Violent Video Games

Does playing video games increase aggressive behavior in children? Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to Susan Scutti, take a firm stance against children and teens playing violent video games. Violent video game playing and aggressive behavior are correlated, but not causational. With the use of scientific experiment and random sampling, one can conclude that violent video games do have a significant effect on aggression, but not in the way that we think.

Since video games have been introduced, video games have been accused of contributing too many atrocities, and acts of violence. News outlets paint video games as being a source of which some acts of violence happen. Yes, violent video games have become more popular, meanwhile becoming controversial, but still there exist no links between aggression and video games. The University of Bologna says that “owning videogames does not in fact seem to have negative effects on aggressive human behavior” (Koffler par.7). Meanwhile, news outlets keep on missing the point on how beneficial video games are. Video games do not contribute to violence, can be educational, and they can improve us in different ways.

In 2008 an eight year-old intentionally, living in slaughter louisiana,shot his grandmother in the head right after playing grand theft auto IV. In America the rate of mass shootings and obesity each year. Video Games also teach antisocial behavior. Video games are responsible for increase of violence in schools, desensitizing American youth, and prompting unhealthy behaviors.

Are violent video games directly correlated to teen violence? This is the burning question many researchers are dedicated to answering. The common form of the question is “Is the increase in violence in games creating killer kids?” The simple answer is no. Instead the opposite has occurred, as games became more violent, the players became calmer. The games create a “safe” outlet for any anger or angst that young people possess. Crime rates in the teen population have lowered and violent teens admit to having little to no interest in violent video games. The games that most people fear are destroying the youth may actually be one of the things helping them grow and become “normal” members in society.

Video games have been around for over fifty years and have become quite popular over the past four decades. In fact, they are so popular that a certain subset of them have recently come into scrutiny and are a topic of hot debate. This subset contains video games that are violent in nature, which, many people loathe. Those people try to use many fallacious tactics to persuade others to join their cause. Take the article ‘Violent Video Games Can Desensitize Players and Increase Aggression’ for example, firstly it hooks an audience with its hasty generalization that violent video games create mass murderers, secondly it uses cum hoc ergo propter hoc to provide evidence that video games contribute to and enforce desensitization and aggression, and thirdly it uses appeals to anonymous authorities to provide accreditation for the content it discusses.

A significantly large portion of the video games created within the past 5 to 10 years contain some form of violence. On top of that, some of the most popular video games out in the market today are extremely violent and warrant an “M” rating for mature. Video game developers are well aware of this trend and continue to produce more graphic, interactive, and realistic content. Therefore, there is a concern that the vast amount of violence in video games is changing how youth develop and what they perceive as normal. Many researchers believe that there is a link between video games and increased aggression in the people who play them.

Others may argue the fact that videogames don’t harm anyone outside the game. Considering the facts of murders and school shootings with the potential cause by video game playing, the stakes are high that video games are truly a danger to others. Just as in the article “High-Jinks: Shootout” this school is contributing to make this simulation as realistic as they can. The school has students contributing to fight to the death, by ‘killing’ other classmates for a earnings of money. Not only is this provoking students to act out, also a reward earned for such violence creates a harmful outcome in the students minds. Though this game only consist of fake weapons and or water guns, this game can also be very dangerous. The game takes place in the environment including others who don’t participate in the games. At one point a student gets to the point of chasing down a student to the airport, and as there overall motive to ‘kill’ the student there were after. These students are now using bath toys, later they can be overcome with the idea that violence is just a game, continuing in some kind of upgrade to a real weapon. Surely with this idea harm can come to others. Let alone the environment is too realistic. By being under that influence that the violence is game, this can be harmful to those teens. The issue is especially relevant today, because the games are more realistic and bloodier than ever, and because most american boys play them at some point. A psychologist at Brock University in Ontario found that longer periods of violent game playing among high school students predicted a slightly higher numbers of such incidents (schoolyard fights with peers) over time. This can show the impact that can be made on others in the same environment as the violent video game

Throughout the history of video games, one of the most important parts of having a video game is the controller. For years ever since video game consoles have been invented it has had a controller to operate all of its features.Without the controller you would not be able to operate the video game console because the controller is like a beacon to the console,it does whatever the controller operates it to do. The controller structure is a very unique design and model. It is built into a way that it can be held and it fits the grooves of your hands so that you can manage to operate all the buttons on the controller to perform the actions that transfer to the game system which shows up on the television. Although due to failures in the video game, the controller becomes the most frustrating aspect of the game.

Because of new technology, contemporary youth is exposed to extreme and intense content each day. In video games, kids fire virtual guns at people. They see it as a victory to have the most kills. Parents should avoid exposing their children to violent video games because this desensitization to brutality leads to dehumanization of others.

Since the 1950s, the effects of videogames have been debated on whether it is harmful to kids.(Carey) During the years, various videogames have developed more gruesome content and have been blamed for crimes such as school shootings. But in recent searches people have found that studies connecting videogames and violence are frequently flawed. Additionally, people have stated that it influences kids into immoral behaviors but, it actually can improve their behavior. It is also scientifically proven that videogames are beneficial in various ways.

As video game images become increasingly more realistic and graphic. Therefore, is there any link between the violence depicted in those games and violence in real life? Students are the main group people who played violent video games very often. Also, losing a game causes many people to have a negative impact. Last, the attitudes on violent game and antisocial. Games are everywhere around us, such as cellphones, televisions, or computers, but violent games are the most popular type of game. The scene inside the game may lead to real things happen, especially for children, who are eager to experience it. Therefore, violent games may cause many impact, such as crimes, antisocial, and negative effects.

“Head shot! That guy was destroyed!” These are just some examples of the dialogue spoken between children who play video games like “Call of Duty” or “Halo.” Children brag about the number of people they have killed in these games. Playing violent video games may cause children to act violently. First, violent video games train players to act aggressively by repeatedly killing an enemy over and over. Second, children mimic what they see, whether it’s in real life or on a video screen. Third, being exposed to the violent behaviors of the game, dead bodies, and blood, make the players insensitive to violence. Because the violence from video games affects the behavior of children, violent video games should not be available for purchase by anyone under age eighteen.

Are violent games danger to the consumer/player? The violent video game is causing the consumer/player to mental problems by doing bad things and think that is alright. Violent video games are harmful because it allows the consumer/player to actively do crime without being punished. We should increase the age of the consumer/player so they won’t be able to purchase these violent games and some of the consumer/player isn’t mentally stable and if they get shooting fighting games would mess with their mental state even more.

“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are

Most of us have certainly pondered on the thought if video games truly create violent citizens, I personally believe that video games do not what so ever. One must distinguish this topic accurately and consider learning to differentiate and not have a biased or radical opinion. There have been many attempts from a number of different people who have tried to give a bad name to video games due to the simulations and realness and say that video games will create a negative environment for anyone who plays them, especially in children. Enthusiasts of video games have spent decades asserting that there is no underlying link between playing violent titles and engaging in the violent real-world behavior. Brand-new data confirms their contentions.