Violence in Games Past

Video games have been around since the late 1970s and have been widespread since the 1980s, yet why is it only that today’s games are considered violent? Is it because the graphics have reached the point where people are not shooting boxy collections of pixels but smoothly reproduced humans? Or is it because video games are more popular now? No matter what the case, it is impossible to deny that video games have always had some element of violence in them.

Take one of the oldest video games around: Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong threw barrels at the hero as he tried to climb the tower to save the girl. Even though the player was not committing the violent act, the violence was still there. The same goes for Super Mario Brothers. Mario and Luigi jumped on enemies and shot fireballs at them. Yes, that was a different type of violence than you will now find in games like God of War or Resident Evil, but it was still violence nonetheless.

So, the question really comes down to this: Is comic or fantasy violence just as bad as realistic violence? Studies show that it is not. This is why plastic swords or shows like Pokémon are not always seen as being as violent as toy guns or Tomb Raider. However, these games, like Donkey Kong, still contain elements of violence that can influence kids.

Does this mean that all video games are horribly violent and are going to ruin kids’ minds? No, this is not the case at all. It just means that violence in video games has been around since Atari and that it can not always be blamed for every horrible act. A custom usb stick is a great way for parents to store information on games, past and present.