Grand Theft Auto Affects Teens

The controversial video game by rock star called Grand Theft Auto has been sparking debates across the nation for years. This is one of the best selling franchises in the video game industry but the message in this top playing videogame for our youth in particular teens is violence. This game depicts family violence, drug selling, murder, extortion, robbery, theft, grand theft auto and many more violent crimes. This game really belittles women I feel because they always use derogatory language towards them. This game always shows “pimps” and ho’s” and the pimp is always beating on the women. This sends a message that our society is fine with this type of behavior since we generate it for our amusement and entertainment. I am one of those who is at fault by playing this type of games but I do understand that this is not appropriate for our youth because they are still learning and trying to understand what is the

In “Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America” Morris P. Fiorina writes about how Americans may or may not be polarized when it comes to certain issues. In chapter one Fiorina mentions many quotes about what many people think about this topic. In the next chapter he goes onto stating why Americans think that America is polarized. In chapter three Fiorina gives some examples of how of little differences are between the red states versus the blue states.

In the modern world, violence is an everyday occurrence, and the video game Grand Theft Auto not only promotes violence and aggression, but it also normalizes it, creating a negative impact on society. Video games have gained a lot of popularity as of late, nearly every person has some sort of gaming device, whether that is a console, handheld device, or even just a smartphone. Consequently, the act of playing video games regularly has become accepted as ordinary in today’s culture. It seems strange to think that a video game could have any effect on society, whether it be positive or negative. However, through the presentation of offensive language, aggressive behavior, and gun violence, the video game Grand Theft Auto will undoubtedly assist you in comprehending the negative characteristics that a video game has the potential to possess.

Many people have a problem with the violence in Grand Theft Auto 5, a lot of it isn’t forced (violence), but if/when done over and over parents fear for what it must do to their children. Does it desensitize them to to real world violence, does it encourage killing - many people are scared of what they don’t know. For example, Target in Australia stopped selling GTA5 after multiple complaints about the violence in the game.

Video games, such as Grand Theft Auto, depict graphic scenes which are saturated with themes of sex, robbery, and murder. Despite the game being rated M (for mature), many young children play and enjoy this game. Of course, Grand Theft Auto is not the only violent video game in the market. Call of Duty, Halo, and Destiny are all examples of shooting, roll-playing games. As I previously mentioned, many young children and teenagers play one or even all of these games. Parents and family give them as Christmas and birthday gifts, or even as incentives for good behavior. One of the main problems here is the audience. The themes in these games become ideas in young impressionable minds. In an interview with Chris Berry, a student at Reading Area Community College, he remarks:

Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto, and Doom. Many know these games for their violent nature, stemming from their graphic scenes or gameplay involving shooting or beating up opponents, and these factors have caused these games to stir up quite a bit of controversy. For the last few decades, people have debated the effects of these games on the people who play them. Many believe those who play the games become more aggressive as a result of their violent nature, while others argue that playing the games has no effect on one’s behavior. Society should realize that violent video games have, at most, minimal effect on players’ behavior.

Games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, because the teens participating are going through other people’s personal information, attacking people in public, and, more generally, are more violent when they are older.

Is it possible that some of today's most popular yet most violent role-playing games might have a severe negative impact on today's world? In today's world, many teens are involved in a variety of games with simulated violence included in them. Although they are popular, these games have received a lot of controversy over the years. “Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza was obsessed with the violent lifelike video battle games that he played at the large suburban home where he lived alone with his mother, a teacher who became the first victim of his horrific shooting spree in December of 2012.” (6 Murders whose killings are linked to video game obsession). Events like this are unfortunately common which results in people being concerned about the games causing real-world problems. Others have brought up concern about the content and others about their purpose. If these games are as hazardous as they are said to be, they should not be permitted or tolerated at all because of the range of problems they can cause. Even though some believe they are okay I strongly believe role-playing games with simulated violence have a negative impact on teens because, violent role-playing games waste too much time, influence violence, and cause bad behavior.

What started out as a disagreement between mother and son has led me into the controversial world of Grand Theft Auto. My fifteen-year-old son desperately wants this game. All I can hear are the stories of violence associated with this game, which causes this mother’s heart to shudder. So began the search to back up my denials for his ownership of this game. The Grand Theft Auto series of games has been surrounded by controversy, however the research does not always back up public opinion as will be demonstrated in this paper.

Call of Duty is a military role playing game that puts the player in a seeming real life situation. In the game, points are awarded based on the number per kill in a single match and a killstreak award is given based on how many times the player can kill before they die. There are over 100 million people that have played these games alone. As for the game Grand Theft Auto, it is a role playing, free-roaming game of nothing but violence. It teaches various urbanly-popular traits such as stealing cars, making drug deals, gang wars, police defiance, killing, fighting, and much more. Over 33.8 million people have played one game out of this five game series. Though it may seem a little implausible to suggest that these two games are propaganda towards teenage violence, video games actually have a greater effect on violent behavior because the player is actually involved with the violence rather than watching it (Common Sense

By 2003 the GTA franchise had already sold 22 million copies worldwide since the release of GTA III in 2001. (Take-Two Interactive, 2004) GTA games have violence, prostitution, and offensive language. I believe that allowing adolescents to play these games works as a method of relaxation and release of stress. Teens and violence have gone hand in hand for years. In the 1990s youth violence hit an all time high. (Snyder, Sickmund, 2006) Since the release of GTA III we have seen a decrease in youth violence. I believe that the reason for this centers around

Did you know that according to Dr. Bret Conrad, the majority of gamers believe that video game violence has few, if any harmful effects on them personally? Well, many people today play games with simulated violence ranging from games like “Killer” to games like Grand Theft Auto. One example, “Killer”, takes place in multiple New York City high schools at the end of the year. It consists of two teams, each student is assigned a person to shoot and they have to shoot them before they are shot. The students have to use water pistols to shoot their person. Once they are killed, their game is over. While some agree that games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, games with simulated violence are beneficial for teens because they help kids with problem solving skills, keep them busy and helps them help others.

One of the biggest games of all time that go on the fairy tale ride is Grand Theft Auto. GTA has been one of the best-selling and most controversial games ever made Kids from all ages play it with many adults advocating for its ban. I have played and enjoyed this game myself over the years with friends and random people on the internet. Everyone that I have come across can always discern the difference between the game and real life. The game itself has a beginning, middle, and end. The main goal is to get to the end. Sure, you have to do some questionable things along the way but at the end of the day there has been no proof to link this game to the real-world violence and crimes.

In Grand Theft Auto, you run a round picking up jobs in an imaginary city. These jobs range from killing union workers to stealing pricy automobiles. In Conker’s Bad Fur day, you play as a playful cartoon squirrel that drinks beer and urinates on the enemy to defeat him. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, 90% of the games played today actually reward the player to injure another person and these were the games rated Teen. These types of gratuitous violence portrayed in video games transfer over into the everyday lives of these children. Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become: “immune” or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior the more they’re exposed to violence. Some children accept violence as a way to handle problems. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. For instance, a child in Kentucky ended up bringing a revolver to school and shot 8 students. Police ended up pin-pointing the source to the video games the child had been playing. The child ended up raking in more than 10,000 hours of a shoot em’ up style game that rewarded bonus points for headshots.

“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.