15,333
Views
68
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

How Violent Video Games Communicate Violence: A Literature Review and Content Analysis of Moral Disengagement Factors

References

  • Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). The effects of media violence on society. Science, 295, 2377–2379. doi:10.1126/science.1070765
  • Anderson, C. A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N., Swing, E. L., Bushman, B. J., Sakamoto, A., & Saleem, M. (2010). Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in Eastern and Western countries. Psychological Bulletin, 136, 151–173. doi:10.1037/a0018251
  • Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31, 101–119. doi:10.1080/0305724022014322
  • Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364–374. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.364
  • Beasley, B., & Standley, T. C. (2002). Shirts vs. skins: Clothing as an indicator of gender role stereotyping in video games. Mass Communication & Society, 5, 279–293. doi:10.1207/S15327825MCS0503_3
  • Besmann, A., & Rios, K. (2012). Pals in power armor: Attribution of human-like emotions to video game characters in an ingroup/outgroup situation. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 15, 441–443. doi:10.1089/cyber.2012.0111
  • Braun, C., & Giroux, J. (1989). Arcade video games: Proxemic, cognitive and content analyses. Journal of Leisure Research, 21, 92–105.
  • Castillo, F. (2009). Playing by the rules: Applying international humanitarian law to video and computer games. Zurich: Pro Juventute. Retrieved from http://trialch.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Evenements_et_manifestations/Playing_by_the_Rule.pdf
  • Dietz, T. L. (1998). An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. Sex Roles, 38, 425–442. doi:10.1023/A:1018709905920
  • Dill, K., Gentile, D., Richter, W., & Dill, J. (2005). Violence, sex, race and age in popular videogames. In E. Cole & J. Daniel (Eds.), Featuring females: Feminist analysis of the media (pp. 115–130). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
  • Elson, M., & Ferguson, C. F. (2014). Twenty-five years of research on violence in digital games and aggression. European Psychologist, 19(1), 47–55. doi:10.1027/1016-9040/a000147
  • Entertainment Software Association. (2012). Essential facts about the computer and video game industry. Retrieved from http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp
  • Fischer, P., Kastenmuller, A., & Greitemeyer, T. (2010). Media violence and the self: The impact of personalized gaming characters in aggressive video games on aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 192–195. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2009.06.010
  • Gabbiadini, A., Andrighetto, L., & Volpato, C. (2012). Brief report: Does exposure to violent video games increase moral disengagement among adolescents? Journal of Adolescence, 35, 1403–1406. doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2012.06.001
  • Gollwitzer, M., & Melzer, A. (2012). Macbeth and the joystick: Evidence for moral cleansing after playing a violent video game. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1356–1360. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2012.07.001
  • Greitemeyer, T., & McLatchie, N. (2011). Denying humanness to others: A newly discovered mechanism by which violent video games increase aggressive behavior. Psychological Science, 22, 659–665. doi:10.1177/0956797611403320
  • Haninger, K., Ryan, M. S., & Thompson, K. M. (2004). Violence in teen-rated video games. Medscape General Medicine, 6. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/468087
  • Haninger, K., & Thompson, K. M. (2004). Content and ratings of teen-rated video games. Journal of the American Medical Association, 291, 856–865. doi:10.1001/jama.291.7.856
  • Hartmann, T. (2012). Moral disengagement during exposure to media violence: Would it feel right to shoot an innocent civilian in a video game? In R. Tamborini (Ed.), Media and the moral mind (pp. 109–131). New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Hartmann, T., Toz, E., & Brandon, M. (2010). Just a game? Unjustified virtual violence produces guilt in empathetic players. Media Psychology, 14, 339–363. doi:10.1080/15213269.2010.524912
  • Hartmann, T., & Vorderer, P. (2010). It's okay to shoot a character: Moral disengagement in violent video games. Journal of Communication, 60, 94–119. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01459.x
  • Hayes, A. F., & Krippendorff, K. (2007). Answering the call for a standard reliability measure for coding data. Communication Methods and Measures, 1, 77–89. doi:10.1080/19312450709336664
  • Heintz-Knowles, K., Henderson, J., Glaubke, C., Miller, P., Parker, M. A., & Espejo, E. (2001). Fair play? Violence, gender and race in videogames. Oakland, CA: Children Now.
  • Hern, A. (2013, September 18). Grand Theft Auto 5 under fire for graphic torture scene. Retrieved from www.theguardian.com
  • Ivory, J. D., Williams, D., Martins, N., & Consalvo, M. (2009). Good clean fun? A content analysis of profanity in video games and its prevalence across game systems and ratings. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 12, 457–460. doi:10.1089/cpb.2008.0337
  • Klimmt, C., Roth, C., Vermeulen, I., Vorderer, P., & Roth, F. S. (2012). Forecasting the experience of future entertainment technology: “Interactive Storytelling” and media enjoyment. Games and Culture, 7(3), 187–208. doi:10.1177/1555412012451123
  • Klimmt, C., Schmid, H., Nosper, A., Hartmann, T., & Vorderer, P. (2006). How players manage moral concerns to make video game violence enjoyable. Communications: The European Journal of Communication Research, 31, 309–328. doi:10.1515/COMMUN.2006.020
  • Lachlan, K. A., & Maloney, E. K. (2008). Game player characteristics and interactive content: Exploring the role of personality and telepresence in video game violence. Communication Quarterly, 56, 284–302. doi:10.1080/01463370802240866
  • Lachlan, K. A., Smith, S. L., & Tamborini, R. (2005). Models for aggressive behavior: The attributes of violent characters in popular video games. Communication Studies, 56, 313–329. doi:10.1080/10510970500319377
  • Lin, S. F. (2010). Gender differences and the effect of contextual features on game enjoyment and responses. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 13, 533–537. doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0293
  • Lin, S. F. (2011). Effect of opponent type on moral emotions and responses to video game play. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14, 695–698. doi:10.1089/cyber.2010.0523
  • Matthews, N. L., & Weaver, A. J. (2013). Skill gap: Quantifying violent content in video game play between variably skilled users. Mass Communication and Society, 16, 829–846. doi:10.1080/15205436.2013.773043
  • Reeves, B., & Nass, C. (1996). The media equation: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • Richmond, J., & Wilson, J. C. (2008). Are graphic media violence, aggression and moral disengagement related? Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 15, 350–357. doi:10.1080/13218710802199716
  • Schmierbach, M. (2009). Content analysis of video games: Challenges and potential solutions. Communication Methods and Measures, 3(3), 147–172. doi:10.1080/19312450802458950
  • Schneider, E. F., Lang, A., Shin, M., & Bradley, S. D. (2004). Death with a story: How story impacts emotional, motivational, and physiological responses to first-person shooter video games. Human Communication Research, 30, 361–375. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2004.tb00736.x
  • Shafer, D. M., & Raney, A. A. (2013). Exploring how we enjoy antihero narratives. Journal of Communication, 62(6), 1028–1046. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01682.x
  • Shibuya, A., Sakamoto, A., Shiratori, R., Arai, K., & Kato, F. (2004). The quantity and context of videogame violence in Japan: Toward creating an ethical standard. In R. Shiratori (Ed.), Gaming, simulations and society (pp. 111–120). Tokyo: Springer-Verlag.
  • Smith, S. L. (2006). Perps, pimps, and provocative clothing: Examining negative content patterns in video games. In P. Vorderer & J. Bryant (Eds.), Playing video games: Motives, responses, and consequences (pp. 57–75). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Smith, S. L., Lachlan, K., & Tamborini, R. (2003). Popular video games: Quantifying the presentation of violence and its context. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 47, 58–76. doi:10.1207/s15506878jobem4701_4
  • Tamborini, R., Weber, R., Bowman, N., Eden, A. L., & Skalski, P. (2013). Violence is a many splintered thing: The importance of realism, justification, and graphicness in understanding perceptions of and preference for violent films and video games. Projections: The Journal for Movies and Mind, 7(1), 100–118. doi:10.3167/proj.2013.070108
  • Thompson, K. M., & Haninger, K. (2001). Violence in E-rated video games. Journal of the American Medical Association 2001, 286, 591–598. doi:10.1001/jama.286.8.920
  • Thompson, K. M., Tepichin, K., & Haninger, K. (2006). Content and ratings of mature-rated video games. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 160, 402–410. doi:10.1001/archpedi.160.4.402
  • Weber, R., Behr, K., Mathiak, K., Ritterfeld, U., & Tamborini, R. (2009). What do we really know about first-person-shooter games? An event-related, high-resolution content analysis. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14(4), 1016–1037. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01479.x

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.