Bricks & slaughter
Lego loses its innocence
Violence, shooting and threatening behaviour in Lego products are becoming more common, scientists say.
The world’s largest toy maker has been producing ‘‘significantly more violent’’ toys in recent years, according to newly published research from the University of Canterbury.
Lead writer Christoph Bartneck said Lego products were not as innocent as they used to be.
‘‘The increasing violence in Lego products seems to have gone beyond simply enriching game play.’’
The research found the chances of observing violence in Lego catalogue pages had increased by 19 per cent a year between 1978 and 2014.
Currently, about 40 per cent of all pages contained some type of violence and 30 per cent of today’s Lego sets included at least one weapon.
‘‘In particular, scenarios involving shooting and threatening behaviour have increased over the years.’’
Bartneck said the increase was contrary to the toy maker’s policy that Lego products aimed to discourage pretend violence as a primary play incentive.
‘‘The Lego company often claims that their violence normally happens within a humorous context, yet the results show that humorous is the least likely atmosphere. Material harm is the most frequent consequence of the violent acts followed by mild harm or injuries.’’
She believed the increase in weapons was also the result of the influx of licensed themes such as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.
Lego head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand Troy Taylor said there were lots of types of play in the Lego world, including role play, competition play, fantasy play, construction play, and conflict play.
‘‘Conflict play is a natural part of a child’s development.
‘‘The reason for the use of weapons and conflict must be founded on a greater overall purpose within the complete story line of a specific theme, for example as part of a struggle to save the world.
‘‘Fantasy or non-realistic weapons are used for conflicts between humans and mutants, creatures, or aliens.’’
Long-time Hawke’s Bay Lego collector Richard Catley said any perceived violence in Lego was what the user made of it, and he had not seen it as a problem before.
He said the weapons were more common in movie or television themed sets where they came as part of a character, such as Indiana Jones or Star Wars.
Together with sons Adam, 6, and Nick, 8, he had almost filled the living room with buildings, train sets, spaceships and planes.
His sons would often see then build things in a similar way. One of their favourite things to create were stock cars. ‘‘It’s great for them, it teaches them maths.’’
Self-confessed Lego nut Alexandra Cramp is another long-time collector. She said her pirate sets had swords, and her castle set had bows and arrows, but those features were based on facts and on things the characters would have had.
She said any links to violence may have come from Lego television shows, but even those tackled it in a humorous and joking manner.
‘‘Lego is great, it’s a way for kids to use their imaginations.’’