Video Games and Violence
analytical Essay
1348 words
The day was April 20th, 1999. During an otherwise peaceful day at Columbine High in Columbine, CO, two seniors—Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold—finally committed an atrocious act. That act had been in the planning for a long time, perhaps even since Harris designed a website for popular, controversial, extremely violent video game Doom in 1996. The Columbine High School shooting is known as the deadliest high school shooting ever, with its death toll of twelve students and one teacher, as well as twenty-four people injured. But little known for some is the fact that the Columbine shooting was what kick started the nationwide controversy over violent video games. Harris, for one, was an avid player of Doom, and some believe that’s what caused him and Klebold to even think of murdering all the people who had, according to Harris’ diaries, simply ‘annoyed’ him. The fallout of this incident was massive, but one of the long-lasting effects has been the worry in people’s minds that there is a connection between video games and violent acts performed by teenagers. Those who do believe that may claim that before the digital age, violent acts—at least those performed by teenagers—were few and far between. (This is an obvious rumor, not a fact.) If that were the case, it’s understandable why some believe that games are causing more violence in today’s youth. Teachers are worried about the issue, as are parents and government officials, and teenagers and game producers are involved in it as well. The issue itself raises many questions: are teenagers so easily affected by images on a screen? Is the world merely a product of its pastimes? If video games really do cause increased aggression in youth, what are people supposed to do about it? Despit... ... middle of paper ... ...t they may be causing me to be violent, I’ll seek help and put them away. I have a feeling most of the world’s sane teenagers would do the same. Works Cited Bernstein, Linda. “Gaming the Console: are video games bad for you? Read up on the research, and then decide.” Current Health Teens, a Weekly Reader publication Mar. 2012: 13+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. 24 Mar. 2014 Peckham, Matt. “Researcher Says Linking Video Games to Gun Violence Is a ‘Classic Illusory Correlation.’” Time.com. Oct. 2013: Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Mar. 2014 Peters, Justin. “Blood, guts, and entertainment: a sanguine take on sanguinary diversions.” Reason Feb. 2006: 58+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 24 Mar. 2014 Hasan, Youssef, et al. “Violent Video Games Stress People Out and Make Them More Aggressive.” Aggressive Behavior Jan. 2013: EBSCO Web. 24 Mar. 2014
In this essay, the author
- Opines that the columbine high school shooting is the deadliest high school shooting ever. some believe that video games are causing more violence in today's youth.
- Analyzes how matt peckham's article, "researcher says linking video games to gun violence is a classic illusory correlation," illustrates the assumption of games causing violent acts in teens has never been proven.
- Analyzes how justin peters extrapolates on the idea that violent games are a result of violence, rather than an cause.
- Argues that the arguments of people who are of the opinion that games can cause violence are as justified as the ones illustrated above.
- Explains that some people believe that violent games are causers of aggression because they simulate actual situations that require violence, causing stress and aggression.
- Analyzes how linda bernstein explains the possible effects of video games on teens in an article for current health teens.
- Opines that the way to solve this issue could be to better educate teenagers and children about the effects of their anger if they don't talk about it or let it out.
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- Violent Video Games and Bad Behavioropinion essayAt 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that video games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd.
- Opines that violence in video games is justified because it is violent but the overall goal is for good. there is only so much the gaming companies can do to stop children from playing them.
- Explains albert bandura's social learning study that shows children learn what behaviors are appropriate and rewarding in a given situation through observation and reinforcement.
- Argues that videogame play may meet reed larson's criteria for fostering initiative in children.
- Explains that addictions come in all forms and will consume a person’s thoughts at all hours of the day.
- Explains that children who come from dysfunctional homes turn to violent videogames to let out aggression or bottled up feelings is a major risk factor for internet and on-line game addiction.
- Explains adachi, paul j.c., and willoughby, teena. “do video games promote positive youth development?” journal of adolescent research.
- Describes dill, karen e. and jody c., “video game violence: a review of the empirical evidence.”
- Explains larson, reed w., toward a psychology of positive youth development. american psychologist 55.1 (2000): 170-183.
- Opines that violent video games are a concern when it comes to young children, and that parents should become more active with their children.
1537 wordsRead More - Video Game Industry and Violenceanalytical essayVideo Game Industry Should Restrain Violence In 1998, the US software industry sold $6.3 billion worth of video games (see Unknown). Not bad for an industry that didn't exist 25 years ago! Yet despite its continued growth, all is not well in the video game industry. School shootings in Littleton, Colorado; Pearl, Mississippi; Paducah, Kentucky; Conyers, Georgia and many other towns have shocked the nation (see Malcolm).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how albiniak, p. tv gets heat from d.c. broadcasting & cable.
- Cites jarver, r., herron, w. and primavera, l. violence in the media: a psychological analysis. international journal of instructional media.
- Analyzes kohn's book, "make love, not war: we keep hearing that we are an aggressive, warlike species, scientists keep telling us that we have a choice."
- Describes langley, edgar, craig, and yost's findings on aggression-consistent, inconsistency and irrelevant priming effects on selective exposure to media violence.
- Explains that zillman, d., and weaver, j. effects of prolonged exposure to gratuitous media violence on provoked and unpromoted hostile behavior.
- Explains that the us software industry sold $6.3 billion worth of video games in 1998, despite its continued growth.
- Explains bayles, m. fake blood: why nothing gets done about media violence. bushman, b. moderating role of trait aggressiveness in the effects of violent media on aggression.
- Opines that the us video game industry hit an all-time high in annual sales for 1998.
1359 wordsRead More - Are Video Games Harmful Essayanalytical essayIn today’s society, children are exposed to technology early on in their lives. Many young children engage in video games as early as 5 years old. This exposure to technology has been blaming for leaving impressions in individuals, causing them to develop behaviors that aren’t norms in certain communities. In an age where every common person has either a laptop, a smart phone, or a tablet, the ability to gain access to video games has been made much easier. Video games have become a much more common occurrence in today’s youths. Does this increase in usage of video games necessarily have an effect on behaviors of individuals? Possibly, but not enough to warrant labeling video games as the sole cause of violence in people. In this paper, I will be looking at questions regarding video games and their violence-depicting nature. Do video games specifically influence behavioral development, like violence, in people? Why is the demographic of violent outbursts caused by video games predominantly focused on male, teenage Caucasians? Why are video games being portrayed in a more negative light when compared to other media mediums? These are all questions that I will be looking to answer in the paper.
In this essay, the author
- Concludes that video games can't be held accountable for behavioral development in children, especially those concerning the development of emotions like anger, aggression, and violence.
- Explains kirsh, s. j., the effects of violent video games on adolescents: the overlooked influence of development. pergamon, 8(2003), 377-389.
- Opines that video games are not solely responsible for detrimental behaviors such as violence, and that they are only portrayed in a negative light because of their accessibility.
- Explains how they use primary and secondary research to find the necessary information to support their arguments.
- Analyzes the correlation between violence and video games by asking 7 questions about sex and age. the results are similar to steven kirsh's secondary research on the effects of violence on adolescents.
- Cites karen sternheimer's article "do video games kill?" to analyze and answer their research questions on why video games are portrayed negatively than other mediums.
- Argues that video gaming is too big of a platform to be held accountable for behavioral developments.
- Explains how blaming popular culture for causing social problems is a problem in k. sternheimer's why media is not the answer.
2836 wordsRead More - Violent Video Games And Gun Violenceanalytical essayViolence across the nation has become an overwhelming, terrifying problem. One rising issue within the nation today is violent video games. Video games that show acts of violence can take a toll on those who play it and encourage those same acts inside of their everyday life. However, another issue that does not only affect the people involved and an entire community, but the whole country is gun violence. In Rebecca J. Rosen’s article “Violence is Contagious”, she compares violence to a disease, as it spreads quickly and infects humans of the nation. Violent video games and gun violence are directly related with each other.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how violence across the nation has become an overwhelming, terrifying problem. violent video games and gun violence are directly related.
- Agrees with sharon jayson's article, "video games tied to aggression", that violent video games are a causal risk factor, but parents should be able to keep their child from engaging in them.
- Analyzes how mary flanagan's article "don't demonize video games for violence" states that children who show aggressive thoughts and behaviors are those who play violent video games excessively.
- Explains that domestic violence is a major problem in today's world, and the cause is certainly violent video games.
- Opines that those who oppose my reasoning may suggest that the father could have been abused by his mother when he was a little kid.
- Analyzes how violent video games are correlated with mass shootings across the nation. in flanagan's article, 97% of american youth play violent games for at least two hours per week.
- Argues that the students would have shown prior acts of aggression and uneasiness before the shooting occurred. tortolero adds that violence, especially among teens, is increasing at an intense rate.
- Opines that violence throughout the nation today has become a developing problem. shackford states that all video games have ratings that should help parents determine whether the games are appropriate or not.
1213 wordsRead More - Video Games and Violenceanalytical essayGun violence in the past years throughout the United States had been increased rapid. Examples of this are Virginia Tech incident, the shooting of congresswomen from Arizona Gabby Gifford, The Sandy Hook Shooting, etc. Most of these violence incidents had one thing in common and that is each of the suspect had psychological issues there were facing and they didn’t have support the system most of us have. Another fact is that most of the suspects were nonsocial individual who spend of their time in their room. With nobody arrived for the suspect confide to most they tend to find something that they can express to in most of these cases they are entertainment media like video games. Now I know there are some who would disagree that video games have nothing to with this about this topic. However as this paper goes deeper in this issue we can finally find out whether video games had influence regardless how powerful it is on gun violence.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that gun violence in the past years throughout the united states had been increased rapid. most of the suspects had psychological issues and didn't have support the system most of us have.
- Explains that they research the behavioral and psychological effects of video games, especially gun violence, and what we can do to prevent terrible incidents from ever happening.
- Explains that a host of individual, environmental, and sociological factors contribute to violent behavior among children and adolescents. video games are one of the fastest growing media industries.
- Opines that it is important to assess the relative frequency of gun use in popular video games. multiple literature reviews and meta-analytic work have concluded that playing violent video game significantly increases the aggressive thoughts, aggressive feelings, and physiological arousal of the players.
- Explains the application of the general aggression model (gam) to violent video game studies, which posits that person factors and situational factors influence the components of an individual's internal state.
- Explains that each of the experiments that the researcher did with the target population came up from the same conclusion while playing video game with intense graphic and violence tend to bring more aggression out individual especially.
- Explains that there were two experiments that were conducting gun imagery on mass media. they found a distinct pattern for gun aggression on both television and video games.
- Explains that the researchers used different meta-analysis and study to test each of these hypotheses in to psychological and behavior affect that individual has while playing a video.
- Explains how they created their own survey to gain data on individual to see what their thoughts, feelings, and opinion about video games in general.
- Argues that violent video games had an influence regardless of whether it is strong or weak on the gun violence.
- Analyzes how brandishing guns in american media: two studies examining how often and in what context firearms appear on television and popular video games.
- Cites huesmann, l. r., limperos, a. m. and young.
1485 wordsRead More - Violence and Video Gamesanalytical essayViolent video games and violent adolescent behavior, is there a connection? Millions of violent video games are sold around the United States, millions more are sold overseas, but the numbers of violent crimes, that could be associated with violent video games is low. Assault, robbery, burglary, rape and murder occur daily. The drug industry accounts for the majority of these crimes. The cases not related to drugs, fall into a number of categories, including Psychological Disorders. Disorders that can cause violent behavior are psychotic or anti-social behavior, depression, schizophrenia, delusion, disassociation, and any others recognized by a Psychologist.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the attorney jack thompson blames the video game grand theft auto as having trained devon moore to carry out the murders.
- Explains that a teenage brain isn't fully developed, which combined with moore's troubled upbringing, and shuffled between broken homes and foster care, led to this tragedy.
- Argues that while psychological studies show that games increase aggression, there is little to no evidence of studies linking violent, disruptive, and dangerous behavior related to video gamers.
- Analyzes how schechter's book savage pastimes argues that violence in media allows individuals to feed their darker natures.
- Analyzes how schecter argues that aggression in adolescent boys may actually be normal everyday play. the majority of boys know the difference between fighting and playing, and video games are more sedentary than cops and robbers.
- Describes doctor david walsh's book, why do they act that way: a survival guide to the adolescent brain, which discusses the downside of media for teens.
- Analyzes walsh's argument that media is a matter of quality and quantity. he argues that if individuals focus on some form of media, they are not focusing on schoolwork, chores or family time.
- Explains that walsh suggests that moderation is the key to dealing with an addicted adolescent, limiting the amount of time they play the game, and ensure that their priorities are taken care of, school work, chores, or family time.
- Describes david walsh, savage pastimes, henry schechter, cbs, michael ward, video games, violence, and crime as survival guides to the adolescent brain.
- Opines that violent video games and violent adolescent behavior are linked. the drug industry accounts for the majority of violent crimes.
- Explains that the majority of people who play video games can distinguish game play from reality; however, some individuals cannot disassociate the game world from the real world.
1976 wordsRead More - The shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Coloradoanalytical essayThe 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.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the shooting at columbine high school in littleton, colorado shocked the world. seventy percent of children ages eight to eighteen have access to violent video games.
- Explains that violent games cause children's minds to alter, causing them to act rudely. teenage brains are in the middle of growing, so it is very penetrable for video games to have a major impact on their mind.
- Explains the negative effects of playing violent video games on the mind and behavior of a child.
- Explains that violent video games prepare kids to kill and even teach them to enjoy the experience. there have been many major disasters where somebody is trying to live their digital fantasy.
- Opines that children who play violent video games at such a young age will have bad effects on them.
664 wordsRead More - Violent Video Gamesopinion essayViolent Video Games There is much persistent debate throughout culture these days concerning video games. Common questions asked are things like ? Where should the lines be drawn in terms of content? and What audience, if any, is this appropriate for? As lawyers fight, bizarre crimes are blamed on video games, constant studies take place, and technology continues to evolve, the video game world continues to thrive and be extremely profitable.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that video games continue to thrive and be extremely profitable. while there is constant focus on the supposed negatives of games like simulated killing, drug use, or sex, most people, especially those completely outside of gaming circles, fail to acknowledge that gaming of any kind can possibly have positive effects on players.
- Explains that 44 teenagers playing violent video games showed increased activity in emotional arousal and decreased responses in self-control. this is understandable, as the situations presented in the games vary vastly.
- Explains that there is a ratings system that applies to all video games market, designed to keep minors from obtaining games that have been deemed inappropriate.
- Opines that the dilemma of what is appropriate for a game is one that will go on for long. they believe that most gamers are not bloodthirsty psychopaths.
- Opines that a world with drug problems, sex, television, and real murders is enough precedent to allow simulations, often humored, of the same.
862 wordsRead More - Video Games and Violent Video Games' Effectanalytical essayA video game is “an electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen” (Merriam-Webster). Video games have been entertaining and challenging gamers since the Game Boy to modern console games. Despite the simplicity of the definition of video games, a video game, especially ones containing violence can have a large effect on the gamer. Because of the realism and advancements in the video game industry, video games can influence the player, and can make the gamer more aggressive, even if the game is not a violent video game. Even though video games have grown in popularity over the past decade, some have not been too popular with parents, for the reason that they are too violent. Violent video games affect kids’ behaviors and health, video games also affect people's social and academic life. Lastly, what do parents do about violent video games?
In this essay, the author
- Explains that video games are an electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen. they are entertaining and challenging gamers since the game boy to modern console games.
- Explains that video games can be detrimental to the player's physical health, as long as the gamer is in a seated position.
- Explains that violent video games teach the gamer to be violent; repetition engraves the killing into the player's memory. being desensitized to violence leads to catastrophic results.
- Analyzes the negative effects of violent video games on a player's social life and academic status.
- Explains that video games are influential because of their encouragement to kill and their interaction with the game.
- Explains that while violent video games pose a threat to the player, parents don't regulate or control their kids' gaming habits. ratings tell the buyer what age group the game is appropriate for, and why it got the rating.
- Explains that video games take gamers out of the reality of life; they give people health problems, force them to depression, and increase their aggression. an electronic game, in which the player is supposed to control, can actually control the gamer’s life.
- Analyzes the effects of violent video games on behavior.
- Analyzes how carey, benedict, studied the effects of playing violent video games in the new york times.
- Opines that aggression from video games 'linked to incompetence.'
- Opines that a new study on violent video games show impact is lasting.
- Explains that a new study on violent video games shows impact is lasting.
- Describes asap science's "what if you stopped going outside?" on youtube.
1232 wordsRead More - Violent Video Gamesanalytical essayThe Dangers of Violent Video Games Today, video games have become very popular. The first video game was created in the year 1958; it was a video game of table tennis. One of the most popular video game categories is violent video games. This has become very popular by many teens specifically teen boys. There are many cons about violent video games and one should be aware of them before he or she buys or plays a violent video game.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that violent video games have become very popular among teens, especially teen boys. violent games can have a dangerous effect on children, as children learn by repetition and the violence affects their learning process.
- Analyzes the pros and cons of violent video games, stating that the repetition part of the game trains one's mind to be acting as if the person was actually in a combat or military scene.
- Analyzes how the repetition of violent video games has drastic effects on a child's brain development.
- Analyzes how the general aggression model (gam) by brad j. bushman and craig a. anderson of iowa state university studied the short and long-term effects of playing violent video games.
- Explains that the university of iowa's long-term data on the effects of playing violent video games can provide answers of why some of the school shootings happened and many other aggression acts occur.
- Opines that violent video games have many great and fun benefits for children and teens, but the truth is, they affect the child's learning process or their physical or mental health.
1311 wordsRead More