Editing Moral panic (section)

==== Violence and video games (1970s–present) ====
{{Main|Violence and video games}}
{{See also|Columbine effect}}

There have been calls to regulate violence in [[video game]]s for nearly as long as the video game industry has existed, with ''[[Death Race (1976 video game)|Death Race]]'' being a notable early example.<ref name="byrd">{{Cite journal |last1=Byrd |first1=Patrick R. |title=It's All Fun and Games until Someone Gets Hurt: The Effectiveness of Proposed Video-Game Legislation on Reducing Violence in Children |journal=Houston Law Review |volume=44 |issue=2 |date=Summer 2007 |pages=401–432 |url=https://houstonlawreview.org/article/4842.pdf }}</ref><ref name="kocurek">{{Cite journal|last=Koucurek|first=Carly|date=September 2012|title=The Agony and the Exidy: A History of Video Game Violence and the Legacy of Death Race|url=http://gamestudies.org/1201/articles/carly_kocurek|journal=Game Studies|volume=12|issue=1}}</ref> In the 1990s, improvements in video game technology allowed for more lifelike depictions of violence in games such as ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' and ''[[Doom (franchise)|Doom]]''. The industry attracted controversy over violent content and concerns about [[influence of mass media|effects]] they might have on players, generating frequent media stories that attempted to associate video games with violent behavior, in addition to a number of academic studies that reported conflicting findings about the strength of correlations.<ref name="byrd" /> According to Christopher Ferguson, sensationalist media reports and the scientific community unintentionally worked together in "promoting an unreasonable fear of violent video games".<ref name="scotus">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|year=2013|title=Violent video games and the Supreme Court: Lessons for the scientific community in the wake of Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association|journal=American Psychologist|volume=68|issue=2|pages=57–74|doi=10.1037/a0030597|pmid=23421606}}</ref> Concerns from parts of the public about violent games led to cautionary, often exaggerated news stories, warnings from politicians and other public figures, and calls for research to prove the connection, which in turn led to studies "speaking beyond the available data and allowing the promulgation of extreme claims without the usual scientific caution and skepticism".<ref name="scotus" />

Since the 1990s, there have been attempts to regulate violent video games in the United States through congressional bills as well as within the industry.<ref name="byrd" /> Public concern and media coverage of violent video games reached a high point following the [[Columbine High School massacre]] in 1999, after which videos were found of the perpetrators, [[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold]], talking about violent games like ''Doom'' and making comparisons between the acts they intended to carry out and aspects of games.<ref name="byrd" /><ref name="scotus" />

Ferguson and others have explained the video game moral panic as part of a cycle that all new media go through.<ref name="scotus" /><ref name="fergusonapa">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|year=2010|title=Blazing angels or resident evil? Can violent video games be a force for good?|journal=Review of General Psychology|volume=14|issue=2|pages=68–81|citeseerx=10.1.1.360.3176|doi=10.1037/a0018941|s2cid=3053432}}</ref><ref name="jpr">{{Cite journal|last1=Ferguson|first1=Christopher J.|last2=Coulson|first2=Mark|last3=Barnett|first3=Jane|year=2011|title=A meta-analysis of pathological gaming prevalence and comorbidity with mental health, academic and social problems|journal=Journal of Psychiatric Research|volume=45|issue=12|pages=1573–1578|doi=10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.09.005|pmid=21925683}}</ref> In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in ''[[Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association]]'' that legally restricting sales of video games to minors would be unconstitutional and deemed the research presented in favour of regulation as "unpersuasive".<ref name="scotus" />