Video games can be violent and that’s hardly news, this also applies to esports. Fans accept this while critics see problems but both sides have good arguments.
The earliest video games were relatively non-violent - Pong, for example, was a simple form of tennis. Over the years, however, various genres have evolved and now practically every topic is available in electronic game format: war, puzzles, sports management. No matter how absurd the topic is, there are a few games that deal with it.
Esports are a bit more selective, of course. For a game to become an esports title, it must be suitable for competition. This limits the possibilities and makes shooters an attractive topic. Here action, suspense, and precision come together, but with it also the depiction of violence.
What's the problem?
Since the 1970s, critics have been saying that the depiction of violence in games increases the propensity to violence among children and young adults. Several tragedies, such as the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999, have been associated with video games because the perpetrator had a hobby of playing them.
In the meantime, there have even been acts of violence at Esports-related events. For example, a shootout at an esports tournament in Florida. But at this event, a non-violent game was played, namely Madden NFL.
Nevertheless, many popular esports titles revolve around shooting in particular - Fortnite, CS:GO, Call of Duty and even Riot's upcoming Valorant, to name but a few. The fear of many parents and politicians is that especially children could learn to solve their problems through violence in real life.
What science says
In the meantime, there have been many studies that have taken up the topic in the hope of being able to answer the question once and for all - but without success. The majority of scientifically recognized studies see no or only a very weak connection between violent behavior and video games. None of them found a direct link between esports and violence.
Looking at the overall scientific picture, opinions are divided and neither side can completely refute the other. The cultural background, however, seems to have a strong influence on the studies. The American Psychological Association, for example, sees a negative connection between video games and violence, whereas a study in South Korea could not find a significant connection.
The effects
The endless debate about context has had a negative impact on both the video game industry and esports. As a relatively young industry, esports also have a relatively young audience. Teenagers and even younger children watch Esports competitions or their favorite streamers and want to reach for the keyboard or controller themselves. They often try to avoid age restrictions.
Only a few esports titles manage to make it big without violence, but they do exist. Sports games like FIFA, Rocket League or Madden NFL and even racing games fall into this category.
What does the future hold?
How the debate will continue in the future is still unknown. Measures such as age restrictions only work to a very limited extent and science still cannot agree on how bad the influence of violence in games really is. Within the esports industry, there is also a trend away from games that show violence.
This trend is primarily due to the strong growth of mobile esports apps, as mobile games are usually more family-friendly than, for example, the next Call of Duty. It will not be possible to completely displace violence from esports, as the biggest and most important titles are still shooters such as CS:GO, fighting games such as Street Fighter or MOBAs such as Dota 2 - whereby the latter are considered to be a genre that is rather bloodless. Street Fighter and Rocket League were even approved by the International Olympics Committee as both of them had little to no violence. Sure Street Fighter is about knocking out your enemy, but it has no blood or gore. Rocket League is just racing with RC cars, so the two titles were a perfect fit for the IOC's requirement to have games that do not promote violence.
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