Video games were intended to be fun, entertaining, and even educational but when violence was added into the storylines of some games it led to disaster for some of its players. Lately video games have improved their graphics and storyline however this has led to a better picture of violence in those games. The added quality has attracted more teenagers and children to play the games which sometimes leads to bad consequences. Children should not play violent video games because the games may affect their ability to handle some situations, the intensity of the language and gore could be too much, and the storylines of the games could have a negative influence. Children learn how to respond to different situations from past experiences and observations that may be influenced by something that is constantly seen or surrounding them. Violent video games can be a strong influence in their ability to positively respond to various situations. For example, if the child grows up playing violent video games and is faced with a confrontational situation with another child, he or she could become violent and not understand that it is not an acceptable response. This behavior is learned because playing electronic games requires the player to make a series of choices that determine his or her progress through the game. Players are routinely rewarded for identifying and for repeatedly selecting the strategies that have been built in by the game designer. In violent electronic games, these strategies rely heavily on violent actions that rarely produce realistic consequences. Consistently choosing the pre-programmed alternatives results in cycles of positive reinforcement. This makes the game-playing situation a potentially powerful learning env... ... middle of paper ... ... future behavior of the children playing them so it is better to not let the kids play them at all. Works Cited Brody, Michael. "Playing With Death." Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter 16.11 (2000): 8. Education Research Complete. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. "ESRB Ratings Guide." Rating Categories, Content Descriptors, and Interactive Elements from ESRB. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Apr. 2014. Funk, Jeanne B., et al. "An Evidence-Based Approach To Examining The Impact Of Playing Violent Video And Computer Games." Simile 2.4 (2002): N.PAG. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. Yang, Shu Ching. "Paths To Bullying In Online Gaming: The Effects Of Gender, Preference For Playing Violent Games, Hostility, And Aggressive Behavior On Bullying." Journal Of Educational Computing Research 47.3 (2012): 235-249. ERIC. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.
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“Negative effects of playing violent video games can accumulate over duration of time” (“More Playing Time E...
Most games today that children play depict some type of violence. However, parents neglect that the games have warnings for violence, language, and even nudity. In my own personal experience, kids will ask for the most trending games at the time and parents will buy the game to satisfy the needs and wants of the children.
The authors of the article “Violent Video Games Affecting our Children,” offer a solution to this issue (Vessey and Lee 2000). Addressing parents, they suggest that they monitor the type of video games children play and how much time they spend playing (2000). As long as the parents assume responsibility on this matter, choosing which games are appropriate for their children, they decrease the chances of their children overexposing themselves to the graphic images from video games intended for older audiences
There is much persistent debate throughout culture these days concerning video games. Common questions asked are things like ?Where should the lines be drawn in terms of content? and What audience, if any, is this appropriate for? As lawyers fight, bizarre crimes are blamed on video games, constant studies take place, and technology continues to evolve, the video game world continues to thrive and be extremely profitable. While there is near-constant focus on the supposed ?negatives? of games like simulated killing, drug use, or sex, most people, especially those completely outside of gaming circles, fail to acknowledge that gaming of any kind can possibly have positive effects on players. While increased hand-eye coordination is a common benefit attributed to gaming, one particular study conducted revealed a mixed bag of possibly positive and negative effects.
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.
Up to this point, the majority of research based on video games was directed toward the two major concepts of gender and violence. The existence of violence in games is not up for debate; from Donkey Kong throwing barrels and Pac-Man eating ghosts during the birth of home gaming, to samurai Samanosuke slicing up demons in Playstation 2’s Onimusha series, violence has been prevalent in gaming. In fact, a study claims that, on average, 89% of video games include violent content (Children Now, 2001).The question is: how does the violence affect young players? There are two rival camps with opposing viewpoints on the matter of media violence. One, and arguably the more vocal of the two, states that violent content is likely to make the viewer/player act out in violent ways. The other claims that violence in games acts as a catharsis, thus preventing violence on the part of the user. Research on this aspect of video games, and in fact all media, has been conducted as long as the technology has been in existence (Dominick, J.R. (1984). Video games, television violence and aggression in teenagers.). As of yet, results have been inconclusive.
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video games often warp their sense of reality. The kids think that if they shoot a person in a game and nothing really happens then nothing will really happen if they shoot a person in real life. When video games first became popular, people may not have seen this as much of a problem because games were not very realistic. With the advancement of technology, however, video games are becoming more and more realistic. If video games become more realistic, children will forget what is real and what is simulated; a child seeing somebody violently murder another human being in a video game will have the same effects as seeing somebody murder another human being in real life. Witnessing these brutal acts of violence either will traumatize or desensitize them to violence. However, this is contradictory to the “Play is labile” theory (Schroeder 4), which will be discussed, in further detail.
One article points out that video games have a big impact on children’s lives and that many of the games played are violent. Researchers have found that “nearly all children spend time playing video games” and studies have found that “8th graders spent an average of 17 hours per week playing video games” (Tamborini 336). Moreover, 68% of the most popular video games contain violence (Tamborini 336). So it is clear that many children have access to violent video games and they have a big impact on their lives simply because of the amount of time spent playing them.
The concerns of parents are that theses types of games are going to change their child’s life in a bad way. These ideas are true through tedious experiments that prove that violent games produce violent children. The games that cause the most fear are ones that give the players the opportunity to select their own weapon and decide what violent adventures they long to experience. A well known fact is that repetition increases the learning process. For example, when students are studying for a test they will incorporate the use of flashcards. Using the flashcards exposes the child to the information repeatedly until it is memorized. While playing these games, the player learns the patterns of games through repetition. By doing this they are unconsciously learning to act in the same way as the game. In March of 2014, the Center for Study of Violence at Iowa State participated in a study where they followed over 3,000 children over a three year period who played video games. Since the experiment was carried out over a long period of time, it was easy to spot out the effect of the games on the test subjects. The report discovered that the boys who played the hostile games had an increased amount of recorded aggressive behaviors, and although the girls in the experiment played less violent games than the boys, they still displayed violent behaviors (Gentile, 2014). The
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.
The question is, “Do violent video games influence children to act aggressively?” and “Can repetitive killing train a person to be violent himself?” Although the violence in these video games is fictional, research has proven the violence to lead to more aggressive behavior in children. Violent acts depicted in these games allow young children to believe that killing and fighting is acceptable and fun.