Do Video Games Kill Analysis

Whether violent media content leads to real-life violence is always debatable. And in recent years, school shootings have made video games a new focus of public concern and scientific research. In public opinion, video games cause more aggression in comparison to traditional violent media contents because video games have more features of interactivity, "due to the active engagement and participation of players" (Hummer and Wang et al. 137). But more and more reports tell us that video games are not the main cause of school shooting issues; rather it is the negligence of parents, schools, and communities.

She also brings up reporters and their coverage, or lack of as she states that they'll include other factors for the cause of violence but "...gave these other reasons far less attention than violent video games" [Sternheimert]. She continues her argument by proclaiming "The biggest problem with media-effects research is that it attempts to decontextualize violence" [Sternheimert].

The most extensive argument many have argued toward violent video games affecting one’s behavior can simply be described as that many shooters were fans of violent video games before committing the shootings. A common example people making this argument raise are the Columbine shooters, who were big fans of the video game Doom. While many believe that Doom’s excessive gore and violence led the two teens to perpetrate the mass shooting, that is not the case. What those who argue against video games fail to realize that those who commit these crimes had a history of other conditions. After many mass shootings, researchers often discovered in autopsies that the suspect had a long history of aggression or mental health problems that gaming was not responsible for. Patrick Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson, writers for US News, wrote

The data provided by J. Ramirez does not prove any significant role of Violent Video Games related to shootings in Schools while the editor of Clinton Village News shows studies that prove that only 1 out of 8 shootings are related with interest in Violent Video

The article, “The Truth About Video Games and Gun Violence” by Erik Kain discusses how video games and gun violence correlates. The author opens up with someone by the name of Aaron Alexis who resorted to gun violence while playing video games that contained violence. There is a violent video game that scares parents and behavioral experts. There has been a debate on whether people who play video games later have violent behavior. Throughout the years, video games continue to show images portraying violence.

In the late 90s, it seemed that school violence was on the rise as three separate devastating school shootings occurred over a three-year span. The most severe of the three due to the high death toll was the shooting at Columbine High School, also the one most associated with violent video game influence. The two assailant's levels of gaming expertise and their participation in online gaming was in question as motivation for their killing spree. It was this knowledge that sparked a media frenzy over who's to blame for the heinous acts being committed by these obviously troubled youths. However, other issues in these children's lives can contribute to a deeper explanation.

As the level of violence in video games increases, so does the level of concern for those who play them. Some people are quick to blame school shootings on games just because the kid played a “violent” game. “The topic of videogames and violence can be compared to the chicken or the egg question, which came first, violent games or violent behavior”(Violence and Videogames). However most kids in mass shootings tend to have easy access to guns and are mentally unstable.

Another school shooting goes down and is preyed upon by the media for a gripping new story. Jonesboro, Arkansas, West Paducah, Kentucky, and Littleton, Colorado all have one thing in common. All these places are sites where school shootings have occurred. Why do school shootings happen and who is to blame when they do happen?. These are two questions that are still trying to be answered. Some people say that school shootings are due to the excess marketing of violence in movies, television, video games, and music. "'There is a difference between what one has the right to do and what is socially responsible', he says. It appears that they have targeted a mass audience for this material, and then they're 'horrified' when it's

Because some video games have an age limit for people to purchase mature rated games, the companies don’t think about the kids who watch the ads too. On December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school was raided by a 20 year old man by the name of Adam Lanza. Lanza, known to have been an avid videogame player, went into the school and killed 20 kids ranging from six to seven years of age as well as six other staff members. Lanza had even killed his own mother. After the event had occurred, there was a town nearby that offered a video game “buy-back” program in hopes to discourage videogame violence (Common Sense Media). Anyone with a high school diploma knows that video games don’t make people kill other people. It’s the guns right? Most researcher reject the idea that the television or video games are the single cause that makes people choose to participate in a massacre. Researchers do, however, believe that video games and television do play roles in causing otherwise non-violent individuals to behave

“Many video games sold to the general public, including Metal Gear Solid 2 and Full Spectrum Warrior, were originally developed by the military to be used for sniper training. One effect of these games is to suppress the natural inhibition to kill. The FBI and the U.S. Secret Service contend that intense engagement with these violent video games is a factor in numerous school shootings. In fact, killing simulation games have been found in the homes of most school shooters who use these games to prepare for attacks on their classmates.” So, if we are going to blame video games and now call them killing simulators, why aren’t shootings happening every day in every school. Most teenagers who play these first person shooters, have either never seen or shot an actual weapon. You have to also think about the weapons in these games. Most of these weapons don’t even exist, and even if they did, a teenager could not possibly get their hands on them unless they are already members of gangs, or their parents own one, which isn’t always the case. Mr. Thompson also talks about how police found these violent games in the hands of those who decided to shoot up a school. Well, that’s like saying 100 percent of murderers was found to drink water. You can pick any random child in high school, odds are they have a “violent” video game in their home, so this particular research seems to be very bias and not even well thought out. A middle

Can violent video games truly be a cause of real violence in our adolescents? Can they really lead to such terrible tragedies and massacres like the one at Columbine high school? That is exactly what writer John Leo is suggesting in his essay, “When Life Imitates Video.” He starts us off here by pointing out the similarities between the actions taken during the Littleton massacre and the events of video games like the two shooters often played; and he criticizes the plethora of shooting games available today and how realistic they are. These games that are played by so many today, Leo warns, could “blur the boundary between fantasy and reality.”

The number of school shootings by teenagers causes researchers great concern. Researchers wonder if there is a correlation between the increased numbers in young adolescents playing video games containing violence, and the increased numbers of teenage school shootings. Brad Bushman believes there is a correlation between “video game violence and violence” (2013, p. 376) To explore the correlation, one must first understand the definition of aggression. Eden and Eshet-Alkalai use Anderson and Bushman’s (2003) definition: “who define aggression as a behavior that is directed toward another person (either virtually or physically) in a purpose of causing harm” (2014, p. 451). According to Eden and Eshet-Alkalai: “in their study of aggression, Little, Henrich, Jones, and Hawley, (2003) claim that the most common types of aggression among children and adolescents are Extrovert Aggression, in which a child attacks another child, either physically or verbally, and Interpersonal Aggression, in which a child or group of children attempt to harm the relations between other children…” (2014, p. 451). Olson et al. claim that, “For studies to be useful for policy, aggression must be clearly defined and validly measured with a focus on practical (not just statistical) significance” (2009, p. 189). Once the definition of aggression is established, researchers can evaluate the risk factors, exposure to violence in video games, the length of the exposure, and other environmental factors, of

     The video game connection took precedence in all these news reports. Some stories mentioned other explanations, such as the shooters' social rejection, feelings of alienation at school, and depression, but these were treated mostly as minor factors compared with video games. Reporters gave these other reasons far less attention than violent video games, and frequently discussed them at the end of the articles.

After the elementary school shooting of Sandy Hook in 2012 this issue of violent video games became a hot issue calling for a connection of violence to video games. However, the final investigative report suggested that he was more a fan of nonviolent games (Ferguson, 2015). Video game violence is an issue that continues to be studied due to the inability to come to a general conclusion on whether or not the games provoke violence in connection to mass shootings. With shootings occurring and receiving mass coverage the media and public often seek a person/item to place the blame on. After the tragic events that left people dead or injured one of the topics that emerged was that of video games affects/effects on the person.

Media is perhaps one of the most influential methods of relaying information to the public. Since the early 1900s, politicians and educators have blamed violence in media as a prime contributor to societal violence. The Sandy Hook shooting, which resulted in the death of 21 children and six adults, was directly centered on media consumption and a theory quickly evolved that video game violence was to blame. After several in depth studies were conducted, it has been determined that violent media does not lead to societal violence. Researcher Christopher Ferguson from Stetson University, recently published new results with teens in the “Journal of Youth and Adolescence” which indicated that exposure to violence in media neither decreased