Rebellious, violent behavior in youth is often treated simplistically – whether Elvis Presley’s latest hits, the programs airing on Saturday night television, or the newest film playing in theaters were popular amongst children and young adults, the blame for unfavorable behavior has always had its scapegoat. One of the most recent additions to society’s scapegoats is video gaming. Whether the objective of a given game is to fight crime or cause it, the morality of video games is often questioned and scrutinized by analysts and citizens alike. People like Amanda Schaffer, a staff writer for the Internet magazine Slate, will explain that “children who are immersed in the world of violent video games may be more likely to get into physical fights, argue with teachers, or display anger and hostility.” Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, a former U.S. Army Ranger and tactical trainer, would go as far as to say that video games not only encourage violent behavior, but teach their players how to partake in it themselves (Hoerrner). While the possibility of violent video games having a negative influence on their players may be up for debate, David Walsh, the president and founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family, insists that games within any genre can contribute to negative behavior. He argues that the general act of playing video games can cause aggressive behavior and unfavorable habits in young players. He also notes that, in a survey, parents of children who play video games tend to dishonestly state how much they regulate the hours in which their children play video games; pointing out that there is not enough control exercised in their children’s gaming. The glaringly obvious point the seems to miss in stating this, how... ... middle of paper ... .../ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE|EJ3010582205&mode=view>. Lee, Wilson. “Video Games Are Useful Educational Tools.” Greenhaven Press. (2009): Web. 25 Feb 2012. . Kalinske, Tom. “Video Games Do Not Cause Aggressive Behavior in Children.” Greenhaven Press. (2000): Web. 25 Feb 2012. .
In the book “Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy,” the authors relay the general information concerning the history of violence in video games as well as the beginning of the issue of violence in video games (Anderson, Gentile, and Buckley 2007). They state that it was “during the 1990s that violent games truly
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.
For many years, many people have linked the increased violent and aggressive behavior in teenagers and children to violent video games for two main reasons. Video games are very addictive and gamers can become very violent and aggressive when someone tells them to stop playing and can spark the violence in people who already have aggressive behavior. Such examples of violence addictions were in the cases of Daniel Petric and a thirteen-year old that were very addictive to video games and had already aggressive behavior. Seventeen year old Daniel murdered his mother, Susan Petric, “after she being denied him access to Halo 3” (Massoud). If that didn’t sound horrifying, a “13-year-old boy murdered an 81-year-old for money to fund his online gaming addiction” (Massoud). We can’t deny the fact that these two cases of game addiction prove the argument, but everyone should ask themselves these questions. If parents did know about the viole...
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.
One of the fastest growing sectors in the United States economy, with sales over six billion dollars in 2012 is the video gaming industry ("Games: Improving the Economy’). Technical innovation has given the video industry power to create exciting realistic worlds, turning video games into the vast entertainment business that it is today. Setting sales records, Violent Video Games (VVG) are now a common staple in many households. One of the most argued topics in media studies, investigation on the impact violence has on society from mass media continues to rage on. Parents look to the media for reliable studies to confirm or distinguish the effects VVG has on children. Even more menacing than violence on television or in movie theaters, VVG have created enticing graphic worlds created to slaughter fellow players. Modern video games allow players to take an active role within the game. Enticing players to engage in realistic assault scenes that are meant to be entertaining. Worthy playing is then rewarded with: trophies, bonus points and extra lives.
Video games have gotten a lot of negative attention in the media as a scapegoat for what is wrong with children. Are video games really as bad as they are made out to be? Alice Park, writer of “Little By Little, Violent Video Games Make Us More Aggressive” published on time.com, believes that video games are making people more aggressive. But within her article there are many flaws with her arguments; it makes a poor attempt to blame video games for events like the columbine shooting, racism, and hostile behavior. Park makes poor unsupported claims about the quantity and quality of games being played by children and the effects these games are having on them.
According to Henry Jenkins, an American Media Scholar and professor at MIT, “young people in general are more likely to be gamers —90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play.” That is an overwhelming amount of young people. In recent years, there have been incidents such as the Columbine school shooting which have shown young people committing terrible acts of violence. In the case of the Columbine shooting, the teenagers who committed the shooting were both found to be avid players of a violent computer video game known as Doom (Ferguson, 26). This has raised lawmakers and concerned parents to begin opposing violence in video games. These people believe that video games (and violent video games in particular) can cause young people to become extremely desensitized to violence, and in turn cause them to commit acts of violence that they would not have committed otherwise. However, these people fail to realize that our youths have been exposed to violence far longer than modern media has been around. For example, Wired.com writer Michael Venables points out that many of our classic fairy tales deal with violent conditions. He reminds people that “Cinderella’s evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves.” and “Hansel and Gretel kill their captor by baking her in an oven.” People who oppose video games pose a major threat to the development of youth in our modern society, because video games can have many positive effects on young people.
The early 1990s brought with it increases in technology and violent video games emerged with “person-on-person violence” which include games such as two graphic fighting games, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter and a first-person-shooter zombie infestation game called Doom. By this time, youth violence had dramatically increased and peaked to one of the highest levels on record and various groups of school shootings shocked the United States. The more drastic response to this was the belief that video games were training young children to become murderers by simply playing these violent video games (Ferguson). In view of consumers’ violent nature, the vast majority of research concerning video games has focused on “the way game play impacts anti-social behavior” (Tear). The video game industry was aware of this issue and had to improvise quickly on a solution or there would have been a noticeable decrease in sales. Parents were and still are ...
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.
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.
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...
By far the largest concern of technology today is video games. There have been so many experiments and studies to try and figure out if video games have a negative or positive effect on our children. A growing body of research is linking violent video game play to aggressive cognitive, attitudes and behaviors (D.A. Gentile, 2004). Video games can obviously be dangerous for our children causing aggression, bad performances in school and obesity. Although we cant blame all of these problems on the use of video game...
Ihori, N., Sakamoto, A., Shibuya, A. & Yukawa, S. (2007). Effect of video games on children’s aggressive behavior and pro-social behavior: A panel study with elementary school students. Retrieved 26 March 2014 from http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/07312.31554.pdF
Several studies display that video games with violent content are related to more hostile behavior in teens. This is a concern because most of the popular video games contain violence. Part of the upsurge in aggressive behavior is connected to the amount of time children are permitted
Saleem, M., Anderson, C. A., & Gentile, D. A. (2012). Effects of prosocial, neutral, and violent video games on children's helpful and hurtful behaviors. aggressive behavior, 38(4), 281-287. doi:10.1002/ab.21428