Nonviolent video game

Despite the inconclusive nature of the scientific results, a number of groups have rejected violent video games as offensive and have promoted the development of non-violent alternatives.

[2] This was built upon in the early 1980s in an anti-video-game crusade spearheaded by the former Long Island PTA president, Ronnie Lamm, who spoke about her cause on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in December 1982.

It was not until graphic capabilities increased and a wave of new ultra-violent titles were released in the early 1990s that the mainstream news began to pay significant attention to the phenomenon.

A great deal of discussion of violence in video games followed this event with strong arguments made on both sides, and research into the phenomenon which had begun during the 1980s received renewed support and interest.

Similarly, in the US Congress and the legislatures of states and other countries, a number of legislative actions have been taken to mandate rating systems and to curb the distribution of violent video games.

In 1997, Christian conservative[19] activist and (now former) attorney Jack Thompson brought suit against Atari, Nintendo, Sega, and Sony Computer Entertainment on behalf of the victims of 1997 Heath High School shooting in James v. Meow Media.

The suit was dismissed in 2000, absolving the companies of responsibility for the shooter's actions based on a lack of remedy under Kentucky tort law.

The IDSA cited the 7th Circuit case of American Amusement Machine Association v. Kendrick[23] as precedent suggesting that video game content was a form of freedom of expression, however in 2002 the Eastern District Court of Missouri ultimately issued the controversial ruling that "video games are not a form of expression protected by the First Amendment" in Interactive Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County.

In 2004, this statute was subsequently declared an unconstitutional violation of the first amendment right to free speech in the Federal District Court case of Video Software Dealers Ass'n v.

[30] In 2005, Jack Thompson brought suit against Sony Computer Entertainment and Grand Theft Auto in representation of the victims of the Devin Moore shooting incident.

Jack Thompson appeared in court to defend his pro hac vice right to practice law in Alabama, following accusations that he violated legal ethics.

[35] In 2005, in reaction to such controversial games as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Senator Hillary Clinton along with Senators Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh, introduced the Family Entertainment Protection Act (S.2126), intended to protect children from inappropriate content found in video games by imposing a federal mandate for inclusion of ESRB ratings.

[38] Regarding Grand Theft Auto, Lieberman has stated, "The player is rewarded for attacking a woman, pushing her to the ground, kicking her repeatedly and then ultimately killing her, shooting her over and over again.

"[39] In June 2006, the Louisiana case of Entertainment Software Association v. Foti struck down a state statute that sought to bar minors from purchasing video games with violent content.

The act would require the ESRB to have access to the full content of and hands-on time with the games it was to rate, rather than simply relying on the video demonstrations submitted by developers and publishers.

Video game rating boards exist in a number of countries, typically placing restrictions (suggested or under force of law) for content that is violent or sexual in nature.

[42] Table of violence ratings A number of studies have been conducted specifically analyzing the differences between male and female preference in video game styles.

[50] Ultimately, the conclusion reached in Grand Theft Childhood was that "focusing on such easy but minor targets as violent video games causes parents, social activists and public-policy makers to ignore the much more powerful and significant causes of youth violence that have already been well established, including a range of [non-gender-linked] social, behavioral, economic, biological and mental-health factors.

[48] Notable anti-violent-video-game crusader, former attorney Jack Thompson is a self proclaimed Christian conservative,[19] and his legal actions against violent video games have been intimately linked to his religious views.

[56][57][58]) Similarly, James Dobson, PhD., founder of the Focus on the Family group, has advised parents in relation to video games to "avoid the violent ones altogether.

Games such as Revelation 7 and Xibalba, for instance, have attempted to avoid claims of violence by using "off the wall" absurdist humor with enemies such as flying, bat-winged clown heads (modeled after the biblical Jezebel) that shoot rays out of their nose, or alien Nazis (a mocking reference to Raëlian religious beliefs)[60] Other Christian FPS games such as Eternal War have avoided the issue by expressing the view that justified violence is morally acceptable.

Ralph Bagley began production on Catechumen, a Christian first-person game produced by N'Lightening Software involving holy swords instead of guns.

[64] In My Hindu Shooter, a game based on the Unreal Engine, the player employs the Vedic abilities of astrology, Ayurvedic healing, breathing (meditation), herbalism, Gandharva Veda music, architecture (which let you purify demonic areas) and yagyas (rituals).

Gameplay involved acquisition of the siddhis of clairvoyance, levitation, invisibility, shrinking and strength, and the ultimate goal of the game was to achieve pure consciousness by removing karma through completion of quests and cleansing the six chakras in ascending order.

Despite the violence-free requirements of the main character, however, a player could die and be reincarnated in a number of different forms like a human, a pig, a dog, or a worm.

In January 2007, artist Chris Nelson produced a non-violent art game called The Seven Valleys which he exhibited during the ACSW conference at the University of Ballarat.

[80] Non-profit organization Heartseed set out to produce several non-violent games, drawing inspiration from a claimed agreement between several religions under the sign of nonviolence: "Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism and others, – because throughout all of them can be found a common thread of decency meant to propel us toward spiritual enlightenment".

Many traditional gameplay genres naturally lack violence and application of the term "non-violent video games" to titles that fall under these categories raises no questions regarding accuracy.

This has led such categorization to be viewed with mistrust, hostility, and mockery[83] by those who fail to recognize the comparative nature of the definition or who disagree fundamentally with the underlying purpose of the genre.

This has led to support for the development of action games that are non-violent which will allow players to retain the positive visual processing benefits without the negatives associated with violence.