In the Book Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do by Kutner and Olson (2008), it states that “among young adolescents 68% of boys and 29% of girls had at least one M-rated title among five games played. games in the Grand Theft Auto series were by far the most popular” According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) 88% of parents say they monitor the video games children play however the behaviour of some children has been claimed to be affected by the playing of games.
It can be argued that in the game Grand Theft Auto, the violence is the key to its success. The ability to mindlessly go on a rampage killing anyone in sight or to steal cars is as many see it, why the series is so popular. Unlike some older violent games with lower resolution the quality and visual impact of grand theft auto enables the player to more easily inherit the persona and ideals of the character they are interacting with and become more immersed into the world they are playing in. Lister (2003) argued that “…losing oneself in the medium can be creative and liberating, but is haunted by the possibility that this immersion can be hypnotic, seductive, ‘mindless’ as well as bodiless.” However it can be argued that this doesn’t always happen. The player can be completely immersed in the lives of characters such as Tommy Vercetti but some audiences cannot differentiate between reality and the representation of reality. The hypodermic syringe theory is relevant here as the game injects its ideals into the player. The audience is mostly seen as ’passive’ in this theory as they absorb the information but do not question its ideologies and values. The hypodermic syringe theory can also be used to explain the moral panic around video game culture; parents and other pressure groups argue certain groups in society such as children should not be exposed to such things as it is possible they will copy the acts of violence they see.
To conclude, a video game can inject its values and ideas into an audience, consequently very often influencing them in a particular way. This influence may be on the behaviour of a person, the way they view the world and certain situations they encounter. However this influence can mostly affect a passive rather than active audience as they are less likely to question what they see before them
