Video Games and Violence Does violence in video games encourage wild behavior on impressionable children? A lot parents believe that their children are being influenced by video games to act a certain disrespectful way towards others or commit crimes. Yet, studies show that the arrests of juvenile teenagers have declined 71.9% while sales for popular, and violent, video games have increased 49.3% ("Crime in the United States, 2008," FBI website, Sep. 2009). Plus, a link between violent video games and rude behavior has not properly been connected. Video games do not pressurize teenagers, girls or boys, into violent personalities or to reenact the main characters performances. Video gamers aren’t encouraged by actions in the games they play because they have a sense of reality, the games they play can actually be an outlet for the rage they might hold in, and there are reasons for why games have ratings. First off, ratings on games were created for multiple reasons. Ratings, such as EC (early childhood, young children), E (everyone), E10+ (10 years old and up), T (teen, 13 years old and up), M (mature, 17 years and up), and A (adult, 18 years and up) (http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp), are put on games depending on their content and gameplay to inform the player or the players’ parents about the game. Young children, according to the scale, should not be playing games rated over E10+. Games that are rated for kids obviously aren’t going to be as crude and will send out better messages for the child to learn, teaching the minor how to be a better person and about their personality. If a kid, say 10 years old, is playing Call of Duty, he doesn’t understand that what he is learning from this game is not a good one and wil... ... middle of paper ... ...ames do not encourage rude or violent behavior because they provide a secure outlet for the gamers’ angers, if they have any, the players are able to keep a sense of reality, and games are rated appropriately and accurately for your convenience. Video games do not tell anyone to act a certain way in real life. And while video game sales have gone up, arrest for teens has gone down. Even though many parents believe violent games encourage their kids to act a specific harmful way, a connection between violent personalities and video games has never been officially made. So, no, video games do not enforce rude behavior. Parents and other civilians should stop blaming games for violent encouragement, because if you continue to do so, you should also criticize the movies and media. Works Cited http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp http://videogames.procon.org/
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.
Computer and video games have been rated using a rating scale since 1994. Video games are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB uses rating symbols on the front of each game to show the current rating of the game. The ratings currently used are early childhood (EC), everyone (E), everyone 10 and older (E10+), teen (T), mature (M), and adults only (AO). These ratings are to reflect the maturity level needed to play and understand the game. The combination of industry and public pressures to use ratings has encourag...
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.
The first reason video games are an issue is that many video games made today possess content that many people would consider to be obscene. The term obscene covers violence, profanity, and sexual images (obviously). Such videogames are usually branded with the M (mature audiences only) rating on the front of the videogame cover. This means that only players seventeen or older should be playing such games. However, many children around the ages of twelve and under are acquiring these video games as gifts or are purchasing the games themselves. Therefore, it can be assumed that the parents are purchasing M-rated games for their children, and that stores are willingly selling these young children M-rated games. As Paul Keegan says, parents are not following these ratings and stores are not enforcing them, thus allowing young children to view content that is considered obscene (6). Thus, if parents understand and follow the various video game rating labels, and if stores enforce the videogame rating system, then young children will not be as easily able to view mature material.
There are many views as to whether video game violence causes children to behave violently. Many children play violent games because that is what most people are playing and they feel that they need to do so as well. Violence is not only in video games but also in all other forms of media because that is what sells and what will make entertainment companies more money.
Many of the young people of today’s generation have played video games, whether it is Candy Crush, Flappy Bird, Mario, Sonic, Call of Duty, Minecraft, or Skyrim. Almost every electronic device is capable of running games. As advancement in technology increases, the video game industry will also advance. More and more of the next generations are bound to be affiliated with video games. There is a debate whether video games cause people to be violent, especially in adolescents. There has been much research done to come to a conclusion to this question. Not only did Armadi Tansal write an essay to help answer this question, but there has been an online debate about it also. These two pieces of writing may differ in many ways, such as purpose, audience, style, language, appeals, and credibility, but they both help to justify if videos games cause violence.
Just like movies and TV shows, video games have the same rating system based on age.
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)
Video Games have a rating system that allows parents to be aware of the content of the games their children play. All current game...
The Entertainment Software Rating Board or what its more widely known as (ESRB) is the U.S. used system of regulating video game rating. Much like movies and music video games sometimes have content that some parents may want to keep their children away from. That is where the ESRB comes in, they review games and assign them each ratings based on certain content so that people can know the type of content a game will have before they purchase it. Each game rating can be found first in the bottom right hand corner of the game case, these are called Raring Categories, which are EC for Early Childhood, E for Everyone, E10+ for Everyone 10 years and up, T for Teen, M for Mature, and lastly AO for Adults Only. The second part of the rating can be found on the back of the cases and that gives a brief description of the type of content in the game, on example could be seeing a game rated E and seeing “Comic Mischief, Mild Lyrics”, these are referred to as Contend Descriptors.
“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.
When video games are mentioned, most people think of teenagers. In a like manner, people tend to look at violent video games as teenagers’ main source of violence. They seem to believe in the likelihood of a kid bringing Call of Duty gameplay into real life. Since video games and the people who play them vary in many different factors, it is extremely difficult to arrive at a simple yes or no answer as to whether violent video games make people violent. However, when considering that the question is if video games lead to violent people, I believe the answer is no. The sole act of enjoying violent video games will not lead to a violent mindset. Violent video games do not necessarily make people violent since there must be multiple factors
Violent video games make people more aggressive “The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that 97% of youths ages 12 to 17 played some type of video game, and that two-third of them played action and adventure games that tend to contain violent content (Harvard Mental Health, 2010)”. After this occurred, parents were worried about the impacts of violent video games on their children. However, some people claim that everyone knows that no one actually gets killed in violent games. Renee Stafford in the essay Harvard Mental Health argues that children have negative reactions to violent media.
While nearly every game with violent content is required to place a rating and warning label, the percentage of children who actually follow them does not always correlate. In a survey administered to 8th and 9th graders, 53% confessed their parents do not care to check the ratings of their video games before purchasing, and 10% admit some games they have bought on their own would not receive parental approval.(Gentile 7) The reasoning for some parents is the simple excuse, “it won't affect my children,” (Hermida 1) It’s easy for parents to think their kids are mature enough to handle the explicit content listed in the ratings, but, truthfully, a majority of the parents don’t know the harmful
Retailers have already started to implement actions to avoid providing intensely violent games from children. “Virtually all major U.S. retailers are working to help parents keep control of the games children play by enforcing age rest...