Impact of Violent Video Games on Adolescents

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Video games already have a bad reputation when it comes to the teenage generation. The video games that are being released in the past ten years have caused some speculation if they are suitable for kids to play. Some states have even tried getting involved with the issue by banning the distribution of offensive video games to minors. First-person shooting games have increased in popularity, and some experts say it is also increases violent behavior in the adolescents that are playing it. The increase of games that are more realistic, engaging, and increasingly violent will lead to more violent behavior in teenagers in the upcoming years.
All the blame for the current state of teenage violence cannot be placed on video games; they are only an amplifier of the behavior (Anderson, 2011). The games reward violent actions and convey the message that violent responses are appropriate and effective (Porter & Starcevic, 2007). Rewarding the players for doing violent actions leads to the players having thoughts of doing violent actions outside of the game. Long-term players of these games feel the satisfaction of doing violent actions, causing them to think that it is alright for them to do some of the actions in the real world (Anderson, 2011). There are a couple extreme examples that show this theory. Such as, “the 1993 game ‘Doom’ belonged to the ‘first person shooter’ genre and was played by Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before they went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School in 1999” (Porter & Starcevic, 2007). The same is said about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Adam Lanza, the shooter, was known as a devoted Call of Duty player (Keim, 2013). Teenagers can relate differently to the games, where some find them as a ...

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...sence: Teleoperators & Virtual Environments, 17(3), 256-268.

Porter, G., & Starcevic, V. (2007). Are violent video games harmful? Australasian Psychiatry, 15(5), 422-426. doi:10.1080/10398560701463343

Violent video games and young people. (2010). Harvard Mental Health Letter, 27(4), 1.

Keim, B. (2013, February 28). Do Video Games Cause Violence? — NOVA Next | PBS. Retrieved November 17, 2013, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/what-science-knows-about-video-games-and-violence/

Anderson, C. A. (2011). Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence (Part I). Pediatrics For Parents, 27(1/2), 28.

Ivory, A., & Kaestle, C. E. (2013). The Effects of Profanity in Violent Video Games on Players' Hostile Expectations, Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings, and Other Responses. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(2), 224-241. doi:10.1080/08838151.2013.787078

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