“Am I concerned about guys who play video games 10 hours a day? Yes, but I’m equally concerned about anyone who spends 10 hours a day doing one thing” (Wood, n.d.). Since 1950, scientists have been doing studies and research about the effects of violence in media. They didn’t start focusing on video game violence until the late 1980s(Carey,2013). This brings up the question that many people are asking in today’s culture. Is the growth of violence in video games going to have an affect on the younger generations? Through these studies they have gained much knowledge about the effects video games can have on the brain. The video game industry is a prominent one and has been flourishing for decades. The question whether or not video games are harmful to its players is crucial to answer, as the industry grows even larger. Video games can have negative effects on players, but only if they aren’t played responsibly.
The fact that all types of media have become more violent in the past decade is one that everyone can agree on. The real question is if this change in media has had a negative effect on the viewers. This is why researchers have been studying this topic for over sixty years. They started to focus on violence in video games when it rose to one of the highest media markets. This industry took in over 20.1 billion dollars in 2012. The fact that over 51 percent of all Americans have played or play video games on a regular basis makes it one the leading types of media around(Wood, 1999). These fears of the video game industry are similar to the early fears and panic about rock music, Dungeons & Dragons, and comic books. These sources of media were studied in the 1950’s to try and find the effects they had on the consumer. This ...
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...olent crimes. Scientist have been doing research and studies since the 1950s to see if there is a connection between violent media and crime rates. They started to focus on video game violence in the 1980s. They bring up points about how games are more realistic and gorier than ever. And the fact that every American boy will play video games at some point in there life. It goes into telling how playing violent games violent provokes violent behavior. It also makes clear that it isn’t the only factor that causes he school shootings. And goes to explain that is certainly not the largest factor.
This article is about video games are the leading cause of violent crimes. It goes on to explain that they are a factor but nowhere near the leading cause. It gives stats about violent crimes and how video game sales do not connect. Which is good information to use in my paper.
Today’s youth is heavily influenced by the media. Video games, television, and movies make up a large part of the lives of children in America. These easily accessible forms of entertainment are lightly regulated by parents and the government; children and adolescents are exposed to extremely violent media everyday. “By the time the average American child reaches seventh grade, he or she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television. Some people say so much violence on television makes American society- including its children- more violent” (“Causes of School Violence” 1). Among the violent media, video games are the current trend. Although video games are rated by ESRB (the entertainment sof...
Video games are widely popular as a form of entertainment for young children and teenagers in the United States, and many of these games contain forms of violence. Because this causes exposure to such graphic images for many children, there has been a concern that these violent forms of entertainment affect these children. Numerous studies conducted by groups of psychologists have been directed on this particular issue, leading to evidence both for and against this claim. This is an issue which parents should acknowledge, as it greatly impacts their children. Therefore, parents must become aware of the issue of violence in video games and monitor their children’s access to such games because history as well as numerous studies and statistics to have shown that they have negative effects on children, causing desensitization due to the exposure to such intense images.
Many People have put their attention directly on the influence violent video games have on the bad behavior of children. People believe videogames intensify aggression in children, while others say it can be a safe getaway for a child to express his aggression. Many opinions on this issue are stated still today, and they remain divided amongst the people who claim videogames to be a cause of aggression and those who claim otherwise. A child’s behavior can not be determined by violent video games, but instead is caused by a variety of environmental and domestic factors. It is easy to blame video games on violence, instead of looking at factors such as economic status, familial issues, and exposure to other entities such as television and media. This paper will bring forward the opinions of those who believe in no relationship between violent video games and bad behavior with one counter argument expressing the opinion of those who believe there is a relationship.
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.
Proceeding my perusal of articles and research, written by authors with scientific credentials or otherwise, I have concluded that video games are no more to blame for the ebullition found in today’s society than any other possible cause. However, the incessant brouhaha as well as the negative notoriety surrounding media and video games refuses to cease or let up. These claims—for or against video games—are ultimately subjective and inconclusive and very little can be confidently derived from them. Granted, the violence found in our youth is growing rapidly, and there must be external reasons for that, but using video games as a scapegoat will not rectify anything.
Desensitization from video games creates a biological response that leads to a lack of empathy and more aggressive behaviors. Furthermore, violence in video games is rewarded, making one more likely to repeat the behavior in real life. Finally, video games allow people to take on roles, and along with one’s inability to separate reality from fantasy, people will take on these roles in real life, leading to many of the recent mass shootings. The debate on video games and violence will carry major significance over these coming years. Although violent video games will not necessarily be banned, there might be moves to educate parents about the dangers of violent video games so that their children can be monitored in the games they choose. However, the debate will not be completely solved. Video games are a multimillion dollar industry and the companies may pay psychologists to agree with their sentiments, prolonging the debate. Although video games are some of the most popular items in the world to own, one must take caution in purchasing them, especially violent
The purpose behind the annotated bibliography that is being presented to you is to shed light on the various sources I used to gather the information that is presented in my research paper. The main topic that these sources will encompass is the topic of video game violence and its effect on the youth of our nation. There are various viewpoints to have towards the topic of video game violence and its affect on the youth of our nation. The sources that have been chosen to be used in this research are not only chosen to help give an unbiased look into the topic at hand, but also to help give a look into the research that has been conducted dealing with this topic such as internet articles, magazine articles and books.
Peckham, Matt. “Researcher Says Linking Video Games to Gun Violence Is a ‘Classic Illusory Correlation’”. time.com. 17 Dec 2013.
Anderson, Craig A., and PhD. ” Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions.” American Psychological Association (APA). N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.
Studies on the link between videogames and violent behaviors began in the late 1970’s. The first time a violent video game was introduced and raised some eyebrows about the amount of violence being displayed was with a certain racing video game. “The controversy dates all the way back to Death Race, a 1976 8-bit video game in which cars run over bad guys, turning them into tombstones” (Kelly, 1). The studies between videogames and violent behavior continued into the 1980’s. “In 1984, a study found that arcade games have a “calming effect” and that boys use them to blow off steam. Both studies relied on surveys and interviews asking boys and young men about their media consumption” (Kain, 2). As a result, the link between videogames and violent behavior has been studied for a long time.
Inderscience Publishers. "Could Violent Video Games Reduce rather than Increase Violence?." ScienceDaily, 15 May 2008. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Although video games can have no urges in young adults and children to commit violent crimes because most all video games are fictional and not based on real life events or moments in history .An example to prove this is “We found that game sales related to a decrease in crimes, and especially violent crimes.” (Carey). This can tell us that because of the increase in sales of video games which lead to a decrease in crimes because of how the games are fictional, so they had no effect on teenagers or people who bought the game on how violent they would become from playing the games. Meanwhile, there are a higher percentage of young adults and children that do play the games such as GTA. An example of how video games can have negative effects on the people who do play the violent games is “In surveys about 80% of High School age boys say they play video games most of which are thought to be violent” (Carey). The quote taken from a survey can tell us that the 80 percent of high school age students that play video games can be connected to the non-fictional aspect of the game by the students committing the crimes or violent actions because of the misconnection between real and fake, so they are then to commit more violent actions in the future. In conclusion that high school age students playing non fictional games will be promoted to violent crimes in future places and
The debate about media violence has been going on for hundreds of years. The newest form of media being scrutinized is videogames. I will be taking you through this debate and sharing with you some things that you may find surprising. This is not a new topic and has ...
“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)
While many different case studies have been done all over the world, scientists have yet to prove that there is a direct correlation between violent video games and child aggression. Since the start of this quarter, this has been an issue that I have been doing extensive research on. Despite looking into several scholarly sources, I was surprised to see that many of my findings were pretty consistent with one another. For the mort part, what I found through my research was a bunch of statistics from case studies and the interpretation of those statistics from renowned scientists. In many cases, statistics and studies showed slight indications that violent video games have an effect on c...