The inescapable reality of violence, whether attained through the media or from personal experience, affects the everyday life of some. Tragic events such as school shootings and mass murders happen all too often. Society is now constantly wonder why such terrible things happen. There are countless factors some such as bullying and mental handicaps are often considered primary factors in violent crimes. Now a certain types of video games, the ones that portray violence, have caught the attention of the mass media and nowadays every channel considers it their duty to remind people how much damage these games cause to children and adults. As many as 97% of US kids ages 12 - 17 play video games, all contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic …show more content…
There are studies that show playing violent video games causes more aggression, bullying, and fighting. 60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games (Gentile). Journal of the American Medical Association found that habitual violent video game playing had a causal link with increased, long-term, aggressive behavior. Even though there is an increase in the aggression level of players, in the end there are able to be controlled and later on able to differentiate between real- life and gaming. It is true that many perpetrators of mass shooting played violent video games. Some researchers are concerned that violent video games teach children that violence is an acceptable approach to solving conflicts and achieving goals. This led to September 24, 2002, 33 media scholars, historians, psychologists, and games researchers filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, opposing a law that bars minors from video games containing “graphic violence” (Media Scholars..). Also the American Psychological Association in 2005 called for the reduction of violence in games which are marketed to the youth and teens. These are some of the many cases brought against the violence in video games but there are significant evidence presents that suggest otherwise. The judges in the case upheld the decision presents at first but scholars and psychologist were able to prove it wrong. The scholars ' brief explains that most laboratory experiments and other efforts to prove adverse effects from media violence have yielded null results. Those researchers reporting "aggressive" effects have often manipulated the numbers, ignored negative findings, and used measures of "aggression" that are artificial and
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
Video game effects are relatively new in modern society. Even though these games are often entertaining, the content of the game has been increasingly more and more violent as technology becomes more prevalent. The popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, violent video games do not cause an increase in aggression, in adolescents. The forceful plan by the government is caused by an exaggeration of the effects of violent video games and this plan are indeed pointless.
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.
Video games and its effects on adolescents and responsibility of parents is a topic that is widely debated whether it’s the parent’s responsibility or the game industry should be regulated. The video games industry itself has been available to consume for only about the last 30 years. With that being said the topic is still rather new in terms of its effects but its effects on children can currently be measured. The industry is very unique in terms of entertainment because players are transported into the game its self essentially becoming part of the script.
For many years video games have been a great influence on children giving them a chance to be entertained for a couple of hours. On the other hand, parents should become aware on what exactly their children are playing. In this generation technology is becoming more popular and video games are producing more and more in order to catch the children’s attention especially the violent ones. Games like “Mortal Kombat” “WWE” “Madden Football” and many more. Children learn from what they see, so if they see violence in a video game they will become more aggressive and have a bad behavior. Video games are bad influencing children to lose focus, become aggressive, if mental illness can be affect more,and create a change in behavior causing
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.
Have you ever wondered if violent video games can cause aggression in children? Thousands of children all over the world engage in violent video games for a large amount of time during their day. According to ProCon.org 60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games. I will be using naturalistic and case study research methods to determine if violent video games cause aggression in children.
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.
“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...
There is no doubt that the media can spin a story into a shocking and scary account produced solely with the intent to sell. This information, force-fed to the public, can cause fear and hatred to develop within our country and result in gun violence and bloodshed. One reason for the amount of youth violence in America is the violent content in many video games. The average adolescent spends a major part of the normal week watching or interacting with some form of the media’s products. Video games are one of these media-based mediums and have become increasingly popular since the 1980’s.
“90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children” ("Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?”). Pediatrics and parents are aware that kids that play violent video games see a change in their behavior. Many cases they see the kids with anger problems and causing them to do violent acts. Violent video games have been around for many years where some older titles, such as ‘Mortal Kombat’ and 'Grand Theft Auto’ both are some of the most controversial ones. The video game industry has been growing and with the large amounts of violent video games being produced. “Total US sales of video game hardware and software increased 204% from 1994 to
A video game is a specific type of software that runs on hardware, a computer or video game console, and today's video games are increasingly realistic and technologically advanced. Social networking has even made its way into the video game industry with online gaming. Video games, especially those that contain violence, are becoming increasingly popular with college students. They are often considered a bellwether of Internet use, but the Internet is not the only technology they have incorporated into everyday life. They are also using other technologies like cell phones, mp3 players and other devices to entertain themselves wherever they may be but still, they are more interested on videogames that internet offers. With the increasing amount of time that students are spending on video games, one is left to wonder what effects video games have on the people who play them.
Are video games a negative or positive influence on children’s behavior and actions? Several studies have been pointing out that exposure to violence on television, movies, video games, cell phones and the Internet increases the risk of violent behavior in the viewer, like to grow in an environment filled with real violence increases the risk of violent behavior. Plentiful of the research on current media have focused on the violence spread by TV for experts in developmental psychology and John Murray of Kansas State University, United States, it is difficult to conclude otherwise than that violence on television has increased levels of violence and aggression in the society, and that video games have an effect even more powerful. Violent video games are more distress, than the films of the same sign and that the images of violence shown on television because they are interactive, because they use a technology environment that allows the user total immersion in the situation, while producing new objects cultural. The reason is that video games are not limited to violence to show a passive spectator, but require the person to connect with the character and act for him, while violence in film and television images whose exposure is limited only to visual perception. The video game violence has long-term real effects. Children exposed to high levels of violent entertainment can become more aggressive and develop a tremendous face the suffering of others, also increases the likelihood they interact and respond to violence in their social environment. In violent video games as success is clearly defined as killing or take, and failure as die or loses the good and evil as the wicked: they, different from us, it is just revenged, I mate,...