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Do violent games cause violence
Influence of violent games on behavior
Violence in the media
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How many of you play video games? Alright, now keeping your hands up, how many of you have a family member or a friend that plays video games? So, if we look around, the majority if not everyone in this classroom has some sort of connection involved with video games. Now, especially with recent tragedies that have occurred, violent video games have come under fire by many people as the cause for desensitizing and resulting in aggressive actions and crimes. However, this is a false notion that does not really hold any value in the real world. Today, I will be discussing three reasons why violent video games do not desensitize the average person in our society.
BODY:
I. We shall first discuss what desensitization is and why lab-based experiments
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If we first dive into the cases where Grand Theft Auto 5 was a major cause of a crime in the United States since its release in 2013, we can really come up with only two cases.
1. According to an article called Zachary Burgess Allegedly Stole Truck, Kidnapped Woman, As Part Of ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Reenactment published by HuffPost on September 25, 2013 a 20-year-old man named Zachary Burgess was arrested for kidnapping a woman, stealing a truck, and ramming several parked cars. He committed these crimes to experience "real life Grand Theft Auto" after playing Grand Theft Auto 5.
2. According to an article published by International Business Times called GTA 5: 14-year-old Boy Kills Father and Brother 'Inspired' by Violent Character Trevor, a fourteen-year-old named Samuel got into a fight with his father after his father allegedly opened fired outside the home while coming in. Samuel then became enraged, as the character Trevor in GTA V performs at times, and shot and killed his father. In his rage, he also killed his 13-year old brother.
B. The reason behind me providing these reports is to show how little violent video games affect people in real-life scenarios.
1. The lack of actual reporting that is provided is disturbing due to the amount if violent video games do indeed desensitize
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If we assume that from 2013 to 2017 one hundred thousand violent crimes were committed in the United States, we can divide that by the number of copies sold and we will see that we will get a very small percentage of crimes per copy sold.
C. According to the article, Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data, published on 2014 by the American Psychology Association, when there are releases of a popular violent video game, the amount of homicides and assaults committed during the next three months either decreases or stays the same.
1. If we look at these sets of graphs, we can see that this claim is true with June-July being the months that have the most homicides and aggravated assaults being committed while video game sales are on the low side. If we fast forward later in the year, we can see that assaults and homicides occur less during November-January while video game sales are at their best-selling point.
2. The study rightful claims that it cannot determine that violent video games decrease crime, however it does state that it shows that violent video games do not increase crime.
III. Now, we shall finally dive into some of the reasons that people who think violent video games cause desensitization and even though on the surface they seem logical, a deeper inspection shows that this is not the
"Do Violent Video Games Cause Behavior Problems?" The Premier Online Debate Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Is it possible that simulated violence has a negative effect on the lives of gamers around the world? Or could it be that violent crimes have actually begun to occur less frequently as the world of gaming changes and grows? Simulated violence in video games is beneficial to the minds of gamers. There is no proof of these violent games affecting actions in the real world, less violent crimes are being committed, and the simulated violence provides an acceptable distraction to gamers. As mentioned before, there is no proof of any negative connection between the simulated violence in video games and violent crimes in the real world.
psychcentral.com. 15 Nov 2013. “Violent video games are not so bad when players cooperate”. youthsciencejournal.com. 10 Dec 2013. “Growing Up With Media: Exposure to violent material”.
All in all, I believe that if you think that it is okay to commit a crime, then you have some sort of mental disorder or you have had a rough childhood, or you are currently going through hardship. There are much more disturbing reasons that people commit crimes and are more violent than others than because they have played a video game that depicts
In today’s society, highly addicting video games involving strong violence and language, explicit sexuality and crime often lead to inappropriate behaviors. Role playing games or RPGs allow us to step into a virtual world, cutting ourselves off from worldly distractions. Nowadays, the age range for people who play these extremely graphic games are anywhere from six to eighteen and are surprisingly hazardous to young children’s health. A study gave a group of players playing a violent video game the chance to blast a painful sound into their opponent's ear in order to get the upper advantage. They also gave another group playing non violent games, the same opportunity. The study showed that overall the gamers playing violent video games were more prone to inflict more pain on their enemies, unlike the other group who inflicted considerably less pain. Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D who did this study agrees, “violent video games desensitize players to violence, and makes them more violent in real life" (McGonigal). Young adults are exposed to these terrifying images, harming their mental health. In recent events, a young eight year old boy shot his grandmother after playing Grand Theft Auto. This game is the epitome of why young people should not be playing these games. It is comprised of murder, drug and alcohol abuse, criminal behavior, violence and general disrespect for women, and foul language. In summary, young people should not be playing these games in order to save their mental health. Furthermore, television contributes to desensitizing society with it’s ...
Since the 1970 video games have become more popular than ever before. Generating 11.7 billions of dollars of sells every year or more, the video game industry is considered one of the largest industries in this century. However, video games have been a topic of controversy. With the sales of violent video games going up and the increased violence in schools and teenagers, video games are always to blame. Many people speculate that video games are the cause on why many teenagers have developed aggressive and violent behavior, are desensitize to violence, and the increase violence in schools and public places. In contradiction, video games have little or no fault in teenagers’ violent behavior and shouldn’t always be blamed.
Many People have put their attention directly on the influence violent video games have on the bad behavior of children. People believe videogames intensify aggression in children, while others say it can be a safe getaway for a child to express his aggression. Many opinions on this issue are stated still today, and they remain divided amongst the people who claim videogames to be a cause of aggression and those who claim otherwise. A child’s behavior can not be determined by violent video games, but instead is caused by a variety of environmental and domestic factors. It is easy to blame video games on violence, instead of looking at factors such as economic status, familial issues, and exposure to other entities such as television and media. This paper will bring forward the opinions of those who believe in no relationship between violent video games and bad behavior with one counter argument expressing the opinion of those who believe there is a relationship.
Video games are at the root of some violent and aggressive behaviors because it causes desensitization to violence. When exposed to the sights, sounds, and smells of violence, humans tend to usually have negative reactions, reactions that serve as inhibitions to real-life violence and instigations of helping behaviors to victims of violence. Desensitization theory is defined as a reduction in an emotional and physiological response to real violence. A study conducted recently showed that just twenty minutes of playing a video can make people less aroused to violence. In this study, participants who played a violent video game had significantly lower heart rate and electrodermal activity
Ferguson, 2014 -. There are those who believe that playing video games that are violent causes a reduction in brain response to real life violence. This is because the violent game affects a part of the brain hypothesized to cause desensitization. It is then thought that this “desensitization” to violence predicts that those who play these games will become violent themselves later. (Bartholow, Bushman, Sestir, 2006)
Adams, Jill U. Effects of Violent Video Games. The Los Angeles Times. May 3, 2010.
A review in 2004 did not show a clear relation between video game violence and real life violence. The study found that for every 1% increase in violent video game sales there was a .03% decrease in real life violence. (Fournis,
Some people believe that violent video games can cause behavioral problems. This is not true; it is only their opinion. They may say people that play violent video games start having behavioral problems, and what was that cause? It is only people and it has no effect on them, only their own actions and their mental health issues. The violent video games for computers and consoles’ sales rate went up, but violent crime offenses went down.
“90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children” ("Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”). Pediatrics and parents are aware that kids that play violent video games see a change in their behavior. Many cases they see the kids with anger problems and causing them to do violent acts. Violent video games have been around for many years where some older titles, such as ‘Mortal Kombat’ and 'Grand Theft Auto’ both are some of the most controversial ones. The video game industry has been growing and with the large amounts of violent video games being produced. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to
Schwartz, Kelly D. "Chronic Violent Video Game Exposure And Desensitization To Violence Behavioral And Event-Related Brain Potential Data." Journal Of Youth Ministry 5.2 (2007): 95-98. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Over the past years, video games have been a way to escape reality for some people. Video games vary from fantasy, romance, and role playing games to violent games. However, vicious video games have been blamed for school shootings, growths in bullying, and violence concerning women. Various people argue that these games numb players to violence, recompense players for imitating violence, and educate children that violence is a suitable way to resolve conflicts.