Summary:
Should one consider that violent video games are "just as unhealthy as child pornography", as a Swiss parliamentarian suggests? Or disapprove of them, as a TV presenter does: "Violent games cause addiction, aggression and a decrease in empathy, a kind of indifference to horror"? Or, like a player who broadcasts one of her games on a streaming platform, should one free oneself from liability when shooting down another player in a violent video game: "He said ‘Do not take out your weapon, uh, otherwise I'll kill you’, so uh well, self-defense, I'm sorry, ok”? The research conducted in this work focuses on the experience of violent video games in Switzerland, between the 1990s and today. It examines the different possible relationships to violent video game play using the epistemological and methodological tools of pragmatist sociology. Firstly, the analysis is based on politico-parliamentary texts that labeled such video game play problematic, in order to propose its regulation. In the late 2000s, the Swiss Federal Assembly passed two motions to ban violent video games, obliging the national executive power to draft a bill. The latter, initially planned for 2015, has just been presented in the form of the future Federal Law on the Protection of Minors in Films and Video Games (FPMFVG), which is supposed to regulate "problematic content". Secondly, the work analyzes how media texts format and make sense of the “problematicity” of violent video game play. On the one hand, they mediate the way politicians tackle the issue. On the other hand, they manage to make the situation intelligible and identifiable to people outside the gaming universe, mainly adults. Thirdly, the thesis describes different layers of the video game and scenic performance of a player in French-speaking Switzerland who broadcasts her (violent) video games on a streaming platform. The description of her activities allows us to understand the fragile relationship that develops between the streamer and her audience, as well as the facework done to maintain the playful nature of the situation. By specifying each of these experiences, the thesis brings to light the wide range of different possible “spectator” positions that violent video game play can put them in. It turns out that in all three cases, violence is a concern. In all three cases, spectators are alarmed by the violence of video game play and ask themselves what to do about it. Empirical analysis indicates that these concerns and questions, however, struggle to reach to a political audience, ready to mobilize itself to regulate the problem. Ultimately, the work explains how Swiss society experiences itself: neither the collective experience of problems, nor the questions linked to them, guarantee the implementation of strong political actions.
SWITCH edu-ID
Administration
