GTA riots link an "expected moral panic"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 10 August, 2011

Media reports shift blame, say experts.

The link between violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto and the riots that have gripped the UK this week are entirely predictable and part of a cycle of moral panic, according to experts.

On Monday, following a weekend of unrest in the capital, the London Evening Standard's front page linked Rockstar's open world crime epic to the real world violence.

"Go home, get a takeaway and watch anything that happens on TV," one constable advised the paper. "These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves."

The paper changed its story for the West End final edition, but not before it was roundly criticised by specialist press and gamers.

According to Christopher Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M International University who has researched the link between violent video games and violent behaviour, this kind of reaction does not come as a surprise.

"According to Moral Panic Theory, this in fact is rather expected," he told Eurogamer last night. "Many moral panics focus on crime particularly among youth, and typically the broader society searches for 'boogeymen' who can be blamed for real or imagined (most often imagined) violent 'epidemics' among youth.

"Western society has a long tradition of media-based moral panics from the Greeks to the present day. Everything from Greek plays to dime novels, comic books, Elvis Presley, Dungeons and Dragons, Harry Potter and video games (I suspect social media may be the next boogeyman in line).

"It's a fairly predictable cycle, yet we keep repeating it. The UK would do better to examine their economic and social policies (as would the US) rather than wasting time focusing on video games."

There is no evidence to suggest a link between video game violence and real world violence – a point made to Eurogamer by a number of experts on the matter last night.

While some studies indicate a link between aggressive personality and gameplay, the causal direction is not clear. And while studies do indicate that individuals pre-disposed to aggression are more likely to find the violent contents of games motivating, there is no scientific evidence that supports the claim that playing violent video games, for example, playing GTA, is linked to violent behaviour in the real world.

Indeed violent crime has plummeted in the UK and other countries as sales of video games have risen. And some research indicates that video game play may have a cathartic effect, that is, they relieve frustration and aggression.

"If you plot the sales of violent realistic games over time, and the number of events of youth violence, the correlation is negative," Dr Andy Przybylski, research fellow at the University of Essex, said. "On a societal scale, levels of youth violence have been negatively related to increased video game play."

"It's probably time to retire this belief as the data just never was there," Ferguson continued.

"Obviously rioting occurred long before there were video games. Most often these situations, rioting, is due to a disconnect between a group of (primarily) young men and the society they feel has failed to provide them with adequate avenues for advancement. Trying to shift blame onto video games seems like a distraction from the more pressing societal issues that may be behind these riots."

"They are a new form of entertainment that many are not familiar with," Przybylski concluded. "Although the median age of a gamer is 34 years old, many people haven't finished GTA IV - and learned what happens to people who murder."

Rockstar is yet to comment on the story.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (71) Latest comment 9 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • bobfish09 #1 10 months ago

    One unnamed, low level police officer made the comment.

    No one else, anywhere, in the press, police or public has made any such comments. Not a single soul outside of that one police man thinks games have anything to do with the current looting and vandalism.

    Disappointed that EG, a gaming press site, is blowing this out of proportion way beyond any of the mainstream media.
    Edited by bobfish09 at 10/08/11 @ 08:23

  • M_of_the_sys #2 10 months ago

    Haha! As if facts are going to stop people blaming video games.

  • Gojiratron #3 10 months ago

    Imagine how bad the headlines would be if State of Emergency was a current generation game.

    Edited by Gojiratron at 10/08/11 @ 08:27

  • wyp100 #4 10 months ago

    @bobfish09

    What are you talking about? This article does defend games!

  • the_dudefather #5 10 months ago

    Bowling alleys have been fully booked up all week and there isn't a single living pigeon in London anymore

  • RodHull #6 10 months ago

    I blame Mario. Hazel Blears is on the news at the minute, and I have an uncontrollable urge to jump on her head and eat mushrooms.

  • bobfish09 #7 10 months ago

    @wyp100

    It is a non-story. Only gaming press are reporting on it, the paper took the comment out, no mainstream press are pursuing it, no officials or police or anyone else are running with it.

    The story should die, why are gaming press intent on dragging GTAIV's name through the mud by keeping this story allive?

  • wyp100 #8 10 months ago

    @bobfish09

    The alleged link between violent video games and real world violence is a non-story, due to a lack of evidence.

    But the fact a London newspaper made the link on its front page in relation to the riots is not. That's why this story focuses on understanding and explaining why mainstream media continues to run these reports when these events occur.

  • DAN.E.B #9 10 months ago

    wont someone think of the children!
    oh wait they are the ones looting and smashing shop windows
    "Its down to a lack of youth clubs"
    what a load of BS!

  • M_of_the_sys #10 10 months ago

    @wyp100

    I would agree with you if it didn't say Wesley Yin-Poole at the top of the page.

  • tulx #11 10 months ago

    Damn, I didn't finish GTA IV as well. I guess that's why I'm going an all these murderous rampages all the time.
    Sould go back to that game and see how it turns out.

  • Ultrasoundwave #12 10 months ago

    Im trying to think of a crime that the press couldnt link to GTA..........

    Nope, cant think of a single one.

  • bobfish09 #13 10 months ago

    @wyp100

    Except the paper removed the statement and no other press are saying anything like it. This was an editor trying to sensationalise the comments of one police officer, it failed, everyone knows the truth of the matter. Games have nothing to do with this problem.

  • markyHD #14 10 months ago

    @Ultra

    How about that polar bear that is guilty of murder \o/

  • Shikasama #15 10 months ago

    'Specialist press' = 'PR portal'

  • SBfistfun #16 10 months ago

    To quote Alice Cooper

    "its' not the games that they play,
    the movies they see,
    the music they play,
    he's just a wicked young man"

  • xypha09 #17 10 months ago

    I think games have a carthartic effect on these animals. I mean all the juda would have been busy with mw3 had it already been out. Apart from maybe some looting to get their free copy.

  • Ferral #18 10 months ago

    Reason this is happening is the whole nanny state thing, kids dont get treat the way they used to. You can get wrong now for so much as shouting at them, then you get the parents that dont care about what they are doing or where they are going. So now we get huge groups of chavs hanging around and the police are powerless against them.

    In no way can they blame this on gaming, just like the unfortunate events a few weeks back in Norway.

    How many of us here have played GTA and various other games and havnt even thought about going out rioting, majority if not all of us I would put money on . Bottom line it is unruly out of control kids that think they can do as and what they please.

    Just leave our gaming alone and stop giving them all the press coverage

  • wyp100 #19 10 months ago

    bobfish09

    I think it's important to try to understand why the media continues to link video games to violent behaviour, rather than ignore it and hope it goes away. Guess we're going to have to agree to disagree.

  • xypha09 #20 10 months ago

    Was meant to say kids not juda.

    Android auto correct fail.

  • TheEarlOfZinger #21 10 months ago

    Doh!

  • bdaggers #22 10 months ago

    GTAIV Spoiler !

  • menage #23 10 months ago

    If you're playing videogames you can't riot at the same time. Think about it.

    Edited by menage at 10/08/11 @ 08:59

  • LazyNinjaUk #24 10 months ago

    Poor GTA, Saints Row never gets any bad press despite the fact it's probably worse when you think of the sewage truck and mayhem side missions.

    You'll probably find if you talk to most of these opportunistic little fuckers that they weren't looting because they saw it in GTA, they were looting because they wanted a new iPod or pair of Reeboks. Cunts.

  • arcam #25 10 months ago

    I've totally changed my mind on this issue. It's the games media that are constantly linking games and violence, not the mainstream media.

    If I'm gonna blame anyone for sensationalist reporting and encouraging moral panic, I'm blaming EG, not the press.

    I think it's important to try to understand why the media continues to link video games to violent behaviour, rather than ignore it and hope it goes away.

    You are the media, you are doing more to link games and violent behaviour than anyone else. Why don't you look to you left or right and ask your colleagues, or even ask yourself.
    Edited by arcam at 10/08/11 @ 09:02

  • youhavenomail #26 10 months ago

    It's perfectly valid to say these kids are inspired by media like GTA. They've already proven outside London (and within) that it's nothing more than copycat behaviour. In that respect, it's quite irresponsible of Sky News to be milking the **** out of the footage 24/7.

  • bobfish09 #27 10 months ago

    @wyp100

    The press keep reporting on it because at this moment in time its the big craze of the younger generations. Just like movies were bad a couple of decades ago and before that music, especially genres like Metal and Rock n Roll.

    Its a storm that must be ridden out, there is no reasoning with it because at the end of the day, "doom-saying" sells papers and no facts or logical thinking are going to change that.

  • Marshall2008 #28 10 months ago

    More like state of emergency than GTA don't you think??

  • arcam #29 10 months ago

    many people haven't finished GTA IV - and learned what happens to people who murder.

    You end up with multiple houses, a string of the world's most desirable cars and hundreds of thousands of dollars?

  • X201 #30 10 months ago

    ""These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves." "

    Cue Marcus Brigstoke...

    "If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

  • -cerberus- #31 10 months ago

    Don't let anyone watch the news because if they see the riots they might want to participate!

  • bad09 #32 10 months ago

    To be honest, while there is no link for most of us there are certainly people out there who want to live the life of GTA and nobody should deny that, just like there are stupid people out there who see Scarface as life inspiration movie instead of a satire about the 80's miami drug scene.

    While the paper should be a bit more responsible about it's "news" (like that would ever happen in the media) stupid people that look to this kind of media as inspiration are indeed out there sadly and while the rest of us have a brain in our heads some don't as we are clearly seeing on UK streets this week.

  • gribb #33 10 months ago

    I know games websites think they are defending are media from ill-informed bashing, but honestly guys it was one sentence in an article about people losing their livelihoods - just forget about it and move on.

  • gribb #34 10 months ago

    I know games websites think they are defending are media from ill-informed bashing, but honestly guys it was one sentence in an article about people losing their livelihoods - just forget about it and move on.

  • Tryhard #35 10 months ago

    Why doesn't Forza and GT not get blamed for people speeding in their cars? Because it's stupid.If this is what they blame then no wonder there is problems because they are so out of touch with reality.

  • Xboxfanuk #36 10 months ago

    Imagine the headlines when GTA V London is announced =)

  • Xboxfanuk #37 10 months ago

    "If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

    Isn't that today's clubs?

  • Rusty_M #38 10 months ago

    It's much more like The Warriors than Grand Theft Auto. The Warriors was based on a film. BAN ALL MOVIES

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #39 10 months ago

    Hang on, these kids are forming raiding parties coordinated by text chat, and focusing on gathering loot?

    It's the World of Warcraft riots!

  • arcam #40 10 months ago

    @Xboxfanuk

  • kinky_mong #41 10 months ago

    @xboxfanuk: Do you need McBain saying "That was the joke" after every comment?

    Bah, arcam beat me, and with a more concise reply as well!
    Edited by kinky_mong at 10/08/11 @ 09:47

  • geeza2020 #42 10 months ago

    "If Pac-Man had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive electronic music."

    "Isn't that today's clubs?"

    And all clubs going back to the 1980's grandad :p

  • Murton #43 10 months ago

    "Indeed violent crime has plummeted in the UK as sales of video games have risen."

    Has it though? The only source these social so-called scientists and social commentators can get data from is our own crime statistics, and due to numerous changes to the way those statistics are formulated over the past 20 years there is no way to determine with any degree of mathematical certainty that violent crime is actually going down. For example most of the people arrest for these riots are being charged with theft and burglary and not riot related activity, so there's hundreds of certainly violent offenders being categorised as non-violent for a start. If the stats are openly fiddled, and we know they are, why are we attempting to draw any conclusions from them? It just doesn't make sense.

    I also dispute the assumption that the people rioting have some sort of grudge against society for a lack of opportunities for advancement, what I've been seeing on the news is opportunistic criminality born out of an belief of invulnerability after the Met simply abandoned Tottenham on Saturday night.

  • pooKy1979 #44 10 months ago

    Rather than exacerbate the riot situation, I believe video games could cure it. Just bring the release dates of FIFA and COD forward to this Friday. BAM!! Empty streets.

  • Bullet_Tunnel #45 10 months ago

    Hey, as long as the finger is pointing firmly away from the real people behind this problem-ie, the goverment and all their tycoon pals, then they are going to do their best to blame everything they can on anything but them. The fact we have so many feral children/teens is a combanation of shitty schooling, bad parenting, and the governments allowal of corporations using our kids to syphon cash from the parents.
    as a society we expect everything to be done for us, our "owners" have given us 40 years of taking everything out of our hands so we are entirely dependent on them, but they havent backed it up by providing a good service for all the cash we give them. they are takin the money and running, and they are also taking the piss out of every single one of us.
    The Nazis lost the war, but Facism came out the winner.
    we DO need angry mobs, but not like this, we need to be storming parliment for real reasons, not jd sports for the latest corporate cash bait.
    Edited by Bullet_Tunnel at 10/08/11 @ 10:31

  • KinanEldari #46 10 months ago

    They know one name of a violent videogame series and immediately when something happens they don't like, they blame it on that. I wish the people who do such things would get their heads out of the sand and actually look at why something happens...

  • el_pollo_diablo #47 10 months ago

    This is desperate and in light of what's been happening, somewhat offensive.
    Eurogamer, why don't you tell your writers to stick to reviewing fucking games.

  • Ryze #48 10 months ago

    The only link between GTA and the riots appears to be how easily the kids can run away from the cops unscathed. They must be dialling cheat codes into their phones!

  • Spekingur #49 10 months ago

    So, what this article is saying is that currently no realistic games have been released to relieve tension?
    Hear that, gaming industry? You must release realistic games very periodically to keep riots to a minimum!

    Today many parents rely on tv and computers (includes videogames) to keep their kids occupied. So in a sense, tv and computer games are raising our children, affecting their brain function as they grow up. Thus we can derive from this that computer games are our substitute parents. Where is the parental responsibility?!
    /zomg
    /non-logic

  • Bullet_Tunnel #50 10 months ago

    #48- because apart from the odd retrospective, all this site does is repeat standard press releases with a psuedo witty header, and the cod wars are getting stale, this riot stuff probably has had the most interesting comments/hits in the 12 month ive been reading this site. hits = revenue= bandwagon journalism
    negged- oh sorry, i forgot critical thinking is bad form... errr... nintendo fans... yeeah.... not as good as ps2....hmmm.ummm..
    xbots r gayz of teh tintewebz...errrrr . is that better? ( i love xbox btw)
    Edited by Bullet_Tunnel at 10/08/11 @ 10:37

  • nafter #51 10 months ago

    The entire global economic crisis was caused by bankers playing GTA.

  • tobi #52 10 months ago

    Is Grand Theft Auto to blame when parents are looting Argos with their children?

  • bratmandu #53 10 months ago

    I blame GTA for my friends always phoning me to play darts every ten minutes.

  • kongzi #54 10 months ago

    The only one linking GTA to the riots here is EG actually.. and one dumb ass constable who fails to realise that his dumbassedness (and that of his colleagues) probably has more to do with the riots than any videogame ever will. Does the staff at EG really have the mental capacity of the average constable working in south east london? Or do you really think we (the viewers) are that dumb?

    Also, can we please stop calling it new?? Dinosaurs were still roaming the earth when the ps1 came out. It's one of the biggest entertainment industries ever (after drug trafficking and prostitution) and feeds thousands upon thousands of families worldwide and keeps some of our biggest technology companies in business.

    I'm really beginning to think that the gaming press itself is actually holding back the acceptance of games in mainstream society...

  • Slipstream #55 10 months ago

    When was the looting and plundering DLC released?

  • Bigglesworth #56 10 months ago

    Just out of curiosity, does anyone here actually think that constantly immersing children in media (games, movies, music, whatever) intended for adults doesn't negatively influence their behaviour?

  • arcam #57 10 months ago

    @Bigglesworth

    Careful, you'll confuse people. Going crazy about games not affecting children, then going crazy about parents buying age-restricted games for their kids.

    IMO media certainly does affect children (and adults!) and their behaviour, but it's a cop-out to simply blame a single game or movie when there are so many factors at work.

  • Madder-Max #58 10 months ago

    I'm suprised that the governemnt hasn't blamed the royal wedding yet

  • knightmt #59 10 months ago

    It is more likely the parents are playing Farmville or Angry Birds, but I imagine quite a lot of the parents of the feral youths are either too busy or too tired to care where their kids are.

  • evarofzentral #60 10 months ago

    I knew violent video games would be blamed at some point. Maybe if they played more games like me they'd be at home playing Fallout New Vegas DLCs instead of rioting.

  • Murton #61 10 months ago

    "It's much more like The Warriors than Grand Theft Auto. The Warriors was based on a film. BAN ALL MOVIES"

    And the film was based on a book, and the film was toned down massively compared to the book, if you like the movie then definitely read the book. Warning though, it's very dark even by todays standards, there was a massive call to ban it completely when it was published in the 70s with many retailers refusing to stock it as they believed it would encourage disenfranchised youth to get involved with the already problematic gang culture of some of the major US cities.

    Considering that many of the immigrant population involved with gang culture in the 70s had never set foot inside a school and most couldn't read you can only imagine how a 1979 USA reacted the release of the film. Most cinema chains refused to show for fear of attracting a gang war, the few that did show it found that their opening nights were sold out by rival gangs who were actually quite well behaved, an almost ironic mirroring of the gangs in the movie at Cyrus' meeting in the park.

  • MrFlump #62 10 months ago

    I agree with the officers statements, games do incite violence, I mean only the other night I took out a green turtle shell and smashed it into the back of my niece with unrelenting force.

    Then we played some Mario Kart.

    Serious note though, this is going to run and run and run. Everyone looks for a scapegoat and its either games, the government, the local council or religion. To be honest, most of these people rioting and their parents who let them behave in this way should have been neutered a long time ago.

  • SomaticSense #63 10 months ago

    Hell yeah. Reminds me how great that riot level in GTA was. Fucking awesome that was!

    Oh wait, I'm lying. Because there wasn't ever a mission of any kind remotely similar to what has been happening across the UK. Remember when Niko was told he had to hit the streets and burn down buildings and nick stuff from shopfronts while disguised by a hoodie and bandana combo? No, me neither. I do remember plenty of missions where he had to go around shooting mobsters and criminals though funnily enough.

    Instead, try looking at the depressing state of this country's poor underclass, and blame the government and their parents for it, instead of trotting out the usual 'single parent child playing videogames' bullshit.

    Here's a bit of perspective for if any government types or media journalists are scouring the internet games community for soundbites and/or 'research':

    My dad split up with my mother when I was four, and have been brought up ever since by her on her own and with zero child support money from my now ono-existent father to help her out. My mum suspected my dad at some point to have been dealing in drugs, with me in the room as a two year old. I've spent most of my life on a run down council estate in Leicester. I never went to university, and left school early before taking my GCSEs. I'm now 27 and have been playing videogames since I was 6, and have been watching horror and action films for around the same period of time. I'd rather play games than watch the majority of crap on TV. I love dance music, and spent a large part of my early twenties clubbing. I love playing GTA.

    However. I have never ever been arrested nor have even been suspected of wrongdoing at any point in my life, nor do I have a criminal record. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I have never ever taken any drugs that weren't antibiotics. I am well-spoken and with a high level of both spoken and written English. Since I was 18 and left college, I have never been more than six months out of a job. I was also at home over the last few nights watching the atrocious scenes unfold.

    Remember that before you go tarnishing all gamers and single parent children from council estates with the same brush.
    Edited by SomaticSense at 10/08/11 @ 13:55

  • Ryboy #64 10 months ago

    Sounds like a Daily Mail article.

  • menage #65 10 months ago

    These bot responses make me want to smash some virtual heads.

  • Avalongod #66 10 months ago

    Some folks have commented suggesting that the gamer press is blowing things way out of proportion about one comment. At times I've thought the same thing on other stories, particularly stories that don't get picked up in the mainstream press at all but get covered in gamer press, such as about some dubious research studies.

    On the other hand I think it is important that comments such as the UK constable are allowed to be challenged. Perhaps in this case some cooler heads in the mainstream press squashed these kinds of "links" but they did try to bubble up in the recent Oslo shooting as well (granted in that case he himself mentioned games, if only tangentially, in his manifesto). On balance I think it's good to remind the general public of the absence of evidence for these links, otherwise these kinds of ideas can fester and become "truthy" in the eyes of the public.

    It's probably also of some value to consider how these kinds of moral panics start and feed off of fear. Even if the general public is becoming aware of the moral panics over video games as I think many are, other media (social media has been taking some recent hits) could simply be next in line.

  • Architect_z #67 10 months ago

    I hate the fact how the media always has to find someone to blame.

    Video games? Hip hop? Heavy Metal music?

    What the media doesnt realise is that all who were involved in the riots, were simply people who enjoy any mischief to get a rush, and what bigger rush can you get, than fucking the system up?

    They arent revelutionaries, they arent fighting for political reasons or because some guy got shot, or because they've been haunted by what they've played on a video game. They are simple dickheads with nothing to do. (Probably Xbox owners...Ha! Got ya!)


    Edited by Architect_z at 10/08/11 @ 16:16

  • Cobalt_Jackal #68 10 months ago

    NO EG, GTA hasn't been linked to the riots. Stop reporting non storys and sensationalising everything. This site is becoming more like a taboloid everyday.

  • alan_stealth #69 10 months ago

    How can anyone be disappointed with Eurogamer's response? They have effectively been The Sun of gaming websites...without the Page 3 girl.

  • reeferchief #70 10 months ago

    wtf ffs stfu. seriously?

  • Matthew_Hornet #71 9 months ago

    "These are bad people who did this. Kids out of control. When I was young it was all Pac-Man and board games. Now they're playing Grand Theft Auto and want to live it for themselves."

    Did an actual, real life person say this? It sounds like a cartoon.