Violent Video Games and their Relationship to Violent Acts
It seems that in every facet of the media today, when it comes to teenagers and acts of extreme violence, people are quick to point the finger at violent video games. Several school shootings in the past were definitely used to target these types of games as the cause to violent youth. This response is usually not related to facts, but rather to emotions. People that blame violent video games for teenagers and their corrupted behaviors just want a simple answer to a complicated issue. Unfortunately, there is not just one cause that leads teenagers to commit violent acts.
Research is the key to finding the proper information in explaining why some teenagers turn to violence to deal with their problems. Hundreds of studies have been done on violent video games and their effects of teenagers playing them. The results are very conflicting. The majority of the research that has been done on this subject is on single player games and takes place in a controlled environment. The environment that teenagers live in today is far from controlled. And over half of the video games played today are played by two or more players in a social forum. The largest link to violent video game players that has been found to date is increased aggression. And increased aggression is not violence. The definition of aggression in many of these studies is also vague. But whatever the definition is, it is not a definition of violent acts. To show that a person will punish someone more heavily after playing a violent video game does not prove a violent act will come from this person. To show that a violent video game will cause an increase in heart rate and decrease in empathy is als...
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We know that violent video games alone do not cause violent acts in teenagers. Therefore, we must become aware of the role they play for people at risk of violent behavior. So until it becomes clear how much these violent games contribute to certain risk factors of violent behavior, it is very important that parents realize what type of child they have and if these games might have a certain effect on their child. Maybe if your child is the emotionally immature type and spending way too much time involved in violent video games and less time communicating with their parents, then you should consider putting some restrictions on their game playing. Furthermore, every parent should become educated on the latest studies involving violent video games and know the truth about the issue. Violent video games do not cause teenagers to commit violent acts.
Violent video games can lead to aggressive and violent behavior in children and adolescents. “Violent media increase aggression by teaching observers how to aggress, by priming aggressive cognition (including previously learned aggressive scripts and aggressive perceptual schemata), by increasing arousal, or by creating an aggressive state” (Anderson and Bushman 355). As more children are becoming exposed violence in video games in the recent years, violence in schools and other locations where children are prominent has increased. “A national crime victimization survey compiled and maintained by the United States Department of Justice, shows that overall crime rates in United States society have fallen. Simultaneously, school- based studies reveal that many violent behaviors have increased among children and adolescents” (“Causes of School Violence” 1). Exposure to violence in video games can lead to aggressive behavior, desensitization, and an increase in crimes committed by children and teens in our society.
Video games are one of the most addictive things in the world. Researchers said that more than 1.2 billion people are playing games worldwide whatever genre is. Many people buy it to have fun with friends, other people buy it for themselves, and others just buy it because they don’t have nothing to do at home. What many people concern about is whether or not kids should play video games. In my opinion, I believe that video games can make kids more violent for three main factors.
In 2008 a study was done on game violence 97% of 12 to 17 year old kids in the U.S played video games. People say playing video games causes school shootings. Violent video games increase bullying. Study show that playing video games causes people to live very violent and criminal life. Study show 39% of boys that play grand theft auto bully compared to the 60% of the boys that doesn’t play video games. Also a study shows an increase in violence video game because they are rewarded for being violence.
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.
Violent video games are undoubtedly a legalized drug to children and teens, numbing their thoughts and reprogramming their minds. Like a drug, it desensitizes them, and makes them more prone to violence. This idea of violent video games was not a phenomenon until the later 20th century, and evolved from racing into enemies, to free-for-all drug abuse and sexual/physical violence that most youth know and play today. These games have a detrimental impact on teens, making them eat more, become more aggressive, and wash away their morality. Although some may try to argue with reality, countering that its helps them socially, similar to the idea of teens taking drugs, violent video games reduce their overall health and need to be taken care of.
Video games have been available to consumers for the last 30 years. They are a unique form of entertainment, because they encourage players to become a part of the game's script. Today's sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game, rather than passively watching a movie. My working thesis is “ Although there are other factors that can lead to violent behaviors such as inner stress, playing violent video games are one of the main factors that can lead to violent behavior in teens relationships”. For the categorizing exercise, I brainstormed for the charting using some of the examples we hold in class. I found three main classifications to divide my evidence based on. Those categorizes are background of author, for and against, and type of evidence. The most important categorizes for my final paper is the background of the author, and for / against.
It's a surprising fact that 90 percent of young boys and 40 percent of young girls play video games on a regular basis. The real question is how many of those young people play violent video games, and of those, how many have become more violent as a result? Although some people don't believe that violent video games are harmful to young boys and girls, they are harmful because they cause more aggressive behavior and they desensitize.
Americans have been blaming violent forms of entertainment since colonial times. From dime novels to music, to movies to television shows. The most recent medium are video games. Aided by crime-saturated news reports, a lot of people are convinced that video game violence transfers to real-life youth crimes like the school massacres. They think that violent video games make people violent, but that is not the case. Violent people play violent video games. Not everyone who plays video games are violent, but those who already are violent will play them as an outlet for their frustration and rage. If anything, video games keep violent people from going out and killing people in real life because they can vent in the virtual world.
The shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado killing thirteen students and teachers shocked the world. “They were video gamers who seemed to be acting out some dark digital fantasy. It was as if all that exposure to computerized violence gave them the idea to go on a rampage – or at least fueled their urges” (Carey 1). The shooters of this incident learned their deadly skills from video games. Seventy percent of children ages eight to eighteen have access to violent video games at their home. “Boys who play Teen or Mature-rated games for a minimum of 40 minutes a day may witness over 180 incidents of aggression per day, or 5,400 incidents per month”(Smith, S.L., Lachlan, K.A., & Tamborini, R). Children that play violent video games at such a young age and experiencing such violent actions will start to increase in aggressive thoughts, feelings, and aggressive behavior.
... methodologies and the intrusion of ideology and scientific dogma” (Ferguson 11). Violent Video Games do not cause increased violent tendencies in youth and adolescents due to the fact violent video games have been around for years and in those years violence caused by teens have actually been dropping rather than increasing. Also, violent video games have been shown through research that the negatives are highly outweighed by the positives. Also, with the introduction of interactive gaming there are a new range of possibilities for violent video games. Such as sending a message to children about healthy activities by getting them off of the couch. So hopefully in five years violent video games will have moved to full interactive gaming so that it looks more real-life, but more importantly that it will still be a form of media that helps to relive personal stress.
“As video games have become more violent and more sophisticated and the sales of video games has skyrocketed in the last few decades, youth violence has plummeted,” Ferguson says, citing evidence compiled by various federal agencies (Adams 3). Violence in video games is not a new issue. It has been debated and argued since the release of the first violent video game. As time has progressed, so has the evolution of violence and strong language within video games. Ratings have become more relaxed, and the lines between T (Teen) and M (Mature) rated games has gotten closer together. Violent games are becoming the normal and accepted of all games, and are being demanded by the gaming industry more heavily. Parents have always shied away from these games for their children, regardless of age. However, kids are getting these games whether they are the correct age (17+) or not. Young kids, less than ten years of age are playing horribly violent games and parents are fearing the repercussions. But video games are not to be blamed for child violence. Violence in video games does not cause children to become violent people later on in life.
Exposing someone to violent video games will train the person for doing violent actions that are shown in violent games. Grossman is a writer of two books on video game violence and thinks that video game is a major cause for violent teen behavior. On 1997 in a Paducah, Kentucky high school shoot out a 14 year boy shot eight people and five where headshots. This was believed to be a effect of the teen playing first person shooter games. The FBI say that trained law enforcement officers only land one out of five shots and this boy had no past experience shooting except for in the game. “Exposing children and adolescents (or "youth") to violent visual media increases the likelihood that they will engage in physical aggression against another person,” said expert Craig A. Anderson. Exposure to violent video games can cause a child to learn the...
Video games have been around for a long time now and they are intended to entertain people. As the years went on the technology in video games have become more graphic; it has gone from looking like cartoons to looking like the real world. People are now saying that as games look more real and become more violent, it is causing the youth to become more aggressive. Seeing these images also causes them to desensitize the violence of the world like they are just looking at a video game which causes them to hurt someone and thinking they could press the restart button and everything will be ok. Even though kids can become violent by video games, there is no links between violent video games and aggression.
Several studies display that video games with violent content are related to more hostile behavior in teens. This is a concern because most of the popular video games contain violence. Part of the upsurge in aggressive behavior is connected to the amount of time children are permitted
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.