There I was, about to do a drug deal with the Colombian Cartel. As I made the exchange, they pulled automatic rifles out and started shooting at me. I ran for cover and started shooting back with my handgun. They made an escape with the money and the heroin. I was then interrupted by reality and it was time to go to school. I paused Grand Theft Auto IV and prepared myself for school, as my brain was making its way back to the real-world. Intense violence, drug abuse, sexual content, foul language, and criminal behavior are some components of violent video games like Grand Theft Auto that fuel the multibillion dollar gaming industry. Recently, there have been concerns about the effects of violent video games on young people who play them excessively. The mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary school, Washington Navy Yard, and in Aurora, just to name a few, have led to a series of media claims that violence in video games causes violence in the real world. It is natural for the media to make connections with violent video games and a gunman who avidly plays Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. However, that is not to say that violent video games promote violence. In fact, research shows that while video game sales are at an all-time high, violent crime is at an all-time low. Therefore, playing these types of games may not be detrimental to a persons’ well-being.
Just because violent video games portray real-life violence does not necessarily mean the games cause it. Some of the murderers had problems going on in their lives. For example, Sami Yenigun who is a producer and reporter for the National Public Radio explains, “The killers at Columbine High School had been bullied, they had psychiatric illnesses, and yes, they also consumed ...
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... games are popular and some people are afraid of what it can do to our society. In retrospect, Barclay points out, “I think all of us can remember media-based moral panics from our own childhoods … from rock music … to comic books in the 1950s, to Harry Potter, to rap music, to Dungeons and Dragons, etc.” People want an answer when a tragedy like a mass killing occurs and the media is usually the first to respond. Most Americans probably get their information on video games from the mass media because that is where they turn to for assumingly reliable information. And when people see on Facebook, Twitter, or the internet that the media has made connections between violent video games and a killer who plays them, it causes our society to panic. If parents were educated on the effects of their children playing violent video games, there would not be as much panicking.
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
In the cases of school shootings that took place at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech University and Northern Illinois University, the media highly publicized the fact that the perpetrators were avid video gamers, but why is this important? The media want’s your attention and they are more than willing to say almost anything to get it. They reported that the perpetrators were avid gamers with the implication that there is a well establish connection between the two when there is not. They exploit the fear of parents and concerned citizens by not including relevant corresponding information in order to leave you more interested lea...
People have always been looking for a reason why horrible things happen. The media is quick to blame video games as the target and cause of many shootings that have occurred, ever since Columbine and Quake. People have been blaming video games for violence for years now, ever since violent video games have been made. News reports blame video games more and more for each shooting, telling the public how this person played video games for x amount of hours a day, and that video games caused him or her to shoot people, and how video games encourage and reward violence. Anti-video game lobbyists have been campaigning to have violence removed from video games, citing resources that they themselves have created as reasons for such, poorly done studies where they confirm that kids are more aggressive through how much hot sauce they put on someone’s fries. While unbiased studies of video games and their links to violence are hard to come by, recent research has shown that video games do not in fact have a casual link to violence, and may even have the opposite effect. Violent video games have nearly no link to violence in teens or adults.
Grand Theft Auto 5 encourages aggressive behaviour and in turn provokes violence. All too often the reports of a mass shooting weave their way through the sensationalized headlines. These reports often involve two key factors: Videogames and violence. It’s no wonder that this is the case, when in games like Grand Theft Auto 5 you are rewarded with cash for killing innocent pedestrians and law enforcers. Some game players come to view the world as a scary dangerous place and become fearful and anxious and this is called the ‘victim effect’. While only few players’ progress to commit murder, research has shown that exposure to violence makes players aggressive. In 2012 an experiment done by Ohio State University professor...
According to Valadez and Fergusion (2012), “The effects of violent video game exposure, both positive and negative, on various behaviors are still highly contested within academia and the general public” (p. 608). Violence in video games is often wrongfully perused as a topic of extreme criticism pertaining to an individual’s act of violence in today society. Examples of such would include the shooting that occurred in April 2007 at Virginia Technical College; where Jack Thompson and Philip McGraw asserted that violent video games were the ultimate cause of the tragic incident, but further investigation suggested that Seung-Hui Cho had never played any such games (Valadez & Fergusion, 2012). Since the early days of mankind, society has often enlisted the service of a scapegoat in the attempt to correct the unethical or immoral conduct of a few individuals; violence in video games is no exception to this type of social misconduct. Possibly, one may want to consider human nature and its unyielding desire to be competitively better than the next person; compared to an individuals need to be excessively violent regardless of visual representation of violence in the first place. Although many will argue the effect that violent video games have on the human psyche; the research is far too inconclusive for one to make an educated assessment of the provided information.
Video Games have been around since the early 1940s. Meaning people have been playing video games for at least the last 74 years. Based on research the first violent video game came out in 1976 known as Death Race. This game was described as sick and disturbing. Death Race was a driving game and you received points when you ran over people. Think that is violent, imagine the violence in the video games 28 years later. Violent video games affect the present and the future because they impact children’s mind, behavior, and education.
Children today are exposed to more graphic violence in video games compared to any past generations. This is because the media finds that making a profit, surpasses the lives of the adolescents that play these games. However, over time two set of views formed from the violence in video games. James D. Sauer, is a graduate of the School of Phycology. In his article, “Violent Video Games: The Effects of Narrative Context and Reward Structure On In-Game and Postgame Aggression,” Sauer, describes that adolescents gain forms of aggression and violence after playing certain games. Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame
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 ...
In the past few decades there has been debate over the positive and negative affects of video games with a good deal of focus on more violent games. Prior to and concurrently with this debate, there have also been similar debates over radio, television, and movies but, as should be obvious from the current breadth of media, no studies have definitively proven any negative affects. The detractors of video games claim, based on media effects research, that people who play video games with any sort of violence in them have heightened antisocial and decreased prosocial tendencies afterwards; this is the assumed cause of certain acts of violence including the majority of school shootings. The supporters of video games claim that there is an increase in hand-eye coordination and spatial reasoning, a decrease in aggression, and far more they also state that the media effect studies often had numerous issues. It’s my goal to try to set the record straight and do my part to end the debate once and for all.
The allegation that videogames cause violent behavior in children has been present as long as videogames themselves. Some researchers said that the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was one intense gamer. “Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech Shooter was seen by his roomates as odd because he never joined them in video games.”(Beresin) This debate will continue to go on in this country as long as there are horrific crimes that occur. There is much written in the research regarding this issue, and many differing views. The research that is presented in the next few paragraphs supports the theory that it is not the graphic video games that produce aggressive behavior, but other factors in a child’s life that create violent actions.
Although violent video games are thought to encourage real world violence, they actually help to prevent it. I am focusing on violent video games and how they affect juveniles because I feel that this issue needs to be looked at in the criminal justice community. It is an unnecessary distraction to blame the actions of a disturbed youth on a form of entertainment that has been used by millions of people without incident. A review article published in The Psychiatric Quarterly found that many studies which claim to indicate an increase in aggression due to video games are, in fact, biased! Once the bias is taken into account, the studies no longer find any correlation between youths who play violent video games and youths who demonstate aggression and violent behavior. (Ferguson, 2014)
“Budda...Budda...Budda!” Bryce and Louis are finishing a game of Grand Theft Auto V. Have you realized how realistic video games have gotten? Or, how it can affect people? Theres ways to prevent violence from video games. Also, research has been done by high talked about researchers. If only parents looked at the video games content rating. Violent video games have desensitized boys and men to violence. Most violence created by 14-16 year olds came from video games.
“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
Violent video games are special games, which negatively influences to the attitude and behavior. These video games are popular between children and teenagers. Since 1980-s years violent games are in political discussion. Because when teenagers usually play violent video games, they are becoming aggressive and then they face with psychological problems. For this, some people claim that violent games are harmful for society and they affect to behavior and health.
“YOU SUCK!” “I killed him!” “Head shot!” These are just a few examples of dialogue spoken by children while they are playing violent video games. These video games might seem like harmless fun, but what if the violence in these games is affecting the behavior of young players interacting with others?