Video Game Violence

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Video game violence has no effect on teenagers becoming violent in the real world, although the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has raised lots of controversy because of the rating of recent games. The difficulty of games has more of an effect on teen’s aggression than the games’ violence itself. These days there have been many games that have caused many heads to turn due to the violent contents. But in some cases video games teach children things and raise hand eye coordination. In some cases playing violent video games help children develop problem-solving skills. Video game violence controversies started off in 1976 with the release of a game called Death Race. A recent study at a university states that video games are a cause of racism. Studies have shown that video game violence has no effect on real world violence. In fact violent crime rates have actually decreased while video game sales have more than doubled since 1996 according to New York Times. Dr. Michael Ward, an economist at the University of Texas at Arlington said “We found that higher rates of violent video game sales related to a decrease in crimes, and especially violent crimes.” "None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on," said Iowa State University psychologist Dr. Craig A. Anderson. Instead of the violent game itself, being bad at playing difficult games gives rise to real-world aggression. Not being able to beat a level on Tetris might cause more of a vulgar out lash than running around killing thousands of pedestrians on Call of Duty. There is something called “rage quitting”, this is when someone loses on... ... middle of paper ... ...characters were more likely to associate negative behaviors with people of color, and act more aggressively towards them afterward. Most times black characters in games are usually supporters to the main character, and they mostly are outdated stereotypes. Works Cited "Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence." Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 May 2014. "Controversial Study Says That Video Games Make You Racist." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2014. "Do Violent Video Games Boost Aggression? Study Adds Fire to Debate." Fox News. FOX News Network, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 08 May 2014. Guarini, Drew. "9 Ways Video Games Can Actually Be Good For You." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Nov. 2013. Web. 07 May 2014. The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, n.d. Web. 08 May 2014

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