In the article “Why we need violent video games,” Gilsdorf draws attention to the fact that violent video games are not the reason for aggressive behavior amongst youths; rather he suggests that they are an outlet for people’s aggression (Gilsdorf, 2013). Ethan Gilsdorf started out in journalism as a Paris-based travel writer and he is the author of the travel memoir investigation Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. He is known to be a writer, journalist and a critic (“About Ethan Gilsdorf”, n.d.). The author’s purpose in this article is to inform the readers that violent video games are not always related to the violence in reality. This is a timely argument as the article assesses the relation between violence and video games …show more content…
For example, the author mentions that Lanza liked non-violent video games like Dance- Dance Revolution, yet she was responsible for the Newtown incident. On the contrary, several news articles have reported that Lanza was addicted to violent video game like Call of Duty and Gears of War (Bates & Pow, 2013; Sheldrick, 2012). Maybe Lanza also liked Dance-Dance Revolution, but the author’s use of hasty generalization in ignoring the truth is misleading his audience. Moreover, the author uses oversimplification in the last few paragraphs. Gilsdorf explains clearly that people are becoming more civilized and that they need some place to release their stress and aggression. I completely agree with the fact that we need adrenaline rich experiences but I can’t agree to his idea that video games are a good outlet for aggression. There are various other sports that do the same thing like basketball, badminton, etc. Overall, the article would have been more meritorious if he had limited the use of logical fallacies in his
Aggression can be an outcome of numerous different factors, yet many still believe that VVGs alone are to account for growing aggression. However, if this was the case, would there not be a spike in the violent crimes committed by those who, might, play video games? Not only do the amount of homicides executed after a release of a popular video game consistently decrease (Stein), but as several researchers pointed out "90% of young males play video games. Finding that a young man who committed a violent crime also played a popular video game . . . is as pointless as pointing out that the criminal also wore socks" (Markey and French). This phrase summarizes the major downfalls of the hypothesis that VVGs cause aggression, but it is also supported
But why is this? What do they see as “fun” in this. What do they see as “helpful” in this? Why is “fake” murdering kids helpful to these teens? These are questions we don’t know. So why do we do it? It definitely doesn’t keep them healthy. They are not even sleeping in their house! They are staying overnight in borrowed vans and sleeping on futons! Also, According to “Do Games Like 'Grand Theft Auto V' Cause Real-World Violence?”, it states “Quoth Fox & Friends' Steve Doocey: "unfortunately you know it seems every time something bad like this happens we look at "is there a connection between video games and the shooter?" Well, take a look at some people who were described as addicted, from Columbine High School, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the Virginia Tech shooter, the Arizona shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, that Norway shooter who Anders Behring [sic], I think he shot 77 people. The Aurora shooter, James Holmes, the Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, they're all described as essentially being addicted to video games." This is saying how teens who play video games as a teenager can possibly turn out to be future shooters/killers. During these video games they are pretending to be a shooter and as they gain information on how to be a shooter, they tend to use those skills in real life. This is not what we want. In the same text it also states, “The Telegraph's Nick Allen described the shooter's ‘darker side’ which ‘saw
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.
What ever happened to the simple games like Mario Kart 64, Baseball, Football and Sonic the Hedgehog? In the book The Sociology of War and Violence the author states, “Our popular culture, novel, history textbooks, mass media, art, games, children’s toys and many other everyday outlets are saturated with images and instruments of violence” (Malesevic). There has been a huge rise in violence in the media culture today. Television shows, movies, video games, etc. have all become more violent today than they have ever been in the past. Kids used to play these simple games and were fine with that, but now they only care about them if they have violence, killing and destruction. Today’s video games are being created to be based around nothing but
As we evolve into a more advanced species, so does our technology, and along with our overly advanced technology, comes video games. They’ve have certainly come a long way since they were first introduced to the main stream audience and have been slowly creeping its way into many daily lives, making them a lot more entertaining and less dull. Video games’ one and only purpose is to entertain. However, it is indeed true that everything is fun and games until somebody gets hurt, and that is exactly what has happened over the years in video games. With the help of our technology, being more developed than ever, video games have also become increasingly sophisticated and overall more close to reality than
Not every video game causes post game aggression, but documented in his article, “Players who enacted in-game violence through a heroic character exhibited less postgame aggression than players who enacted comparable levels of in-game violence through an antiheroic character” (Sauer 205). As a graduate of Radboud University, Isabela Granic brings to light the reasons why the youth actually benefit from playing violent video games. For example, in her article, “The Benefits of Playing Video Games,” Granic illustrates the fact that children gain social skills, highly efficient motor skills, and the understanding of the human body as a whole. Noted by the author, “Whereas adolescents and adults often use self-disclosure and direct discussion with close friends to resolve emotional issues, children use play to work them out through pretend-based narratives enacted either alone or with others” (Granic 67).
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 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.
Craig Anderson worked with kids third through eighth grade in singapore to study the effects of video games on children cognitive development(69), specifically focused on violence and hostility, without taking into account many of the other factors. Anderson and his team gave the students a questionnaire, that asks about their video game habits and measures their hostility and aggression, 3 times over the course of 2 years to measure the effects playing video games has on children. Part of the studies findings directly contradict the title of Park’s article showing that rather than video games making us more violent over time, the children including the ones playing more video games were less aggressive as they got older(Park,2014). Children naturally outgrow their tendencies to lash out and find better coping skills(43). In describing Anderson’s research Park uses the ambiguous phrase “long-term gamers” in a study involving only children in grades three through eight. It is hard to imagine that any of these kids could have been gaming long enough to be considered “long term gamers”. Perhaps while she may want the reader to think prolonged exposure to games will lead to violence, she actually means that kids that play for obsessive hours are more likely to have results on Andersons test to indicate that they may have more aggressive behavior. While Anderson’s research does hint that there is a possibility that games affect children negatively it is not concrete
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.
Some people believe that violent video games can cause behavioral problems. This is not true; it is only their opinion. They may say people that play violent video games start having behavioral problems, and what was that cause? It is only people and it has no effect on them, only their own actions and their mental health issues. The violent video games for computers and consoles’ sales rate went up, but violent crime offenses went down.
Throughout history many things in general have been improved upon. Four major improvement areas are: warfare, medicine, education of society, and technology. All of these improvements have brought with them positive effects. Warfare has allowed oppressed people to rule themselves; medicine has saved countless lives with vaccines and treatment programs; education of societies has allowed people to make their dreams come true; and, advancements in technology have made the previous three possible. With these positive effects also come negative effects, which are seen on a grand scale. Advancement in warfare has caused numerous deaths, medicine has advanced to the point where ethical questions arise because of cloning and stem cell research, the education of society in addition with the advancement in technology have allowed these negative advancements to be achieved.
Over the past years, video games have been a way to escape reality for some people. Video games vary from fantasy, romance, and role playing games to violent games. However, vicious video games have been blamed for school shootings, growths in bullying, and violence concerning women. Various people argue that these games numb players to violence, recompense players for imitating violence, and educate children that violence is a suitable way to resolve conflicts.
More so, the author of this editorial achieves her goal to convince the reader violent video games have a negative effect on the youth and young adults. As well as revealing the correlation not only to aggression but rage. Norcia uses just enough information so the reader understands the concept and objective of the piece however does not feel berated by information.
In a society driven by technology, video games are becoming more popular each and everyday. People of all ages enjoy video games in their free time; these games allow the player to become an athlete, a soldier, or a professional fighter at the tip of their fingers. The biggest problem with these video games is that they are becoming too violent. In today’s society, children often brag about the new video game they bought, and the number of people they have managed to kill while playing these games. Video games have become realistic, causing them to intrigue a larger amount of children. Many of these violent video games encourage killing and fighting of enemies, or strangers in the game. Each year a new game system, and hundreds of video games are released, and millions of kids go out and buy them and spend hours playing. Video games have a large effect on school performance and time spent with family. Children would prefer to play their games than sit down and talk with their parents (Saleem, 2012).