Media Violence and
Children

CHAPTER 7

Violent Video Games: The

A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR PARENTS AND

Newest Media Violence Hazard

PROFESSIONALS

Douglas A. Gentile and Craig A. Anderson
Hazard

Edited by Douglas A. Gentile

In creating this electronic reprint, we have attempted to keep the style, pagination, and format as close to the published form as possible.
Nonetheless, some errors may have occurred. If you discover a substantial error, please contact Craig Anderson using the following email address: caa@iastate.edu.

Please note that this electronic reprint is provided as a courtesy. Please do not post or distribute this reprint in any fashion that may violate the copyright of the original publisher or the authors. Thank you for your interest in this work.

In 1972, a new form of entertainment became commercially available with the release of the video game Pong. In Pong, two players tried to "hit" an electronic "ball" back and forth. From these humble beginnings, a revolution in the entertainment industry was born. Interactive game revenues are now significantly greater than the domestic film industry ("Industrial Strengths,"
2000). Worldwide video games sales are now at $20 billion annually (Cohen,
2000). The PlayStation video game console, which began as a side project at
Sony, now represents $6 billion of the company's $20 billion in annual sales
(Cohen, 2000). It is reasonable to question whether video games may have similar effects to the effects of other entertainment media. In this chapter the term video game will be used to describe games played on video game consoles (e.g., PlayStation), on computers, or on hand-held video game devices
(e.g., GameBoy).

TIME SPENT WITH VIDEO GAMES
Advances in Applied Developmental Psychology
Irving E. Sigel, Series Editor

Praeger

Westport,

Connecticut
London