Mortal Kombat: Can video games cause violence?
This case study examines if video games contribute to violent behavior. With games like the Mortal Kombat series and Street Fighter series if they can lead to violent or aggressive behavior, Mortal Kombat is known for its graphic combat and "fatality" finishing moves, the game has been at the center of debates about media consumption The study reviews psychological research and concludes that while such games may increase short term aggression, there is no strong evidence that they directly cause real world violence. Other social and environmental factors play a more significant role in shaping the consumer's behavior.
Released in August of 1992, Mortal Kombat has been controversial since the beginning of its life due to its graphic depictions of violence. Its popularity has raised concerns among parents, educators and policy makers about its potential influence on its users, especially younger users.
This case study aims to investigate whether playing video games like Mortal Kombat and Tekken contributes to aggressive behavior or if these concerns are overstated and oversaturated, The news and media have been constantly blaming video games for violence, like a game from 1976 "death race" was criticized by the media for having the user run over stick figures.
The central issue is whether repeated exposure to violent gameplay in Mortal Kombat can lead to increased aggression or real life violent actions among its users.
Mortal Kombat was developed by Midway Games and later continued by NetherRealm Studios. The game gained significant attention for its realistic digitized graphics and finishing moves known as "fatalities" where characters defeat opponents in a gory dramatic manner. Due to its violent content, Mortal Kombat played a major role in the creation of Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which now assigns age ratings to video games. Over time, the franchise garnered a wide audience and has become popular among the youth and older, with millions of players worldwide playing, despite ongoing debates about its effects on behavior
Stated in the American Psychological Association (APA) that video games do not cause violence but only short term aggressive thoughts and emotions, but not criminal behavior, while Mortal Kombat can temporarily increase aggressive reactions (frustration/competitiveness) there is no consistent evidence that it causes serious violence, on Oxford Internet Institute the findings suggest that there is no correlation with playing video games like Mortal Kombat and aggressive behavior in its users, it is emphasized that this does not mean that some mechanics and situations in gaming do not provoke frustration or competitiveness 'Anecdotally, you do see things such as trash-talking, competitiveness and trolling in gaming communities that could qualify as antisocial behaviour,' - Przybylski.
This case study concludes that while Mortal Kombat contains violent content that may influence short-term emotions, most players understand the clear divide between games and real life, it is not a direct cause of real-world violence, behavior is shaped by a complex combination of personal, social and environmental factors. Understanding this helps shift the focus toward more meaningful solutions rather than placing blames on Mortal Kombat or other violent video games.
References/Sources
Violent video games found not to be associated with adolescent aggression | Oxford University
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