s all
gone slow motion and then I finish him off... Even the bit
when you’ve got to clean up your face and wipe all the
blood off ready for the next round is as much fun as
going out and bashing him again for another three
minutes... There’s no fun watching someone else play a
game. It’s the most boring thing if you are not in control.”
“It’s better in a game because you can actually do it (be
violent) whereas in a film you are just watching it. But I
wouldn’t want to actually go out and do it for real.”
The various implications of controlling what violence happens (as in a video
game), as distinct from merely watching it unfold (as with a film), are not easy
to make out. Control in a violent context has the potential to generate a
feeling of jeopardy. Escape can be very exhilarating and there are those who
find this a lot more involving than a film would be.
“I like doing stuff in the game that’s bad because it’s the
adrenaline rush that you get when a police car’s behind
you and you’re just going really fast and knocking people
down. It’s the adrenaline rush.”
Moreover, interactivity helps games cater to mood. When gamers get
frustrated, they can express this.
“Like in GTA, sometimes if you’re really peeved, you just
think – right, I’m going to get in a car and run some
one over.”
AN OUTLET FOR AGGRESSION?
“Yes. But it is necessary in certain games.”
On the other hand, what seems like violence is regarded by many players as
formulaic. The ‘victims’ are in no sense real people (or animals or ghouls),
but obstacles to progression in a game. Their removal is a non-event except
in so far as it allows the gamer to survive and move on.
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“Rome Total War is not about the killing, it’s about the
thinking. As a general you have to make decisions. It’s
not the killing someone that makes it good, it’s the
thinking you have to do.”
IF IT’S THE THINKING THAT IS INTERESTING, WHY DO YOU HAVE THE
BLOOD COUNT TURNED UP HIGH?
“It’s quite funny when they blow up.”
“The gory bits are like a cartoon. The strategy part of
it isn’t.”
Many gamers’ apparently blithe acceptance of violence, even extreme and
realistic violence, in games has a lot to do with how closely they are focussed
on progressing through the game and how little interest they have in how that
progression is achieved. This is made easy for them by the fact that video
games invest heavily in action and movement but hardly at all in character.
The victims of violence have rarely been brought to life, not matter how
realistic they may look; they do not have any stature – they are just a threat to
the gamer and an obstacle to progress (but see the games reviewer quoted
on pages 55). Moreover, any violence is unlikely to be shocking (in the way
that film violence can be) precisely because the gamer is in control of it.
Many young male gamers certainly feel the action and the consequent
tension are what make playing fun. The sense that it is all just fun – playing –
is one reason why gamers find the violence acceptable and give themselves
permission to ‘be violent’ in the games.
“It’s entertainment, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s not like
you’re killing people, it’s just for the sake of fun.”
“With pretty much all games, if the objective is to kill
people... it’s not realistic... It’s the unrealistic bit that
makes it fun.”
Nevertheless, many gamers do feel uncomfortable about the prevalence of
violence in games, and this concern is discussed more fully in Section 6.3.
A few games try and incentivise ‘good behaviour’ by rewarding the ‘good’
and penalising the ‘bad’; the less violent make progress, the more violent do
not. There is a version of this in GTA, for example, where if you kill a cop you
are more likely to get caught and killed. Gamers in general seem not to have
registered this sort of incentivisation of ‘good behaviour’ and we are doubtful
that it is successful in depressing appetites for violence. What matters to
virtually all gamers is the quality of the game play. Beyond this, many gamers
would want to test the game by trying both good and bad strategies.
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“In a boxing game if you have done something good you
get more points and it determines how the game finishes.”
“There are games that have pulled it off quite well. If you
actually act as a good cop you do get rewarded for it.”
“It is good fun being bad but you also want to be good
just to see what it is like.”
It seems likely that many would say they would rather be rewarded for bad
behaviour than good, and find this is usually the case.
“The things that you get points from are normally bad
things... Bad like killing someone.”
5. Specific games
5.1 Grand Theft Auto
The Grand Theft Auto games, especially San Andreas and Vice City, were
extremely popular amongst most of the boys and men in the research
sample and attracted more comment than any other games. Some female
respondents liked them – they found there was more to do than in the
average driving game – although they were also thought of as yet more
clearly aimed at men than most games.
“That’s a different game. That’s got a bit of thought gone
into it. It’s more than just driving. You’re not sort of just
sitting in the car, are you?...You’ve got to put a bit more
into it than just sitting and driving a car.”
“You can move into a room and get a lap dance with a
woman, so I really think it’s male oriented.”
A great merit of the games is the imaginative and varied game play. They
are perceived as offering an abundance of different vehicles and weapons as
well as highly imaginative action.
“There’s so many things you can do in it.”
“You never get bored with it.”
“It’s just the different missions and there’s helicopters,
planes, motorbikes, cars, boats, driving all around. You
get cheats for different weapons. You can get
everything... a Samurai sword or a machine gun,
a chainsaw...”
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“It is like an extended film where you can manipulate the
outcome. There is that much to do in that one game.”
It is partly the variety of the action that makes the games so compulsive.
“It has storylines. There is always a conclusion. You have
to complete missions. You will always think - ‘Oh, I’ll do
one more mission.’ Until you start getting crap at it.... and
go to bed and then try again the next day. It has so much
longevity while you are playing it. It is brilliant.”
“All the missions you do, that’s the core of it. But then you
can get your gun shooting level up and your girlfriend’s
up. There’s so many little bits and pieces that I still haven’t
got 100% and I’ve had the game for like two years. I’m
like 79%... Grand Theft Auto isn’t something you can do
in a day, it’s a commitment. I completed all the missions
but I haven’t got 100% because I haven’t got – like in it
there’s certain haircuts you can get, there’s so much to do.”
Unusually for games offering fast action, GTA is also thought to have a sense
of humour. The wackiness and outrageousness of some of the action makes
it funny.
“You can do what you want. I just go round beating
people up because I am bored. I don’t care about the
mission. I go and pick a hooker up or something. It is
pretty funny.”
The sex clearly makes a contribution to the exhilarating sense of trashing the
tedious constraints of everyday life. GTA games are amongst the most
successful in appearing to expand gamers’ experience into areas unlikely to
be experienced in real life.
“You go and kill people and have loads of sex and stuff.
It is a good game because it’s like strategy as well.”
“San Andreas... So much violence, even down to you can
become a pimp and collect prostitutes and you can have
sex with one of them in a car. The car bounces up and
down and you are earning energy because of that.”
“We live in a world where violence is always on the front
page of the newspaper and it’s just taking it to games. So
you can do things that go on, shootings and prostitution,
that you’d never have thought of doing.”
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GTA is said to be one of the first games that invited players to be villains and
enjoy being bad.
“You want to just go mad. You want to do everything in
the game that you can’t do in reality... It’s quite a new
thing where there’s a game where you are a villain... GTA
and Manhunt, to a certain extent, you are a villain... It’s
a change.”
And also one of the games which most successfully gives the gamer a sense
of having a character.
“It’s a lot like they see on TV, with the rappers and so on.
They want to be like 50 Cent. He’s shot someone. I
pretend I’m him running around shooting people when
I’m playing it.”
So that the violence comes to feel integral to the character, rather than a
mechanic for progressing in the game.
“In Manhunt you just go round killing people. I know it
sounds silly but in Grand Theft Auto you’re killing people
for a purpose. In Manhunt you’re finding people and
killing them for money but in Grand Theft Auto he’s
killing people to get to the top of his game. He wants to
become the best that he can be.”
“The difference is that in Grand Theft Auto you start
thinking that you’re the character.”
These qualities give the GTA games a staying power rare for this type of
game. Many gamers play it intensively over a long period.
“I keep going back and playing that first mission.”
“You get bored with them (football games) in the end
whereas Grand Theft Auto you do what you want.”
”Yeah, look at the time. It’s 5am!”
The games also created a real buzz in the playground; there was a period
when everyone was talking about San Andreas.
“There’s one game that I played on a lot and I quit after a
while because I got ridiculous on it. My parents went
berserk... the amount I was playing on it!... Loads and
loads of people play it in our school.”
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Professionals admire Grand Theft Auto as much as most gamers, and for
similar reasons. They praise its variety of game play and the fact that it gives
gamers a sense of being in character.
“GTA had everything. It had a bit of controversy... It
wasn’t just a strategy game or a first person shooter or a
driving game, it was everything all tied in. You became
the character in the game. I remember people would
take the week off work to play GTA.”
Those who work in the field seem to see GTA as unique in the breadth of its
appeal, perhaps a triumph of imagination rather than technical inventiveness.
“Everyone loves GTA apart from some people who try to
score points by being curmudgeonly about it. There are
things about it that are not technically very good.
Visually it’s not particularly brilliant. The handling of the
cars and the way that the on-foot combat is controlled
isn’t very precise.”
NOT AS GOOD AS VIRTUAL FIGHTER?
“That’s right. That’s a game which is really about
towering accomplishment whereas GTA is about letting
you do what you like without thinking about it too much.
“There are hardcore gamers and casual gamers...
Games that are seen as being challenging by the (hard
core) community, like Virtual Fighter, are extremely
technical...You need great accuracy and speed of
response... Another challenging game is Battlefield, a
war game played in 40 man teams... Grand Theft Auto is
kind of an anomaly. It unites hardcore and casual
gamers. Everyone loves it.”
Games reviewer 1
5.2 Championship Manager
Championship Manager is a good example of a game that convincingly
creates roles that gamers would like to fulfil in real life.
“Winning your matches by your team selection, bringing
in new players, working out your finances... It’s the next
best thing to owning Newcastle United.”
It appears to be very popular among young male football fans because it
builds on an existing interest, gives gamers the sense of taking huge
decisions and being in control of heroic figures, and tests their judgement
about things that matter a lot to them.
Championship Manager is doubly incomprehensible to some parents.
From their perspective, little seems to happen, their sons spend hours
working out tedious details – football madness compounded by video
game madness.
65

“This team manager thing has got to be the worst game
going. He just sits there for hours. They don’t do
anything, just pick a team and things go round on screen.
You know there is nothing in it whatsoever.”
5.3 The Sims
The appeal of The Sims evokes in some respects the attractions of home
improvement TV programmes, or with slightly younger players, tamagochis.
The game provides predominantly female players with an alternative world
on which to focus interest and care.
The Sims also exemplifies the appeal of an environment which can be
configured to the gamer’s specification and which behaves according to
knowable rules. The world of The Sims is as absorbing as it is because it is
complex enough to be convincingly real, yet gives gamers a degree of
control impossible in real life.
“It’s just fun controlling people... My brother just tells me
to go away but the Sims people can’t do that.”
“It’s fun because you can make yourself on there... and
see possibilities that you could actually do in your life
because it’s like reality, kind of.”
“Sims is my perfect game. I love that game.”
5.4 Manhunt
Manhunt is a notorious game because of the publicity connecting it with the
murder of Stefan Pakeerah in Leicester. Discussion of it focuses on its violent
content and different gamers have different reactions.
Some gamers see Manhunt as exceptional in the amount and vividness of
its violence.
“I looked at Manhunt, because there was all the stuff in
the news. There was a murder and they blamed that
game. So straight away I thought I would have a look at it
and a mate had it. I played it and I actually enjoyed the
idea of the game but the violence was awful. You could
choose the degree of violence as well. How badly you
would maim someone. If it was real life footage as such,
it would have been pretty horrific. You really were
sticking an axe in someone and taking a couple of chops
to their neck until their head fell off. The screen turns so
you can see it all happening. I was quite addicted to it...
The idea of the game was good, and the way you play
some of the game... where you creep around, I liked, but
the actual killing was very grotesque.”
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But others think the game’s notoriety is not deserved.
“I was playing Manhunt when all the controversy was
going on. It wasn’t that shocking. I was like – ‘what’s the
big deal’?... It was just different, at the time.”
Manhunt is regarded as an example of a game that seeks to make violence
central to its appeal. However, those who get into the game play often
respect it as a brilliant game almost despite its violence.
“Manhunt... is an absolutely brilliant story. Basically it’s a
guy that is on death row and is a mass murderer and
there is another guy that controls all the gangs and the
police in the city and he takes him and puts him on a TV
show. So he goes around and has to kill people. At the
end he gets out and has to go and kill him. It’s the story
more than anything else. I wouldn’t buy it just because of
the violence.”
Those who look out the game because of its violence seem more often to
be disappointed. They seemed to find the game was not worth playing
for its violence.
“People say it was brought out to draw people in on
violence... I took it back. It was crap. The violence was
somewhat different from GTA, a bit more twisted... It was
pure violence, whereas GTA, you can have a laugh.”
Professionals are amongst this game’s enthusiastic admirers. It is a good
game in that it generates a lot of excitement and tension. Moreover, some
think, it is more honest and more revealing than other games in its treatment
of violence and the implications of violence.
“Manhunt is the only game that... is actually about
violence rather than just depicting violence. The reason
that Manhunt is so difficult for everyone to deal with is
that it doesn’t let you dodge this fact, that you like
pretending to be a murderer. This says – ‘you want to kill
people? OK let’s do it, if that’s what you want to do’. It’s
an extremely good game and a very moral game, and it’s
a great shame that the games industry wasn’t prepared
to stand up for it... It explores violence in a way that a
good film or book would explore violence, saying – ‘if
we’re going to deal with this we can’t do it shallowly and
just gloss over it’.”
Games reviewer 1
67

“I think Manhunt is a really good game. It’s
misrepresented. The thing I most like about it is that it
really captured this gritty take on John Carpenter films.
The reason I found it exciting was the plot was grim but it
set up an incredibly naked system of rules. It was very
hard, very tense, and to beat it was a real big ask. It also
had this reversal of power halfway through where you
started off scared and being chased then gradually you
took revenge on these people who had massively
wronged you. It was pretty violent but you took out crazy
henchmen types, rather than murdering your way
through some suburban idyll.”
6. Gamer concerns about playing video games
6.1 Isolation and ‘addiction’
Many gamers acknowledge that intense and prolonged concentration on
games has a downside. Whilst they are playing they pay no attention to what
is going on around them. They are difficult to communicate with because
their focus is so tightly on the game. If they get into a pattern of playing a lot,
they neglect their friends and other activities. They spend a lot of time on
their own and may get out of the way of chatting with friends.
“I can concentrate on them so much I’m totally not aware
of what is going on.”
“Your social life can go down the pan if you play all the
time. The reality ones become too real to you and
become too much part of your life.”
HAVE YOU GUYS MISSED OUT ON ANYTHING BY PLAYING SO MUCH?
“Talking. Communicating with people.”
“Yeah because I’ve had people talk to me and I’ve just
ignored them, but not deliberately. I’m so locked into the
game... Very selfish really. I’m in the middle of blowing 30
aliens up and my energy level is like this, then someone
comes up to me and starts a conversation. I’m like –
‘hold on a second’.”
YOU’RE ABSORBED IN THE GAME?
“Yeah. Transfixed.”
The word ‘addiction’ crops up in discussions about gaming and it seems to
be received wisdom that young people can become ‘addicted’ to games. It
is quite common for young gamers to know people they think of as addicted.
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“I know someone who used to come out with us all the
time but now he’s always on the computer playing
games... He’s probably got quite a serious problem. He’s
never come out in two years... He thinks he’s fine. He
gets home, does a bit of homework, then just plays on it
most of the night... His mum is worried about him.”
As might be expected, it is much rarer for gamers to think of themselves as
addicted, although, looking back, they may feel they spent too much time
playing games.
“When I was younger it definitely took over my life for a
little while.”
Most gamers are relaxed about the time they spend playing; to be ‘addicted’
is clearly a badge of honour for some.
“On Football Manager you can click on your manager
status and it will actually come up with how addicted
you are.”
“Basically I just got addicted when I was a kid and I can’t
stop... I love them and I get enjoyment out of them. It’s a
form of entertainment. It’s like going to watch a movie.”
Professionals acknowledge that games, especially online games, can come to
occupy too important a place in people’s lives. Some gamers come to prefer
their virtual lives to their real ones.
“The problem is not about the nature of the imagery, but
far more about the psychological effects of engaging... in
the non-real. We see a lot of problems now, particularly
with online games and people spending so much time
online, and prioritising that online life ahead of their
real life.
“With Warcraft there are many stories of people who
had lost their jobs or destroyed their marriages because
this becomes a 10-14 hours a day thing... The weekend
they’ll play 16 hours a day both days, for a year. The
games industry doesn’t like talking about it.”
Games reviewer 1
Several of the professionals interviewed said they are wary of playing World
of Warcraft, for example, because they fear they may get sucked in and end
up spending a lot more time than they think is reasonable. On the other
hand, they also point to the amount of time many people spend watching
television and think the word ‘addictive’ reflects the way games are so often
stigmatised in the media. People spend a lot of time playing games because
they like them.
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“Anything you like doing is addictive...You’d think TV
should be labelled as being addictive.”
6.2 A poor, unproductive use of time
Playing video games soaks up time. How long it takes to complete a game
depends on the skill of the player but is said typically to take about 80 hours.
Although playing video games is very compulsive while you are doing it,
many gamers do feel uncomfortable, looking back, about the time they have
devoted to it.
“It probably took me 80 or 90 hours to complete Tomb
Raider over a period of 3 or 4 months, and that’s an awful
lot of time, considering you’ve got your job on top of
that.”
“At one point I would literally sit up for way over 24
hours playing one game, and I thought that was quite
sad... I realised when my parents were getting up and I
was still awake.”
“You might get hooked and just play them through the
day and think – that was a waste of a day, I shouldn’t
have done that.”
It is not uncommon for gamers to talk about feeling guilty.
“I do sometimes feel a bit guilty because I have
children and stuff...You think – ‘oh, I could have
been doing something’.”
Many gamers clearly see their own gaming, at least some of the time, as a
path of least resistance, a manifestation of weak will. Games are often
preferred to other options for a raft of reasons. Playing a game is so easy;
the console/PC is sitting there. Games break up into bits; the temptation to
‘just see if I can get up a level’ is great (and of course prolongs play once it
has begun). Games, as already noted, involve a lot of problem solving; you
feel you are achieving something as you solve these problems.
70

Whilst you are playing, games are very involving. When you are not playing,
and thinking about life more broadly, many players feel that they are not a
good use of time; video games compete poorly with other, healthier or
otherwise worthier things to do.
“I used to do lots of games.... I enjoy doing better things
with my time now. I like going to the gym or playing
football instead of wasting my time.”
“I’ve felt guilty when I go on playing when I’ve arranged
to meet my friend or something.”
How people feel when they get up after a substantial session of course
depends on how the game has gone; if they have made progress they
obviously feel better than if they have experienced a lot of frustration.
“If I’ve been on the same level for the two hours and I’ve
just given up, then I’m thinking – ‘damn, I could have
gone on the trampoline, or gone to a mate’s house’. But if
I’ve conquered something, I’d say ‘YES’!”
“I still tend to feel guilty, because sometimes I should do
things but I don’t. I just sit down and play.”
Aware that playing can tyrannise them and lead them to neglect things they
would rather have done, some gamers are careful to restrict when they play.
WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE AMOUNT OF TIME YOU SPEND
PLAYING?
“Ridiculous.”
“It’s stupid but I do play a lot. But I play at the right
time... because I don’t play when I could be out. I go out
every night... I still get out and do stuff.”
Although gamers often seem to feel a little sheepish about the amount of time
they devote to playing, many do not accept that games are more a waste of
time than other interests or amusements.
“My girlfriend reads quite a lot and I think that’s a waste
of time. Fiction. Made up story. Not interested. So I
don’t reckon you can say it’s a waste of time.”
“I can watch a film and think – ‘that was a complete waste
of time’.”
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Some argue that an absorbing game is a better use of time than ‘crap TV’,
and it is not clear that gamers feel more sheepish about devoting long hours
to gaming than others feel about watching television. A difference of course
is that watching TV is general throughout the population whereas playing
games is perceived as a more minority interest.
There is a variety of reasons why gamers are liable to feel uncomfortable if
they play a lot: they frequently play for longer than they intended; they
neglect other interests, and obligations, as a result; they may well feel they
have ‘nothing to show’ for their time; their uneasiness may be reinforced by
criticism from others who have a poor opinion of games (and, often, no
experience of them). An aspect of the ‘nothing to show’ strand here is that
games currently enjoy classic status only amongst other gamers. Someone
who has read War and Peace attracts admiration from a broad cross section
of people (although perhaps not from this immediate peer group) more
reliably than someone who has completed Grand Theft Auto.
The circumstances and context of play – often solitary, close to a screen,
inside, usually in the dark, late at night, repetitive and fidgety hand
movements – do not help gamers feel good about a long session. In
particular, gaming is regularly juxtaposed, especially by parents (and see
Section 7.2) with ‘being outside in the fresh air’ – so much more wholesome.
“I think it is terrible. I want my kids out in the park.”
Strain on the eyes contributes modestly to the much broader general
perception that playing video games for long periods is not something to be
proud of.
“Sometimes you can’t stop because you’re really into it,
but sometimes your eyes start to hurt and you have to
stop for a while and go and get a drink. But other than
that you’re really into it and can’t stop for anything.”
“You do get that square eyes thing after playing a
computer, where you think – ‘I have been looking at the
screen for too long’.”
A few gamers also mention intensive play as potentially bad for wrists
and thumbs.
“I can imagine in years to come loads of men having
problems, health issue wise – with their thumbs
and wrists.”
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6.3 Violence: gamers
Gamers do not need prompting to talk about violence in games; many raise
the subject spontaneously. Violence is a very conspicuous element in many
video games and gamers readily acknowledge this. They are aware that
concern has been expressed in the media and elsewhere about this violence
and recognise ‘violence in video games’ as an issue.
For reasons described further below, a large majority of the gamers in this
sample believed there was no link between violence in games and violence
in society. However a number of more minor issues relating to the violent
content of video games are raised.
Some young players say they find some of the violence frightening; there are
references to games affecting dreams.
“Sometimes if I play gory games, I have nightmares. This
one game I had a nightmare I was at a shopping place
and some guy came and put a gun to my head and shot
me. I woke up crying because I was so worried.”
“It’s just like living on the edge... When you play it at
night, it’s like Doom is scary.”
And it is quite common for young gamers to say that they dislike the
violence, and feel uncomfortable about being involved with it.
“I don’t really like violent things...Like Grand Theft Auto.
I don’t mind but they are quite horrible. Not nice
natured. They might be banning some of the GTA
because they are so violent.”
“I felt a bit uncomfortable because I was like shooting
someone’s head off and it felt like I was actually shooting
someone’s head off. I felt really bad.”
Young players sometimes make a distinction between violence involving
soldiers, criminals, aliens, etc – which they regard as in some way authorized
– and that involving ‘innocent people’, ‘civilians’ or animals (cf Tomb Raider)
which they are more likely to see as ‘bad’ or ‘underhand’.
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“Grand Theft Auto... I didn’t really like the guts in that...
They’re shooting civilians walking down the street. I
didn’t really like that. The concept of the game is not nice
but the graphics is good, more realistic. I just didn’t like
the way they had people shooting civilians walking down
the street. Star Wars is different because the characters
are not real and the people you kill in Star Wars aren’t
civilians, they’re people that are in an army, so they’re
prepared to die.”
“The (violence) in Manhunt’s a bit petty and a bit behind
their backs... murdering them. But on GTA it’s like what
happens in Los Angeles when gangs start killing each
other. What happens is you work for someone and a man
tells you to do a job. But not innocent people – people
who’ve done something bad, like gangsters.”
Killing people at close quarters, or with anything other than a gun, is also
liable to attract negative reactions from very young players.
“I have seen this game where you can go behind people
and just grab them and then you slit their neck with a
knife. And that is just not good.”
Amongst adults, women tend not to play violent games as much as men and
raise the subject of violence less spontaneously. However, on prompting
women appear more likely than men to object to violence, especially where
the graphics depict detail. It is difficult to be certain how deep concern runs.
There is disgust with unpleasantly gory scenes, and also some anxiety about
the effects on young players (see also Section 8).
“People shooting or hitting ten bells out of each other.
I’m not really bothered by it but it is not nice to look at.”
“And it’s very graphic as well. Like the blood spurts out
and you can see the bullet hole in the head. I’m not
into that.”
“They’re quite extreme, some of them... An advert for 50
Cent Bulletproof... I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It
was like a film and it was so realistic and the violence
was really, really graphic. I wouldn’t want any kid of mine
to see that or play that. I wouldn’t play it. I was shocked,
I really was.”
It is not uncommon for male players to express unease about very young
players being exposed to the violence (and sex) in Grand Theft Auto.
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“I mean Grand Theft Auto you can get prostitutes, kill
people. I’m over 25 now so I’m allowed that but ten year
olds kids shooting up a city and doing this that and the
other. There’s got to be something wrong with that.”
Degree of concern about violence appears to be affected by a number of
features – how gory and realistic it looks (especially among women), the
degree of detail depicted in close-up, and how it is related to game-play,
especially the extent to which it seems a focus of attention in itself as
opposed to a means of progressing towards larger objectives in the game.
“Street Fighter... It’s like two monsters fighting and
there’s a bit of blood spurting out here and there, but it’s
two fictional characters and it’s not that realistic. But
where it’s actual people holding guns to people’s heads,
the imagery is very, very different. And it’s that kind of
game that I’m not interested in. I don’t want to see it. But
something like Street Fighter is not as bad.”
“(In GTA) it’s not really close up, you’re not getting a lot
of detail... That makes a big difference.”
“The blood is necessary in GTA, but in Manhunt I think
things get a bit too extreme... In Manhunt... holding him
down as long as you can and then sawing his head off
with a wire – that’s a bit too much.”
The comparison many gamers want to make is with films; they ask
themselves if violence in games should be regarded as in some way worse
than violence in films. The first point many make, especially young gamers,
is that violence in games does not look anything like as real as the violence in
films. Films have actors who are, and look, real, whereas in games the
people are, despite improvements in graphics, clearly distinguishable
from real.
“It’s real people in the films, but on the computer it’s not.”
PD2 M 8-9 intermediate Birmingham
“Graphics on a computer is nothing like as good as film.”
“It might look more realistic (than it used to) but you are
always going to know it is a game.”
“A game is a graphic whereas a film is real people
doing that.”
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Similarly, the gore in films looks a lot more real than the gore in games.
“If you watch some of the films that are 15 now, and some
of the games which are 18, the films are much worse.
You can see real blood in the films. Well it looks real
compared to computer graphics.”
“Blood doesn’t look real on games, whereas blood looks
worse on films.”
The graphics in such games as Grand Theft Auto are often described as like
cartoons. By comparison with films, violence in games is stylised or
symbolic, at a remove from reality.
“I would have thought films would be a bit more, like
make people more violent, because in computer games
it’s sort of cartoon people, not real, and in films it’s more
real people.”
“There’s still very much a cartoon element in GTA so it
makes it seem not quite as realistic. But when it’s a film
and it’s real people I do think that makes a difference.”
The argument is that violence in video games is not as affecting as violence
in films because it looks much less real. Gamers believe that film versions of
game action would be intolerable; it would be more frightening and
upsetting because more real.
“One called Resident Evil, you play the game and it is
not so scary because it doesn’t look real... My friend had
the game and then watched the film and he just cried.”
BECAUSE IT WAS MORE REAL?
“Much more.”
“There was a zombie hiding in his wardrobe.”
“Computer games is graphics...You can get scary games
and scary films but I’m not bothered about the scary
games but if I saw a scary film I would be bothered
about it.”
“If I watched it (the action in GTA) in a film I’d be sick...
someone’s head being cut off and the blood. You’d feel
sick. But with graphics it just feels funny. It’s just nothing.
I just think it’s not bad at all.”
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“In games, it’s a story, but when you see it in a film –
happening to a real person – it’s more extreme... (In a
game) it’s just killing a cartoon or a character. It’s not a
person. There’s not a proper face behind it.”
Initial discussion of video game violence in relation to film violence almost
always concerns the disparity in the look – computer graphics look much
less real than film, and this makes game violence more acceptable.
Consideration of the implications of interactivity come later, and gamers are
often more reticent about them, and less conclusive. Some argue that being
in control of the violence makes the gamer feel responsible, producing a
greater degree of involvement than would be usual with a film.
“If you are watching a film you’re witnessing it but in a
video game you do it. That’s a big difference. If you see
Scarface go kill someone you are just witnessing it
whereas if you are in a game, killing people, you are a lot
more involved.”
“When you watch a film you don’t think that you’re the
character. When I am playing a video game I believe
that I am that person.”
“The biggest giveaway is if you watch three people watch
a movie they’ll just be like this (supine). But if you watch
them playing a shoot ‘em up game they’ll be like that
(edge of seat), and like that, and if they mess up they’ll
throw the controller. That shows, in your body language,
that you’re more into the game and it’s having a bigger
effect than just sitting back watching a movie.”
For some, the greater degree of involvement is what makes the game better;
they would rather control the violence in a game than watch it unfold on film.
“I’d rather play on a violent game than watch a violent
movie because you control the person... In a game you
control the person, so it’s more real isn’t it?”
“Yes, you know what’s happening because it’s yourself.”
Others sit on the fence, conceding a greater degree of involvement but still
finding film violence more upsetting.
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“Because you control the violence to an extent in the
game, that sort of makes it different... Talking about the
difference between the violence on a film and the
violence in a game, you’re more involved, I suppose, in
the violence in a game. I think with some people it
probably makes it more realistic because they’re
involved with it. But I don’t like the realism in the fact that
it’s real people. That’s why I don’t particularly like
violence in films.”
Not many are articulate about this, but the majority of gamers seem to feel
that the greater realism of film violence (and the strength of the
characterisation and narrative) makes it much more upsetting than video
game violence. This difference is usually taken to transcend whatever effect
interactivity has on levels of involvement in, and ownership of, violence
in games.
Nevertheless, violence in games, especially when it is close-up and gory,
seems to generate vague unease – a sense of wrongness – in many gamers
(though as we have seen this sense can itself contribute to the appeal).
Some gamers seem to have, on occasion, a feeling of incredulity – I can’t
believe I am doing this!’ – perhaps analogous to the feelings inspired by
risqué comedy like Little Britain – am I really hearing this? Non-gamers who
become acquainted with the violence in video games often feel more
strongly about it than gamers. Similarly, gamers are more likely to condemn
violence in games they have not played than in games they have. Violent
action is more acceptable when you are acquainted with the game and see it
within the particular gaming context. Many gamers seem to end up with the
position that, yes, on the face of it extreme violence is regrettable, but in fact
it is all right in this game and it is all right for me. It is all right in this game
because once you have played it you realise that the ‘people’ who die have
no character, no emotional depth (because they have played no important
part in the narrative, where there is one) and moreover it is all ‘just a game’.
And it is all right for me because I know I am not violent and it does not
influence me.
A few gamers fear that the violence in games may have regrettable effects on
some people’s behaviour, principally people who become obsessed with
games and spend too much time playing them.
“If someone’s got that violent side in them they’ll sit and
play computer games with violence in them for hours
and hours and it’s not going to do them any favours.”
It is sometimes argued that playing violent games can make a player
aggressive in the short term, again particularly if he plays ‘too much’.
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“I would say that your emotional mood definitely changes
when you play a violent game. If you’re not winning you
can get quite aggressive.”
“I don’t like (violent games) because my brother plays
them and it makes him really aggressive. There’s this
boy who lives near us... and he plays like 18 games, for
18s and over. Before he played them he was all right but
since he’s been playing them he’s become a bit
aggressive. It’s really changed him quite a bit.”
HOW WAS HE BEFORE?
“He was normal. He would get angry if someone made
him angry but he wouldn’t try to punch them... He used
to be quite good at work and he used to really like maths
and now he doesn’t.”
It is generally only boys and men who are regarded as being at any sort of
risk in this way, but one young girl in this sample seemed to say that playing
games made her feel aggressive.
“When you’re playing one of those (violent) games
you’re so controlled that you think it’s like real... I’ve
played it before, not like a really old one, just like a 12
one, and you do switch off the rest of the world and just
focus on the telly. When I stop playing it it’s all weird and
you feel like punching someone.”
It sometimes seems to be suspected that playing too much, becoming
obsessed with video games, might tip someone over the edge into violence.
“You get some people that get too into it. You get
problems and they go out and do something stupid in
real life...You hear about it on the news. They go out on a
killing spree... It frustrates me because it’s not the
computer game’s fault.”
A few gamers put the counter argument – that games can provide a safe
outlet for aggression that might otherwise find unfortunate expression in
real life.
“If you’re in a mood and want to hit someone, then you
can play the game and it releases you.”
Most gamers have a robust conviction that only people with some
exceptional propensity to be violent are susceptible to influence by the
violence in video games. People who commit violent acts are not ordinary
gamers but ‘idiots’ and ‘nutters’.
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“There’s something wrong with the child if they go out
and shoot people.”
“The people who are going to take it seriously are the
sort of people who are idiots anyway.”
“It’s not the normal people you want to worry about it’s
the nutters that are looking and thinking – ‘I might do
that, that looks great, I wish I could have done that’! But
most normal people don’t think like that. I can sit and
play a violent game and not be violent at the end of it but
there are people that can be violent and play because
they’re violent.”
This conviction rests squarely on gamers’ beliefs about themselves, namely
that they have played lots of violent games and have not thereby become
violent, or felt any change in their own propensity to be aggressive. Many
reinforce this by citing gaming friends; nobody they know has become
violent either.
“I completed Manhunt but I didn’t go out and
suffocate people.”
“I play those games but I’ve never had a fight in my life! I
play shooting games and fight games.”
“You just want to get through it and say you’ve
completed it. It doesn’t change mood. Like in
magazines, where it says – Grand Theft Auto’s made
these kids violent – it’s not like that.”
“I can go and execute someone and blow his brains out
but I wouldn’t really want to go and do that to someone
else. I know that no one is really getting hurt.”
“People see it as bad because it’s giving kids the idea
that they can go and get a gun from anywhere and they
can kill someone and there’s no repercussions. But I play
Grand Theft Auto a lot and I don’t have any desire to kill
someone. But if they sell a million copies then one out of
that million might flip.”
“I certainly don’t feel more aggressive. Just because I’ve
been zapping people in computer games it doesn’t make
me want to go and whack someone else. It probably
gets rid of some of the tension. That’s probably partly
due to the fact that you’re playing to relax.”
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6.4 Violence: professionals
Like ‘ordinary’ gamers, professionals readily acknowledge that violence is
conspicuous as an element in video games. Some think it is a cause for
concern, one which the industry prefers to ignore.
“One of the things I find very difficult is... the level of
violence that is now commonplace. The depravity of it
and the unflinching enthusiasm with which it’s displayed,
consistently, astonishes me...
“There’s an awful lot of people whose taste in games
means that their number one hobby is pretending to be a
murderer. They go home at night and spend four hours
pretending to kill people. The stories provide you with
endless rationales about why it’s all right to be killing
people. GTA is one of the very rare games that you are
just a bad guy and this is what you do... Most of the
games have these interminably tedious moral set ups to
excuse your behaviour. There is a massive
predominance of violence in games that we don’t talk
about. It’s the big elephant in the room for the games
industry... If you look at games where you play a person
the overall likelihood is that what you’ll be doing in that
game is killing people. We don’t talk, as an industry,
about why that is, why people enjoy it so much, and if it’s
a problem that they do enjoy it so much.”
Games reviewer 1
Asked why there is as much violence as there is, professionals make a
number of points. Violent action is, for many people, exciting, as the amount
of violence in popular films testifies. Moreover, many video games are
inevitably expressive of the broader cultures that develop them.
“Culturally the idea of a gun is very dominant in
American entertainment.”
They also argue that there are technical reasons why video games so often
depend on eliminating characters, things, settings, etc. The game provides a
furnished setting or landscape. The player interacts with this setting, very
often with weapons. The weapons destroy people/aliens and things, thereby
freeing up processing power, enabling the introduction of new people/aliens
and things. For a game to move on, the elements in play have to change; it
suits the technology for that change to be getting rid of elements; weapons
and ‘killing’ are the means of achieving this.
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“If you put all your processing power into creating slabs
of scenery you don’t have any capability left in your
machine to do any other than move a projectile. The
idea of creating hands on screen that embrace people,
the facility isn’t present to manage the animation
overhead, to enable more complex interactions to take
place. The most simple interaction is I see something, I
shoot it. A self contained object travels towards it and an
impact takes place. Crucially what the result of that
impact is, is that the object disappears. If something
grows and reproduces then it’s another level of
complexity and you’ve got to... deal with that.”
“The thing about violence in a lot of games, and why it’s
so common, is that actually, in most games, it’s just code.
Games are all about cause and effect, about things
happening to other things. But showing all that stuff is
quite hard. Showing how one thing will affect another
thing is complicated. What we fall back on, again and
again, is death as a way of saying you have tagged that
thing, you have effected the change that you needed to
effect on that thing... Death is a way of communicating a
completed action that is easy to understand.”
Games reviewer 1
“There aren’t many great writers in video games. It’s a
lot easier to programme a game to be a car or a gun
than it is to actually put in some great dialogue and then
to have convincing graphics and make people believe
they are there.”
Of course, as processing power increases, the technology can cope with
more and more elements and is capable of more complex interactions; the
technical ‘excuse’ for violence becomes weaker. Some professionals believe
that games designers will rise to the challenge and games will become less
violent as the focus of interest moves to more reciprocal actions capable of
developing relationships rather than just ending them.
“Code would aspire to a state of total annihilation
because then there are no bugs... The games culture is
orientated towards ‘no bugs’. So that’s where things are
constrained and they’re made efficient, systematised.
Everything we connect with the language of ‘nature’ and
‘growth’ and ‘organic’ and ‘emotion’ is very difficult to
come by. But those are the challenges that people are
now taking on.”
Some professionals have concerns about the implications of interactivity on
the violence issue. In games set in a lifelike rather than a fantasy context,
interactivity means that gamers are invited to commit disturbing acts of
violence that do not seem merely to expose the structure of the game.
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“The thing is the interactive bit. You can watch a film but
you’re not actually controlling anything. With a game you
can make decisions. I was playing a game when that first
really struck me and that was Soldier of Fortune. Near
the beginning of the game there’s three guys, all leaning
down, blindfolded with their hands tied round their back.
There’s a couple of guys waiting there and you could
decide whether to execute these three characters who
weren’t armed and couldn’t fight back, or let them live.
That’s not something you can ever do in a film. That quite
worried me because it wasn’t like things I had been used
to, like Quake, where it’s all very fantasy and you can fire
rocket launchers from space pads and things. This was
very much a real environment. It really changed
my viewpoint.”
It is argued, on the other hand, that the interactivity has complex implications
that are not easily understood. It may be that being in control helps sustain a
gamer’s awareness that he/she is just playing a game, whereas someone
watching a film may more readily mistake it for reality.
“The interactivity is crucial but its implications are very
hard to understand. Something that really struck me
when I was watching Syriana, the George Clooney film
about the oil industry. There’s a scene where he has his
fingernail ripped out, which I found horrifying... I
suddenly realised that I had stood up and was standing
oblique to the TV. I couldn’t be in front of it and I
instinctively turned down the sound because he was
screaming. I couldn’t bear it. I wondered why I was
responding so strongly to it. I knew it wasn’t real and that
I was safe in a nice house. What struck me was that
they’ve maybe got it all completely upside down. Maybe
the interactivity actually neuters the violence in a way that
non interactive things don’t. One of the reasons that
Syriana is so effective is the way that it’s filmed. The
camera is very present and restless in the room and it
crouches down behind the guy who is doing the
torturing, so what the camera is doing is watching and
what you are doing is watching and there is nothing
physically around you to tell you that this isn’t real. You
are just looking through a window at something awful,
and although we are all terribly sophisticated now and
it’s obviously just television, actually there is nothing
going on there that tells me this isn’t happening. There is
nothing other than my intellect to tell me that there’s a
difference here. But because games are interactive
nothing happens unless you make it happen, and every
time you do that you are reinforcing the fact that this isn’t
real. I know that on screen I am punching a guy in the
face but I know that’s not happening because I’m not
doing it, I’m sitting here in my slippers, playing a game.
Although there is a closer identification with what is
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happening there’s a greater dislocation between those
two worlds. We always assume that interactivity
intensifies the reaction... Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe there’s
a much more complex relationship here than that.”
Games reviewer 1
Interactivity requires a gamer to concentrate hard on the game. It is not open
for him or her to just sit back and enjoy the violence, or even express
aggression. If you are feeling aggressive, you need to back off sufficiently to
have a mind clear enough to work the game.
“There’s the argument that (the violence) is a release,
that everyone has dark thoughts and bad days, and I do
certainly use gaming for the catharsis it can offer. But
even if you are really angry and are playing a violent
game, what makes it such a good treatment for that
feeling is not that you are getting to act out something
violent, but the games force order onto your thoughts and
require you to be calm to do well. They need you to
observe structures and patterns and systems and that
makes them very soothing. Even though the game is
exciting and there are explosions going on on the screen,
what your brain needs to be doing is actually very
ordered and systematic. That can be very therapeutic. So
there’s even a kind of dislocation between what you’d
assume that someone would be seeing on the screen and
what they will actually be experiencing in terms of what
their brain is doing.“
Games reviewer 1
A different argument is that interactivity is a benign influence on perceptions
of violence because it enables video games to explore moral issues more
effectively than books or films can do.
“There is the ability for you to make moral decisions and
see the consequences on the screen – which films and
books don’t allow you to do.”
The implications of more and more realistic images of violence, as
technology improves, worry some professionals.
“It’s the idea that games are going to get much more
detailed, to the point where you’re looking at films, that
quality. So you’ve got the film experience but with the
interactivity. It’s getting very close to that now. That’s
moving into an unknown area. Will this influence people
more when it looks more real?... There’s this unknown.
How is this photo-real, immersive environment going to
affect us?”
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As noted above (Section 3.5) some professionals say that improvements in
graphics will require games producers to show more restraint in the amount
and type of violence represented in games. However others question
whether the degree of realism in images ought to be seen as the
dominant consideration.
“One part of me finds it really unsettling that we will say
that as long as you are raping and pillaging and skinning
alive abstractions of people that’s perfectly wholesome,
but the minute you’re doing it to people who’ve got
pores and eyelashes it’s despicable. That worries me
because I think violence is violence and cruelty is
cruelty and perhaps we should make no differentiation.
However there’s no question that it has a much more
powerful effect on people when it is more
accurately demonstrated.”
Games reviewer 1
Like many ‘ordinary’ gamers, professionals feel that games are unfairly
singled out for criticism. They point out that there regularly is horrific
violence, vividly depicted, on television.
“Doesn’t media generally desensitise people to
violence?... TV news – a lot of it is about violence and
showing violence. Film as well. But games, for some
reason, has always been a bit of a scapegoat.”
“I routinely come home and turn on the telly at nine and
see things that are unimaginably horrible. I saw a thing
one night, BBC, some serial killer drama... I switched it
on, no warning, there I am and there’s a guy being killed
by being trapped in some kind of medical scanner or
MRI machine. So you are in there with him and it’s
horrifying. The guy killing him is turning everything up to
11 and cooking this guy, whose eyes are filling with blood
and he was screaming and dying. It was absolutely
properly horrifying. I switched it off and sat there
feeling sick thinking – I don’t understand why that is on
television. I don’t understand why that is entertainment...
There is nothing of that intensity in the overwhelming
bulk of games.”
Games reviewer 1
They suspect that video games get a bad press because they are relatively
new, and poorly understood by many in the media and in politics.
“When I was growing up too much TV was bad for me.
For my parents’ generation too much rock and roll was
going to be bad for you. It just seems to be this phase
that everything goes through when it first hits the scene.”
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“Anything new tends to worry people.”
They also share the widespread confidence that gamers know they are only
playing a game...
“It’s about conquering the rules of the game, rather than
going – ‘I’ve shot a man in the head’!”
“The satisfaction is not that you have killed a virtual
person, it’s that you have kind of triumphed against
adversity and beaten the odds and beaten the game.
That’s the excitement.You’re not sitting there gloating that
you have left a trail of bodies behind, you’re pleased that
you’ve beaten that section of the game.”
“I no more feel that I have actually scored a goal than I
do that I have actually killed someone. I know it’s not
real. The emphasis is on achievement.”
... and that they can always differentiate between what’s real and what is not
because they understand that violence in games is code, a structural
component, not real.
“The grammar of the game playing experience is about
what I think I am being asked to do in the game, what I
am being rewarded for doing, how I am being rewarded,
what choice I feel I have, how much choice I actually
have. It’s also about my awareness, as a player, of the
structural components.”
“Even a very bloody and violent game like Sony’s God
of War, which is an epic combat with enormous flame
bladed weapons and demons and human characters
being shredded all over the place, is not violent, in a
sense, because that interaction of killing other characters
is so much a part of the structure of the game that that’s
how I experience it, as part of the structure of the game.”
“There’s a certain genre of game where the game
mechanic means that you are shooting people or
defending yourself or trying to achieve something
through being stronger or tougher than the other guy.
That is violence. It’s not real. People don’t think it’s real.
There is no correlation between gaming and
real violence.”
Professionals quote their own feelings (and those of their friends) to support
their confidence that game violence is not conducive to real violence.
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“I know that playing a lot of violent games hasn’t made
me a violent person. Nearly everyone I know who is a
hardcore gamer, who plays a lot of violent games, has no
violent tendencies whatsoever.”
Games reviewer 1
“I have never encountered anyone who played games
who I ever suspected thought the line between the game
and reality was blurred.”
“I play loads of games and it doesn’t give me
violent tendencies.”
7. Parental concerns
Perhaps unsurprisingly, parents who have played video games usually have
more positive attitudes towards their children playing than parents who have
not. The latter’s alienation often expresses bewilderment. They do not
understand games, cannot play them, and consequently feel excluded – out
of the loop, especially if their children are very committed players. Their
mental set is unsympathetic to gaming in part because of the dissonance
between their children’s absorption and their own ignorance. Unfamiliar with
the challenges and delights of gaming, their tendency is to assume it is just a
waste of time.
“Mine talks about it. He’ll run downstairs and say – ‘I’ve
just bought Ronaldo for £15 million. Where shall I play
him?’ I just think – go away!”
“Normally they think it’s a bad thing because they think
it’s absolutely mindless and isn’t helping me at all.”
Children reciprocate; their parents’ inferior understanding and performance
is treated with contempt.
“I play with my dad.”
IS HE GOOD?
“Rubbish.”
However, it is important, in view of the predominantly negative attitudes
described below, to note that many parents can think of worse things their
children could be doing than playing video games. Games afford parents
occasional peace and quiet, and provide something to occupy groups
of friends.
“On Saturday morning I say to her – ‘go and play on the
computer for an hour whilst I have a lie in’.”
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“When they have friends round and things you are quite
glad to have them go off and play.”
”There is a place for them.”
Many are relieved their children are safe at home playing games rather than
roaming the streets.
“I suppose if the alternative is them wandering the
streets I’d rather they were at home, playing games.”
“I don’t want him walking out on the streets with his
mates. You can’t win. He is sat up there on his computer
or XBox or outside, I would rather him upstairs. Nothing
on TV. I don’t want him to watch Cartoon Network.”
Some parents prefer to see their children involved in a game than lounging in
front of the television.
WOULD IT BE BETTER IF THEY SPEND THAT TIME WATCHING TV?
“No. There’s so much rubbish on the telly now.”
“It’s the same thing. They’re isolated, sitting doing
nothing, not getting fresh air.”
“A lot of these games, there is a strategy and you are
going to think. If you are sitting in front of the TV you’re
not thinking.”
Gp12 Parents who play video games, Radlett
And many are relieved that their children play games rather than surf the
internet, which they associate with graver perils.
“I’m much more worried about the internet.”
“I would prefer her to be sat with her PlayStation than
actually playing things on the computer.”
“I’ve always told my kids – no chat rooms, no this,
no that.”
“Gaming on the internet must be a paedophile’s dream,
to see a million kids all signing in.”
“Yeah. It’s a much bigger worry than sitting on a
PlayStation.”
“I trust my daughter with the games... but the PC is what I
worry about and I will not let her have the door shut
whilst she is on the PC. I worry about other people not
so much her on the computer.”
“Yes, it is the chat rooms that bother me more.”
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7.1 Isolation and unsociability
As noted above, some parents resent their children’s devotion to playing
video games. They complain about the degree of immersion, and of a
consequent loss of basic civility. Keen game players are said not to take
much part in family life.
“They are completely lost in it. They don’t even lift their
heads up. You ask them a question – blank.”
“Yeah. They don’t even look up.”
“He just plays too much. He’s obsessed.”
“It’s always one more thing – ‘I just want to try to get to
this level’.”
“I sometimes would like the boys not to be on their
computer as much and I’d like them to sit and socialise
with us.”
“As soon as he comes in from school he goes on it. He’ll
come down for tea for a few minutes. He’ll do his
homework but now he is addicted, completely. On a
weekend he goes out with his mates.”
With some children, some of the time, parents fear that games are taking the
place of social intercourse. At its worst, they see their children as socially
isolated, relating not to family and friends but to an alternative electronic
world that does not require them to speak, or interact with other people.
“My son is permanently on there... Being in control... He
can do what he wants to do... With the computer he is the
boss and he is in charge and that is what he likes... He is
not getting a life. He is just transfixed. He is like a
zombie and he just walks around in a trance. He just
switches off. He used to be a lovely pleasant little lad
and we don’t have any conversations now. He has no
communication skills... The computer comes on as soon
as he gets in from school and he forgets to eat as well.
He is just in his own little world.”
Gaming, alongside mobile phone texting, is a development that in some
parents’ view inhibits development of language skills.
“Texting, phones, the games – all that sort of thing affects
their vocabulary, very definitely... The art of conversation
is dying big time.”
PD18 Parents (kids 13, 13, 16,17) with concerns Radlett
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It is very difficult to assess how serious these parental concerns are. A few
parents think there may be trouble ahead; they fear that gaming, perhaps in
conjunction with other influences, increases young people’s isolation in ways
that may have regrettable long term consequences.
“You think how many hours a year they’re doing that. You
don’t know how much damage it’s doing to them yet.
Maybe emotionally. Kids are very insular these days,
they’ve lost quite a lot of social skills. And you don’t know
if it’s going to make them more aggressive, or less,
because it’s channelling all their energies into the
games... We haven’t been around long enough to see the
long term effects. It could be a bit scary really.”
The perception that games are ‘unreal’ – about fantasy worlds that do not
exist – sometimes seems to migrate to belief that playing games is
‘unnatural’. Children ought to be out playing with their friends, and children
who get heavily into games are often perceived by their parents as solitary,
even lonely.
“Kids have to be kids and make a mess and scream. I
think it does become lonely for children if they are just
playing on the PlayStation all the time.”
“They can get too lost in it and they stop mixing with
their friends. It hasn’t happened to my kids but it has
happened to friends of mine... They don’t want to know
about the outside world. Just get on with their games
and that’s it.”
One parent in the sample, also a primary school teacher, believes she can
easily identify the children in her class who spend a lot of time playing video
games; they are the wild kids who did not know how to get on with the
others. She clearly associates video games with relatively neglected children
and poor parenting generally.
“You can tell the children who do more things with their
family. They know how to liaise better. The other
children are wee wild things who are just stuck in front of
a telly or a computer.”
It is generally acknowledged that many young people can play video games
and continue to be social beings. It all depends on what sort of child they
are and how immersed in gaming they get. Concern is more often
expressed about boys than girls.
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“My son is very obsessive anyway, about lots of things,
he’s very introverted. He doesn’t make friends easily and
prefers the company of the PlayStation to people,
sometimes. It’s just easier than having to make
conversation. My daughter is very outgoing, never ever
stops talking. She does play on it but for shorter amounts
of time, she’ll get bored after half an hour, whereas he’ll
spend all evening.”
Boys who worry their parents by the degree of their immersion in gaming
seem typically to be in the age range 12 – 15. Over 15, interest in girls
sometimes comes to the rescue.
“My 16 year old son is on it, FIFA 2006, Grand Theft
Auto, all those games. This summer he is just changing,
girls are coming onto the scene and he’s mixing more.”
7.2 A poor use of time
Many parents regret the amount of time their children spend playing video
games because it means they are so often on their own, in front of a screen
and indoors. Video games are associated by many parents with a dark and
cramped existence – both literally and metaphorically.
“My concern was through the summer when it was so
nice. He was in his room then with the curtains drawn.”
“On PS2 my son is so close to the screen, much closer
than what he would be watching TV.”
“I do think that kids should be outside playing. Although
playing on the computer for part of the day won’t do any
harm. I think it should be varied.”
“There’s more to life than computers.”
The feeling that children would be happier and healthier engaged in more
traditional activities, especially outside, is very widespread. Part of what is
being expressed here is antipathy to the new; parents like the idea of their
children enjoying themselves in ways parents understand and can share.
‘Why don’t they put their gumboots on, go into the woods and build a den?’
It is quite common also for parents to assume that video games get in the
way of study or other civilising influences.
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“You imagine that if they weren’t doing that they would
be doing things... that would be more beneficial, like
reading or doing better homework. Homework tends to
be very rushed.”
ANY EVIDENCE HER SCHOOL WORK IS SUFFERING?
“No, but then I don’t know how much better she could do
if she was putting more time in it... if this wasn’t
sidetracking her all the time.”
Video games are rarely regarded by parents as ‘imaginative play’. On the
contrary, the belief commonly seems to be that games constrain rather than
exercise the imagination. Again, it is evident that those parents who reach
this conclusion are not always familiar with what it is like to play video
games, or with the variety of different sorts of games available. Video
games, perceived as new, tend nevertheless to be negatively compared with
traditional amusements rather than with, for example, television.
“Now you never see children... play with a doll, play
houses with the wee boy being the dad and using their
imagination. There’s no imaginative play now, it’s
all computers.”
It seems not to occur to most parents that video games might be enriching
their children’s lives – time well spent. They often hope that interest in
gaming will be supplanted by more sociable and traditional pursuits, and/or
by more conscientious homework.
7.3 Violence and bad behaviour
Some parents recoil from the violence in video games; it seems to them to
be an assault on the innocence of children and self-evidently ‘a bad thing’.
“I think they should be able to enjoy childhood in a
happy carefree way and that is not being naive but that is
how a childhood should be and to me violence breeds
violence and it is just negative, completely negative.”
Bad for children but also incomprehensible as an element in games aimed
at adults.
“These games... what does an 18 year old want to play
them for?... There has to be something lacking in their
lives really if they have to go on and play a violent,
horrific game of killing people. What is the sense
in that?”
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Parents are quite often taken by surprise by violence in the games
children enjoy.
“I didn’t realise the amount of violence in Grand Theft
Auto and then, in front of my mum, he’s (13 year old) got
hold of a knife and he’s stabbing someone. It was so
embarrassing and my parents are like – ‘you shouldn’t let
him have things like that’.”
The degree to which they are thoughtful about this issue varies. Often
parents rely on a gut reaction of the sort, ‘this cannot be right!’, but some do
go on to qualify first impressions by considering the violence in its
gaming context.
“My nephew had something, not Grand Theft Auto... I
did go up and have a look and someone got their head
cut off and it was just horrific! Then someone put a spear
or something through someone’s head and their eye
came out. It was really really gory. He seemed to be
oblivious to the violence of it because his primary thing
was to win... My perception was that the violence was
really secondary to the goal of the game. But I was
surprised at how graphic it was.”
It seems quite common for parents to assume, once they know about it, that
violence is central to the appeal of games. The assumption is that the
violence supplies tension and excitement.
“The other (strategy/fantasy) games are too boring.
Once they’ve mastered something it’s boring, whereas
the shooting games (sustain interest).”
“It’s got to be something that’s going to scare them to get
that thrill or that buzz.”
“They get the buzz from doing what they can’t do in
real life.”
The media has of course speculated about an association between the
violence in games and violence in real life, and this association is in many
parents’ minds when the subject comes up. Some appear to have concerns
that delinquent behaviour generally may be encouraged by its prevalence in
games, especially amongst young people who play obsessively.
“It is going to be addictable for some children. Not all
children but some kids think that that is life and that is
what life is all about. Joy riding and pinching cars and it
becomes reality if you play it that much I think.”
“You hear of kids in America who take guns and go
and shoot people because they have seen it on
PlayStation games.”
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A consideration for some parents is the capacity of video games to inspire
imitation. It is said that children who play games imitate the language in
them and are introduced to bad language.
“They talk like gangsters after they have played. All
these new words that come out of them.”
“My daughter starts shouting in an American accent.”
“A lot of them get a lot of things from computers, in
violence and the way they speak. I think it’s wrong.”
There are parents who believe that some children imitate behaviour also.
“In school I don’t think the children now know how to
liaise with other children unless they’re fighting and
being violent... There’s a lot of fighting, punching and
things, and that’s certain games they have at home.
Wrestling games and different things... Kids do
something and go ‘But I saw that on my PlayStation... I
seen it on my computer, it’s a game’...
‘Why did you punch him like that?’ ‘That’s on my
computer game’....‘It’s a game, why can’t we play it’?”
However, whilst some parents think young children may well attempt to
imitate karate kicks and the like, there is widespread scepticism about the
capacity of video games to foment serious violence. If there are people who
play video games and then go out and kill people, this is not the fault of
the games.
“They’re always saying about the people who go and
shoot, say, a load of college kids and it’s because they’ve
seen a film or they’ve seen it on whatever game it is. But
you have to be an extreme kind of person to be able to
do it.”
”If you’ve got a bit of sense then I don’t think they do you
any harm.”
“I don’t think that a normal child is going to turn into
some monster because they watched a video game.
When you hear that they watched this and then they went
out and did this, there was something fundamentally
wrong with the child before they watched the video
game. I think a child who is a little bit unbalanced could
be triggered.”
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The feeling is that people who commit serious acts of violence are not
normal; games may have regrettable consequences for them but not for the
generality of people.
“I think it might put ideas into their head. But I don’t think
it would make the child do it if it were a sound child.”
“It’s down to the person playing it to know it’s not real. If
there’s someone who doesn’t understand the difference
between the fantasy world and the real world then
obviously you’ve got a problem.”
Many parents note that violence is common in films and on television and go
on to say that they do not see why games should be singled out as an
especially bad influence.
“They see a lot worse things on the news.”
“I think if they are going to be violent, they will
be violent.”
“Yeah, and it could be violence on telly or whatever. I
think that violence is in them.”
“It is no worse than watching violent videos and films.
Things have happened in real life where people watch
violent films and gone out and done terrible things.”
On this evidence, it seems to be rare for parents to consider games as a
special case because they are interactive. A few worry about this, and also
about repetition – the fact that, whereas a film is usually only seen once or
twice, very similar scenes from games may be played night after night.
“Video games are probably worse because they’re
repeated all the time.”
“And they are interacting with it and taking part in it,
whereas something like Hostel... it’s a bit more removed.
You are watching people on screen. You are sat here,
they are there. You are not taking part... But with the
games they can get very involved... With a game you are
leading the action.”
“If I watch a good film with a good story and a bit of
violence then it doesn’t make me violent. But it could do
if I watched it night in night out.”
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Some parents are certain their children easily distinguish the violence in
games from ‘real’ violence. They also believe their children are ‘normal’ –
not potential psychopaths. These two convictions give them confidence that
however distasteful video game violence may be, it is not going to have
tragic consequences.
“It is the way you bring your children up at the end of the
day. I don’t think any amount of videogames as far as my
kids are concerned will alter them. They aren’t going to
buy guns and shoot people on the street because they
know it isn’t real.”
However many believe that there is a need for regulation of video games and
also for careful parental supervision (see also Section 8).
“It’s quite frightening... Chopping people’s heads off. I
don’t think it’s very nice for a six year old. But that’s up to
the parents, they should be controlling what games
they play.”
7.4 Cost
Many parents complain about how expensive consoles and games are.
They quote costs of £40 and £50 per game, and say that their children get
through games at a frightening rate. In part because they are not involved as
their children are, parents are liable to fear being exploited by games
producers and others. There are complaints that ‘cheats’ are released on the
internet in order to speed up completion of games and that this damages
value for money.
“They release the cheats so that you get through the
game quicker and want to buy another game.”
“My son actually rang up Paypal and paid something like
£8 to buy some extra weapons and I was livid. But he
said he could play it better now.”
As already noted, the cost of games in some households is mitigated by
trading or renting. A few parents were in favour of subscription internet
games on the grounds that they worked out cheaper. A game like
RuneScape was said to cost £3 or £4 a month, but was never completed and
this compared well with a £40 or £50 game that might typically have a life of
a month or so.
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7.5 Other concerns
7.5.1 Sex
Many parents, as already noted, are frightened of the web. They fear
‘stranger danger’ – that paedophiles or other sexual predators may somehow
make contact with their children.
Video games do not alarm parents to any comparable degree. Games
played against the computer do not have any potential for contact with
strangers. Those parents with children who play games over the net seem
content that exchanges are sufficiently constrained by the game structure that
there is no reason to worry.
Many parents seem unaware that games like Grand Theft Auto have a
sexual content. Often it seems not to have occurred to them as something to
worry about, perhaps because they feel confident it would not be allowed.
“My parents know I play it (GTA), but they don’t know
what’s in the game... that you can get prostitutes in your
car and stuff.”
“Your mum and dad think that you know less than you
actually know.”
If they become aware of any sexual content, many parents are disturbed.
They fear that it may lead to loss of innocence, or promulgate sexual attitudes
and practices of which they disapprove.
“A lot of these games will be about killing. I was more
worried about the sexual violence, that they would see
women in a different light, through a computer game. I
had quite a long talk with both of them about that.”
It may be worth noting briefly that some professionals feel that sex is
conspicuously absent from video games.
“If games were really made by 20 year old boys for 15
year old boys, as some people argue, then we’d see a lot
more sex than we do.”
Games reviewer 1
They feel it might be better if there was more sex and less violence, though
on this evidence few parents would agree.
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7.5.2 Health
A few parents worry about their children’s eyes, especially those children
who sit very close to the screen. There is occasional mention also of
prolonged sessions producing sore hands or wrists.
“Sometimes they have a headache or they complain their
hands or wrists are sore and I think it’s because they’re
on the computer too long.”
Otherwise, most parents consider that any health penalties of playing video
games a lot result from being stuck virtually immobile indoors instead of
being out taking exercise.
8. Supervision and regulation
8.1 Parental supervision
Many parents, including many who are gamers themselves, attempt to limit
the amount of time their children devote to video games.
“I try and limit it – an hour a night.”
“I limit my 10 year old to one hour a day playing a game.
He would basically play until he fell asleep then wake up
and play again.”
“I make him turn it off. ‘That is enough now!... He
gets headaches.’”
Some find that their children react badly to this parental interference.
“It seems to me it’s the challenge (that is gripping)... I do
try and get them off. They’re in a completely different
world, they get really angry if I try to get them off halfway
through a game or a challenge. Really angry.”
And that they have difficulty imposing effective limits because their children
play in friends’ houses.
“If you stop them they would just go to someone
else’s house.”
Some parents also feel that limiting time spent on games does not achieve
much if their children just watch television instead.
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“My daughter has had it taken off her a few times but
then she just goes and watches TV.”
Many see the amount of time devoted to games as the problem, rather than
the content of specific games. This is often because they are unfamiliar with
that content.
“Parents are a bit naive towards computer games...
My mum thinks that computer games is still Mario
jumping up.”
In some cases, parents do not know about, or understand, the regulatory
classification system. Some of these parents have never had a video game
box in their hand, or, if they have, have not noticed any classification on it.
Children are said to try and dupe their parents into believing that the
classification resembles that on other sorts of games and is intended to give
an indication of required skill levels. In this research we did not encounter
any parents who believed them.
“I say to my son – ‘well that says 15 and you can’t play it’.
And they say – ‘no mum... that 15 means ability’. I think
he is trying to pull the wool over my eyes.”
However it is quite common for parents to believe that the classification
system is not taken seriously by retailers or other parents (see also
Section 8.2).
Some parents do of course try and prevent their children accessing age-
inappropriate games. Few feel confident they succeed. Sometimes a
mother’s restrictions will be frustrated by the father.
“My mum doesn’t like my brother playing violent games
but my dad will give him a game and tell him – ‘there
you go’. He doesn’t see it as harmful.”
“My sister bought it (GTA) for my son for his 15th
birthday... He’s played it to death. My husband played it
and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. He just
said – ‘it’s a game. You’re overreacting’. I did make a
fuss at the beginning then I let it go.”
Or children will access a game that is in the house because one of their
parents plays it.
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“They like Vice City which I try to put my foot down
about because there’s too much gore.”
HOW DID THEY GET HOLD OF IT?
“I’ve got it myself and they go on it.”
More commonly, a child denied a game at home will play it at a friend’s or
relative’s house.
“That Grand Theft Auto has prostitutes and all kinds. I
told him he was not going to get that but every single
house he went to had it.”
“Resident Evil... full of zombies charging you and
you have to kill them all. I was scared by that when I
was about seven. It’s an 18 game but it was in my
cousin’s house.”
Parents are often defeatist, believing that any restriction they impose will be
frustrated by other parents or by retailers. Gamers confirm that restrictions
are widely ignored (see also next section).
“I don’t think you will ever be able to regulate things.”
“They will find a way.”
“Yeah, or their friend will have it.”
“A lot of the games have ratings, like 18, but it’s not
really enforced.”
“You can’t really regulate anything these days.
If a kid wants to get a game that’s classified, they’ll
get it anyway.”
WOULD IT BE DESIRABLE TO REGULATE THEM IF YOU COULD?
“Definitely.”
Many parents seem to be inhibited about exercising authority in this area.
Ignorance of the territory is one factor affecting perception of the need for
discipline and also confidence imposing it. There is a degree of resignation
in many parents’ accounts; they’re tentative, far from adamant, seemingly
reluctant to stand up to their kids.
“They still played it (GTA) but I warned them that I
wasn’t happy with the content. You have to give them a
little bit of leeway.”
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“I was a bit reluctant for her (she’s 13) to have GTA
because I find some of them a bit violent. It’s peer
pressure as well; you tend to do it (buy games) against
your better judgement.”
“Doom 3... I said to him that I wasn’t sure he should be
playing that and he said – if I get all my violent urges out
on here I’ve no desire to go and do it elsewhere’.”
8.2 Regulation
There is widespread agreement that some regulation of video games is
needed. The emphasis falls on protecting the young, and games players are
prominent amongst those insistent on the need to control access to some
games. GTA is the example quoted most frequently.
“There should be an age limit on them. There shouldn’t
be eight year olds playing with this stuff.”
“There is loads of swearing in it (GTA) and stuff... I
personally wouldn’t let my kid play.”
“I think they should still have certificates on games. I
wouldn’t want kids of nine or 10 playing a game where
they can go around shooting people and having sex with
prostitutes... Kids get addicted to games and they might
grow up thinking that is the right thing to do.”
Regulation is needed not least because parents cannot be expected to play
games themselves and come to their own judgements.
“They should be (regulated) because I don’t think I could
be bothered to play a whole game to check if there’s
anything in it that’s unsuitable for my kids.”
Professionals believe there is some potential for harm if young children
become immersed in games designed for adults. They agree there is a
need for a classification system.
“I think there’s a grey area where young people who are
developing can be hugely influenced by games and can
play them for long periods of time etc, and I think they
can be influenced by that content. That’s why we have
classification: it has to be controlled.”
Some gamers and professionals believe that technological developments,
and especially improvement in graphics, will make regulation steadily
more essential.
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“I think it’s going to become more of an issue as games
become more realistic. They weren’t realistic enough to
be a threat but now they are. It’s almost like watching a
film, the graphics are that good.”
It is noticeable that whilst many gamers and their parents agree that there is
a need for regulation, they often attribute that need to other people rather
than themselves or their families. Individual gamers rarely see themselves as
at risk or damaged by age-inappropriate content.
“It depends on the person watching. I was desensitised
at a very young age. By five or six I was allowed to get
any film, anything I wanted. I was never worried. It never
did anything to me. As long as you are brought up with
good morals and know what is right and wrong in the
real world, it don’t matter what you watch.”
Professionals confirm this; people agree there should be regulation but do
not see themselves or their children as bound by it.
“There’s a BBFC 18 on the box and most people know
that means it’s adult – for 18+. But there is a perception
in some quarters that it refers to everyone except my son
or child... How do you get across the fact that we think
your child should not be playing it?”
Professionals also point out that the newest consoles enable parents to block
age-inappropriate videos. None of the parents who took part in the research
referred to this capability.
“The technology should become the parents’ friend,
because both PS3 and Xbox 360, it’s comparatively easy
for parents to just click one button telling the machine it
can’t play anything over 15 or 18 rating.”
“Yeah. The 360 has a lock built in, the parental lock. The
kid can’t turn it on, it has a password.”
Nobody seems to feel that there is a clear need to adapt or fine tune the
basis of current classifications. As already noted, many parents have scant
familiarity with it, but the logic of having age-appropriate labelling on the film
model is usually agreed. A few parents and gamers want to argue that age is
a less important factor than upbringing.
“I can understand why they are there and I agree with it
but I don’t think that they stick to it as much as possible
and a lot of it is not to do with the age of the person but
the mentality of a person.”
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“It depends on who you are and how you have been
bought up. I remember finding a demo (of GTA) when I
was nine or ten and that is probably what made me carry
on buying the series, but I am not now stealing cars and
shooting people. You are impressionable but there is a
limit. It has got to be based on upbringing as well.”
And a few want to ‘interpret’ age guidelines rather than simply apply them.
“I always look to see the age and I just assume that if it’s
got an 18 rating it’s not suitable for my 13 year old
daughter. So if she brought one home it would go
back again.”
BUT WITH A 15 YEAR OLD YOU’D THINK IT WOULD BE ALL RIGHT?
“There’s a big difference between a 15 year old watching
an 18 and a 12 or 13 watching an 18.”
“Yeah. And for a 13 year old to watch a 15 is not so bad
as a 10 year old watching a 15 year old thing.”
Professionals do not always agree that games have been given precisely the
right classification. However it is noticeable that professionals appear to be
significantly more careful that their children abide by the classification than
are gamers and parents in general.
“There are a couple of 3+ games that I don’t think are
suitable for him (he’s seven), and a couple of games that
are 12+ that I think are suitable... There’s a game called
Need for Speed, a street car racing game rated 3+. I
think it’s a glamorisation of crime and there’s a female
character, shot in video, who I find too sexualised for a
3+ audience...
But I use the ratings almost without thought and it is very
rare that I would question them. And I educated them
about that before they actually started playing games, so
my eldest would be uncomfortable playing a 12+ game.”
It does not seem that many parents fear that classification of video games is
counter-productive because it encourages children to aspire to own and play
games classified as too old for them. Inevitably when they talk about playing
18+ games young boy gamers are more proud than abashed, but
researchers did not get the impression that having classifications had much
incentive effect on young children. The reputation of particular games, based
on their content, seemed to count for much more than the classification
per se.
“It (GTA) was the game to have... I just think she (13 year
old) had this idea that how cool would she be if she was
the one that got it.”
103

In general, professionals think the classification system is appropriate and
well run.
“The BBFC do about the best job anywhere in the world.
We don’t have the double standards you see so much in
the US, particularly to do with sex and violence.”
Games reviewer 1
The problem identified is less with the nature of the classification system,
more with compliance/enforcement. Some professionals think that the
classification needs to be more prominent on the box, and/or that there
needs to be advertising to improve parental awareness.
“I’ve been playing Call of Duty online and the amount of
kids who aren’t 15 on it is horrifying... I just think parents
are ignorant of the classification on the box… Has there
been any public awareness advertising?”
Many parents and gamers believe the classifications are not taken as
seriously as those applied to films, videos and DVDs. They say they are
widely ignored.
THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM?
“Well it doesn’t work does it?”
“The parents go out and buy the games anyway.”
“The rules on selling games are not as strong as the
rules on selling videos and DVDs.”
“Grand Theft Auto and all that. You can get your hands
on them easy. Shops will sell them to you.”
“It doesn’t occur to anyone... In the computer game
shops they will sell you an 18 game.”
“It doesn’t do anything.”
“It doesn’t mean nothing. I was buying video games at
15 from HMV... My little brother can get away with it and
he’s 14... If he doesn’t get it off me he’ll get it off some
one else.”
Many gamers in the sample had played games classified as suitable only for
significantly older children.
104

“There was one where you were kick boxing and you
ripped the guy’s head off... Mortal Combat.”
how old were you when you were playing that?
“10 or 12.”
And many parents had supplied inappropriate games.
“My mum and dad took me out and we got it (GTA San
Andreas) at Christmas.
“I send my mum in shops to buy.”
“We bought him GTA when he was almost 10.”
“I didn’t have a clue what Grand Theft Auto was about
but I had heard so many people talking about and saying
how shocking it was, and the swearing and things, and I
must admit I bought it for him (12 year old).”
If the classification of video games is indeed less vigorously enforced than
film/DVD classifications, part of the explanation must lie with parents. When
they are interviewed in research many parents seem to agree on the need for
a system. In practice, many do not make any effort to enforce it. It is not
entirely clear why this should be; a number of factors are relevant.
The video game classification system is recessive relative to that applicable
to film for a number of reasons. Most parents have not themselves grown up
noticing game classifications. Many are less familiar with the content of
video games than with that of films and therefore have fewer/weaker
convictions. Some parents unreflectingly trust the category; a game is only a
game. When they are buying games, some are like illiterates in libraries and
they focus on what their children say they want, ignoring content. Many
parents feel more vulnerable to pressure from their children in relation to
games than films because they are so much more ignorant about games.
Some may well feel that classification of games is less important than
classification of filmed material because they are more concerned about sex
than about violence and assume that sex is not an issue with games. They
may come to the same view because, as their children report, a game is
‘only a graphic’ and therefore less real and less ‘scary’ (see also above
Section 6.3).
105

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the film is a 12A,
the game is 7+. The games aren’t as scary as the films. If
you have watched the film you feel scared whereas if you
play the game, you can compare how much scarier the
film is.”
Some professionals seem to feel a degree of frustration that allegations of
bad taste are levelled at the games industry, yet the classification system is
not about matters of taste.
“When Keith Vaz, for example, is talking about taste,
nowhere in the guidelines or parameters that have been
set by either PEGI or BBFC is taste mentioned. What is
taste?... It is very difficult.”
106

The British Board of Film
Classification
3 Soho Square
London W1D 3HD
Tel. 020 7440 1570
Fax.020 7287 0141
www.bbfc.co.uk
bbfcBritish Board of Film Classification

Crd 2007 videogames

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