How to Talk about Games, Today
Moral Panic and Misunderstanding
Lindsay Grace
Knight Chair, University of Miami

We’ve been here in the pastComic Books

“I think Hitler was abeginner compared to thecomic-book industry,”- psychiatrist Frederic WerthamWidely debatedComic books as the source ofJuvenile Delinquency

Comic books were dangerous

At some point,
all leisure seems subject to moral panic

Sport
The Puritans “accepted the King James Bible,
but they had the common hangman burn theBook of Sports, in which James I commended
the games to be played after Sunday serviceSports illustrated, 1962A guide to Sunday
sports and recreations

A guide to Sunday
sports and recreations
Publicly burned inEngland, 1643

Sport was evil and dangerous

Class, religious,and ideologicaltensions of leisurefrom 1780-1880

Travel, Music, Racing:
Linked toanti-social behavior

Dungeons and Dragons

Dungeons and Dragons“a fantasy role-playing game which uses demonology,
witchcraft, voodoo, murder, rape, blasphemy, suicide,assassination, insanity, sex perversion, homosexuality,
prostitution, satanic type rituals, gambling, barbarism,
cannibalism, sadism, desecration, demon summoning,
necromantics, divination and other teachings”

“It is a way of letting tension and anxieties loose .. But subjecting themind to the amounts of violence involved isn't. It is far more badthan it is good. Especially to a young mind. And an 18 or 20 year old
still has a young mind. Its effects are both mental and physical. It isin comparison to drugs, alcohol or tobacco. It is very possessive,addictive and evil. Evil may sound wrong or peculiar to explain agame, but there is no other way to describe it. It is a device of Satan
to lure us away from God. It is an occult.”- The “Darren Molitor” letter, 1985

D & D was addictive and inspired violenceThe founding of BADD: Pat Pulling

Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (1983)

The founding of BADD: Pat Pulling

Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (1983)

The founding of BADD: Pat Pulling

Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (1983)
Director:
National Coalition on TV ViolenceThe founding of BADD: Pat Pulling

Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons (1983)
Director:
National Coalition on TV Violence

Earned support of US Surgeon GeneralTelevision

40+years

TV and aggression research

Eron, L. D., Huesmann, L. R., Lefkowitz, M. M., & Walder, L. O.
(1972). Does television violence cause aggression? American
Psychologist, 27(4), 253-263.

“3rd graders who preferred violent TV programs
were rated more aggressive in school by peers. In
a 10-year follow-up . . . [it] was even morestrongly related to aggression 10 years later. ”

PAIK, H., & COMSTOCK, G. (1994). The Effects of Television Violence
on Antisocial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis1. Communication
Research, 21(4), 516–546.

“We find a positive and significant correlation
between television violence and aggressive
behavior”

Science proves television fosters aggression?

“ Mean effect sizes from aggregate andexperimental studies do not suggest thatmedia violence and criminal aggression
are positively associated, but findings fromprospective longitudinal studies are moreambiguous”
Savage, J., & Yancey, C. (2008). The effects of media violence exposure on
criminal aggression: A meta-analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(6),772-791.

No link between Violence and TV●Kaplan, R. M., & Singer, R. D. (1976). Television violence and viewer
aggression: A reexamination of the evidence. Journal of Social Issues, 32(4),35-70.

●Freedman, J. L. (1984). Effect of television violence on
aggressiveness. Psychological bulletin, 96(2), 227.

●

Savage, J., & Yancey, C. (2008). The effects of media violence exposure on
criminal aggression: A meta-analysis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35(6),772-791.

February 2002

“Most of the criteria ofsubstance dependence canapply to people who watch alot of TV.”
-Robert Kubey & Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

TV is the Dominant Leisure Time Activity

39%of leisure timein 19 countries
https://www.oecd.org/berlin/42675407.pdf

Meta-analysis “results suggest there is a smaller
effect of violent video games on aggression
than has been found with television violenceon aggression. “Sherry, J. L. (2001). The effects of violent video games onaggression: A meta-analysis. Human communication research, 27(3),409-431.

GamesOne way to talk:Remind people of ourworldwide political past with leisureThe dangerous game ofpitting leisure against

morality

Leisure is politicalLeisure is political
Attacking Leisure is an opportunity to chipat culture

Attacking Leisure is an opportunity to chipat culture
and enforce your own culture

“psychiatrists, politicians, andeditorial writers feared themost extreme comic books –filled with crooks, monsters,and voluptuous women –would drive innocent children
into the clutches of juvenile
delinquency.”

"Comic books . . . attracted a highquotient of creative people whothought of more established modesof publishing as foreclosed to them"David Hajdu

Attacking games mirrors pastattacks on leisureIn an era of declining leisureMaybe, we should not attack leisureWe should ask about the root of our discordLike TV, it’s going to take a long time todetermine Aggression, Addiction link

Games don’t need to be burned,

to be erased.

Erasing our cultural contribution
is often much easierOn games, censorship and bansGrace,L. 2011. Discomfort
Design: Critical
Reflection throughUncomfortable Play, 17thInternational Symposiumon Electronic Art (ISEA),
Istanbul, Turkey

Thanks for listening!
Lindsay Grace
Knight Chair of Interactive Media
University of Miami, School of Communication
Vice President, Higher Education Video Game Alliance

ProfessorGrace.com