Interview with the Co-Author of Grand Theft Childhood

So I know this was going to be another huge post but I decided to focus on the comments and answers I got from Dr. Olson when I talked to her. It's my philosophy that if your not sure if someone will answer your emails then you should just try it anyway, what could go wrong? It was with this attitude I set out to contact Dr. Olson to ask her about GTA 4 and her new book Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Games.

I first tried a Q & A session with her where I asked her 3 questions (see below)

First, I was wondering what your final thoughts on Grand Theft Auto 4 and how children should interact with it?

Our research team from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School surveyed 1254 American kids aged 12 to 14 to find out what's normal, what's not, and what might be signs of problems with violent video games. Based on our findings, most boys and many girls are likely to play GTA 4 at least once. If they don't play at home, they will probably play at a friend's or relative's house. When we asked young teens to list 5 games they'd played a lot in the past six months. 44% of boys listed at least one GTA title. To our surprise, so did 20% of the girls who played video games (not all girls did).

For most kids this age or older, playing GTA 4 once in a while is probably not a big deal. But we did find that kids who played any Mature-rated game (like GTA) a lot were more likely to have problems at school, get in fights, damage property for fun, etc. The more of their played-a-lot games were violent, the more likely they were to have problems. Still, most of them did not have problems. And there's no way to know from a one-time survey whether the video games caused the problems, or, for example, whether aggressive kids are attracted to violent games, or kids who get bad grades get out their frustration and anger with a violent game.

Many teens told us that they use games like GTA to get anger out and relieve stress, which may be healthy in moderation.

We tell parents to keep game consoles out of kids' bedrooms so they can watch what's going on, to make sure their teen is handling it OK and to keep game play in balance with other activities. If somebody plays GTA (or any game) to the point that it interferes with school, sleep or relationships, that's a problem.

Kids who are younger than 12 may not be old enough to understand the satire of GTA IV. They may copy bad or insulting language or behavior and get in trouble.

I was a little surprised at the findings that some kids who played GTA 4 were more likely to have aggressive tendencies. As she said however, there is no way to tell in a one time survey if the causes of the aggression come from playing Grand Theft Auto or whether its just that these were aggressive kids playing the game. In my hardly professional opinion I would like to say that it is the aggressive kids who are attracted to games. If you already have violent tendencies then it would make sense that those coincide with your hobbies.

When she said some kids play games to let out their frustration I believe it. When I was younger when I would get mad I would play a little Halo on easy and then I felt better afterwards. There is nothing wrong with that, it is the same as punching your pillow.

Second, I was wondering what your opinion is on the recent outbreak of people who cry out against Grand Theft Auto and yet have not even played it and go as far as to claim there is graphic sex in the game?

A lot of adults just don't know how to play video games. They can't fast-forward through them like DVDs, or flip through them like comic books. So, they are worried about what's in there, and tend to believe whatever awful stuff they see on the evening news.
I encourage adults to visit web sites such as WhatTheyPlay.com or CommonsenseMedia.org and educate themselves. If you can find something positive to say about a game, your kids are much more likely to listen when you talk about content that bothers you.

This is where Dr Olson really won me over. Very few people realize that games cannot be treated the same as movies and that is where a lot of parental unease comes from I think. You have a vague description on the back of what to expect but the seriousness of such content isn't exactly specified so parents do not know what to expect from games so misunderstanding can be taken. Wouldn't you feel a little more comfortable about something after watching a news special on it? You wouldn't necessarily know it was an erroneous report and you would feel a little more comfortable knowing something about what your kids are doing.

The big part of her answer for me when she mentioned Commonsensemedia.org. This is easily the greatest possible website for games and parental reviews. If you want to judge on what your kids going to play I have to say that you should do it there, they even measure the morality of the main character in the game!

Finally, I was wondering if you were aware of how New Zealand has made it illegal for parents to buy GTA 4 for their kids, which to me seems incredibly invasive and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on that.

I wasn't aware of the New Zealand law, but I've talked to journalists from Germany, Austria, Ireland, Australia, England, and Canada. There seems to be similar adult fears and gamer frustrations in all of these countries.

This doesn't neccasarily surprise me, it's still a relatively obscure story and I had to do some digging to find it. Never the less I still have to say that I believe no government has the right to deprive a parent their right to decide what is right for their child.

The biggest thing I got out of Talking to Dr. Olson was that she gave me of her actual interviews with the children she talked to during her study. Here they are:

CONSEQUENCES/LESSONS

Cheryl: Patrick, do you think that you'd be a different person in any way if you didn't play, if you'd never played any violent games?

Patrick: Well, yes, because I wouldn't know the consequences of what my actions are. Like, in Vice City, it's kind of real life. And it shows you what happened if you kill people. And you kill them enough that you can get like a warrant sent after you. And the police will go crazy and they'll just come after you, and try to kill you, arrest you in any way harmful.
So Vice City kind of shows you what happens if you become a violent person and start killing people. Even though it's fun, it could also be dangerous to kids that are not that mature.

Cheryl: So, you think it maybe teaches you about right and wrong, huh? I mean?

Patrick: Kind of. It depends on how you look at it. If you look at it for fun, it really doesn't teach you anything. But if you look at it as a life story, like as the guy's point of view - you go through a lot of changes and, like, you have to kill people to get where you're at. And at the end of the game, you stop killing people because you don't want to be in that situation no more. Because once you're in a gang, you really can't get out. It's hard to get out, so you don't want to be in a gang killing people, having police chasing you all the time, run from the police. It gets tiring after a while.

Cheryl: So it really makes you think then, it sounds like.
Patrick: Yeah.

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Josh: I wouldn't be able to kill somebody. But in videogames I could; like, it's a videogame ?
It's never going to come to life, so just go after him and do whatever. So it's like spend money or something. It's not like they're going to come back after it.

Cheryl: So you get to go things that are kind of fun, but they wouldn't be fun in real life?

Josh: Yeah. But it teaches you about real life. Like, if you go in a gang's area, and you shoot one of their members, they'll all come back after you. And some gangs out here, I know, if you mess with their members, they'll come back after you with like machetes and stuff like that? out here. So, like, you mess with the wrong people?

RA: So it also teaches you a little bit about consequences too?

Josh: Yeah, consequences.

Cheryl: When you play Grand Theft Auto, does it make you feel less nervous about gangs, or just more. I mean, how does it make you feel differently about gangs?

Josh: Like, when I play videogames, it's like I have a power. I have a power to do anything. I can get away with it, if I wanted to kill, I could, so don't mess with me.

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(Ichi) this part was a little surprising, the first kid Patrick seems to be a little more grounded than Josh, but they both show the same point that has to be stressed to parents, these kids understand the difference between the game and reality.
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AWARENESS OF CONTENT

RA: So I want to know, how many people here have played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City? You've all played Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, I see everybody raising their hands. I noticed that game actually has, strong sexual content; it has an M rating, it has violence.

Antonio: It does? I never made it that far. I don't really do the missions and see all that stuff.

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(Ichi) Another point proven by these kids, the content in the game is optional, you don't have to participate in any of the games graphic content and some kids chose not to.
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MANAGING STRESS

RA: You said you have some stress because your parents are getting divorced?

Ryan: They are divorced. My mom lives like all the way in Cape Cod, and stuff, so?

RA: I've heard one or two kids talk about how they sometimes play games when they're stressed. Did you play games when you were stressed?

Ryan: Well, I just recently got PS2, so I didn't really have a way. But now I'm much more calmer, because I have an outlet to just let some of that stress out. Playing like, Vice City and just driving around and shooting whoever I want. It just makes me feel good.

Ryan: Like, sometimes my parents would get in a fight over all this stuff. And then, sometimes I'd hear them yelling at each other and I'd go in, close the door, be by myself, and just?
Play Vice City or Max Payne, one of those violent ones.
Just go around and shoot people... shoot the enemies that you are trying to kill in the missions.

RA: And how did that make you feel?

Ryan: Calmer and better.

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(Ichi) I will be the first to say that this is only probably healthy in moderation and not often. However, as I said I used to use video games to relieve stress and there is nothing wrong with it.


It is at this point that I would have to say that this was one of the most productive and fruitful interviews I have had with anyone as of now. I would like to thank Dr. Olson for giving me her time and going beyond what I asked for and providing me with original content from her study.

Look for another post later this week guys

-Ichi