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# A history of violence: Videogame moral outcries through the ages
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/history-violence/
- Published: 2014-05-08T20:07:18.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T16:36:12.000Z
- Description: As long as there have been games, there have been people taking indignant moral stances towards them. This is shown in this nice write-up on a short history of game panics by Jesse Walker over at Reason. From New York City’s pinball ban, which we have a standout article on by John Teti in issue #1,
- Author: Jason Johnson
- Tags: News, D&D, violence, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

As long as there have been games, there have been people taking indignant moral stances towards them.

This is shown in [this nice write-up on a short history of game panics](http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/07/a-short-history-of-game-panics?ref=killscreen.com) by Jesse Walker over at Reason. From New York City’s pinball ban, which we have a standout article on [by John Teti in issue #1](http://shop.killscreendaily.com/products/issue-one-the-no-fun-issue?ref=killscreen.com), to those seedy “*Pac-Man* dens” of the ‘80s, the usual suspects are all there: *Custer’s Revenge*’s lewdness, Lieberman’s crusade against game violence, urban legends of loner teens becoming murderous psychopaths after playing *Dungeons & Dragons*.

An interesting one I had not heard of is *Death Race 1976*, an unlicensed old arcade game based on an old sci-fi film about crazed killers running over pedestrians. There were some priceless scary quotes from fear-mongering psychologists afloat:

> *On TV, violence is passive. In this game a player takes the first step to creating violence. The player is no longer just a spectator….I shudder to think what will come next if this is encouraged. It’ll be pretty gory. – The New York Times*  
>  
> *The prisoners I dealt with…would have loved the game. – The Associated Press*