Violent Video Games

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The first violent video game invented was during the 1970’s (Anderson & Bushman, 2001), since then, the degree of violence present in a video game has significantly increased. Today, the graphics, sounds, characters in video games have become more realistic than before any of the past years. Real-life associations are easier to make if a video game is realistic. Violent video games impacts individuals psychologically, physiologically and socially. On one side, these elements results in an increase in aggression, addiction, lack of empathy and desensitization (Myers, 2013, p. 295), fluctuation of heartbeats, high levels of blood pressure, and changes in the perception of society (Anderson & Bushman, 2001 ). In the other case, the individuals do not experience these effects altogether or experience very little because of factors such as strong morals and they have no symptoms of any mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety (MediResource, 2013). These individuals demonstrate a high level of cognitive development like critical thinking and motivational skills (Myers, 2013, p. 295).

The constant playing of violent video games affects individuals psychologically which heightens the players’ aggressiveness. In the context of this genre of video games, it calls for blood shedding, the using of a variety of weapons, participating in an obnoxious manner, and mostly killing and/or harming. According to Albert Bandura’s theory of Observational Learning, people imitate behaviours of others (Myers, 2013, p. 293), this translates into aggression when it comes to violence in video games. Video games enables individuals to manipulate their character in the game, specifically when it comes to violent games, this can be disruptive to one’s...

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