A whopping 90% of children play video games, and 97% of those are between 12 and 17. However, 85% of video games have violence in them, but is this a bad thing? In a world with lots of violent crimes and issues, many people have been a little too fast to blame them on something as simple as video games. Ever since video games were introduced to the public in the 1970s, people used the violent ones to “prove” the motives for school shooters and many others. However, tests and scientific information says the opposite. Even though others say the opposite, violent video games do not cause violence because people need to focus on the real causes of violence, there is not a link to video games and violence, and that video games can be beneficial …show more content…
The one thing that violent video games have been blamed with causing are school shooters. There are a couple of key points that suggest that they do not, however. For example, the target age and gender for more violent games matches up with the average profile of a school shooter. Rarely is a shooter actually a gamer, as less than half of shooters played violent games. It is also hard to even make connections with video games and violence due to their nature. 98.7% of kids have played a video game, so chances every one of those shooters has played at least a couple rounds of Pac-Man. It has also been difficult to prove that violent video games cause aggression because there is not a way to measure violence. Surprisingly, countries sporting a large number of violent video game players such as South Korea and the Netherlands are some of the safest countries in the world! All in all, violent video games and aggression are not as closely linked as data would …show more content…
For example, young kids being exposed to violence in video games teaches them that violence is linked with success and getting their way. Exposing children to violence also makes it harder for them to consider nonviolent solutions to problems. Lastly, very young adolescents are unable to tell the difference between video games and real life, and often try to mimic the violence in their favorite games. Overall, there are some links between violence in games and aggression in real life, but lots of data proves that media violence does not cause aggression in
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.
Since the 1970 video games have become more popular than ever before. Generating 11.7 billions of dollars of sells every year or more, the video game industry is considered one of the largest industries in this century. However, video games have been a topic of controversy. With the sales of violent video games going up and the increased violence in schools and teenagers, video games are always to blame. Many people speculate that video games are the cause on why many teenagers have developed aggressive and violent behavior, are desensitize to violence, and the increase violence in schools and public places. In contradiction, video games have little or no fault in teenagers’ violent behavior and shouldn’t always be blamed.
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.
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.
According to the American Psychological Association, there is not sufficient evidence to prove that violent video games are the cause of violence and crime in real life. The only correlation between violence in video games and real life, is that those that play violent video games are slightly more aggressive, not violent. More studies and research is needed to determine a better path and to create more knowledge on the subject.
“Contrary to the claims that violent video games are linked to aggressive assaults and homicides, no evidence was found to suggest that this medium was a major (or minor) contributing cause of violence in the United States.” (Markey, 290)
then video games could be responsible for much of the bad news we hear on television.
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 demonstrate aggression and violent behavior.
Do video games cause violence? Violence in our real world caused by playing a video game that has guns in it or even death. Some people say they do and others don't. Here are my three reasons why video games do not, have not, and will not cause violence.
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.
“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.
Do violent video games affect a persons behavior? Why are so many children hooked on violent video games? What do violent video games do to someones mind? Yes, the answer that everybody is looking for is staring us right in the face, yes violent video games makes a person more violent. Do you know video game developers spend millions of dollars developing violent video games and advertising these violent video games. All the money that goes into developing video games have something to do with making the games more addicting. Violent video games desensitizes violence in a childs mind. The answer is simple, violent video games makes a person violent. Exposing children to violent video games will train the child's mind for doing violent actions being done in the game. Mass homicides are linked to violent video games. Many studies show violent video games make a person behavior more aggressive.
Methodology This research was conducted using the online databases at the Oregon State University Library.... ... middle of paper ... ... In fact, violent video games influence children’s behavior badly, thus the child is more aggressive.
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.
Do Violent Video Games Really Cause Violence? Violent video games are often blamed for causing violent crime. This has lead to many people attempting to ban or censor violent video games. These people are trying to explain social violence with video game use, but they do not have evidence to support it.