Graphic And Violent Video Games Research Paper

Thousands of teens in the United States play violent video games everyday, for hours on end. Teens and children playing violent games are now accepted as a part of life. They sit in front of a screen and watch blood and gore, with no emotions and without cringing. The games become increasingly more violent, as the age that children begin to play these games drops, from twelve to ten to eight. Now, we have six or seven-year-old children playing games rated M, for 17 and older. Teens should not be allowed to play violent role-playing games because it teaches them that violence is acceptable, that it is fun to be violent, as well as desensitizing them to violence.

Video games already have a bad reputation when it comes to the teenage generation. The video games that are being released in the past ten years have caused some speculation if they are suitable for kids to play. Some states have even tried getting involved with the issue by banning the distribution of offensive video games to minors. First-person shooting games have increased in popularity, and some experts say it is also increases violent behavior in the adolescents that are playing it. The increase of games that are more realistic, engaging, and increasingly violent will lead to more violent behavior in teenagers in the upcoming years.

Video game effects are relatively new in modern society. Even though these games are often entertaining, the content of the game has been increasingly more and more violent as technology becomes more prevalent. The popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, violent video games do not cause an increase in aggression, in adolescents. The forceful plan by the government is caused by an exaggeration of the effects of violent video games and this plan are indeed pointless.

Video game violence is an increasing problem in today’s youth with violence as one of the most popular themes. Games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty are among the most popular games and have been scientifically proven to have a major effect on teens. Many people try to argue that there is a difference in the effects between genders, however it has been proven wrong. Video games have the same effects as other forms of entertainment but do not get attacked like video games because the other forms are much larger than video games and have a much wider audience. Violence in video games is a rising problem in the United States, causing teens to have less self-control and more emotional disturbances,

On the other hand, the aggression decreases tremendously in the player, when he decides not to take part in violent video games for a shorter amount of time (Rettner). Furthermore, this problem is only getting worse because throughout the United States of America almost 90 percent of children play at least some video games (Rettner). Unfortunately, more than 90 percent of these games condone violent settings. In addition, over 3,000 elementary, and middle school students were undergoing a part of a two year scientific study to prove if mature video games does lead to any type of aggression. As this study progressed through time, researchers noticed that an overwhelming number of participants of this survey became less aggressive. Researchers have concluded that only mature people should play violent video games because they know how to deal with problems instead of provoking violence (Park). The reason why mature video games are only distributed to people 17 years or older is because these people are mature enough to handle all of the violence that is placed within the video games itself.

It is agreeable that there are some correlation between teenagers playing video games and how it affects the youth mentally. Heavy consumption of violence video games does indeed stimulate a change reaction in the brain waves, but there is no hard evidence stating that those changes causes teenagers to act aggressively and violently. On the contrary, it is a popular beliefs that violence video games does indeed causes teenagers to displayed unpleasant behaviors and actions because that is what they learned and observed from the games. Therefore, parents should limit and regulate the amount of time their teenagers are playing violence video games so that they can protect their children from negative behaviors.

They contribute to desensitized players, fake illusions, children(or adults) that don’t know right from wrong, a loss of how to express their anger in a peaceful way, and can stimulate violent behavior that leads to problems later in life. People can take action and help many other human being’s lives by helping censor violent video games. Understand that minors are buying these violent video games and get involved by helping others who are trying to play these violent video games. These are the reasons why violent video games should be

Allowing teens to purchase violent or mature rated video games will increase the sales of the game purchased and violent video games are known as a stress reliever.

In the United States up to 97% of kids ages twelve to seventeen play video games. Many believe that people these ages shouldn’t be playing video games because they can be violent. The violence in these video games are thought to desensitize kids to violence and make them more likely to commit juvenile crimes. These thoughts and beliefs are false, because violent video games do not contribute to youth violence.

A violent video game is defined as a video game where the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). For many years there has been increasing concern by the general public, policy makers and social scientists as to whether or not violent video games have a negative influence on the behaviour of youth. With the popularity of the gaming culture growing dramatically amongst children and adolescences; the marketing of violent video games to youth has become increasingly successful, allowing such games to become more easily obtainable regardless of age (Anderson et al 2007). Consequently, the increase has raised the question of exactly what impact exposure to these highly graphic games has on the younger generation; resulting in a range of research and studies to continue to take place on the subject. It has become the norm in most modern societies to associate violent video games as a considerable cause to the violent and aggressive outbursts of youth (Ferguson 2010). Some even go as far as connecting some crimes committed by young people as a result of their exposure to violent video games. While others claim there is no link between violent video games and negative youth behaviour; some suggesting that violent video games have a positive impact on the behaviour of youth.

The ratings are meant to help people to decide what is good for themselves, and the only people who care more about the ratings are the rating companies. For example “Jack Thompson, a Coral Gables, Fla., attorney who has gone after violent video games and rappers with foul lyrics before, focused on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Last month, he said he videotaped a 10-year-old boy buying this video game, the top-selling game last year, at a Miami Best Buy store. The store clerk didn't ask for ID, even though this game shouldn't be sold to anyone under 17, Thompson said.” (ThisBoard.com). What this means is that gaming companies are not responsible for kids getting their hands on violent games and should be punished by getting their games censored or even worse banned because parents are not watching closely to what their kids are involved in on the screen. “The gaming industry is vastly growing throughout the nation and worldwide. "We don't sell it to 10-year-olds. It's legal to sell it to adults, but we keep it out of children's hands. The material in these games seems to be ignored" for its offensiveness, considering how easily it gets to kids, he says

Games are cool and nice and all but there are some video games that are considered ultra violent video games due to the real world type of violence it shows. These games are graphic and do have violence in it, but it isn’t enough to conquer or influence a teen. In other cases, it may conquer or influence a kid because kids have fresh minds, and learn everything in their way. It’s been experimented to see if games do influence but until present day, yet, there’s no proof or evidence. Violent video games may have an affect on children depending on their age. Younger children are more influenced by violent video games than teens.

With all of the effects of violent video games leaning more towards the negatives, better regulation is required to keep out of adolescents’ hands. In order to keep violent video games from adolescents reach, a detailed and eye-catching label put across the game covers will be beneficial to the problem. By applying this to all video games that fit into the description of violent video games, parents will be more aware of the effect of video games on adolescents as well as be easier to read and be noticed by the parents and children. However, these warning labels will cause adolescents to hunger for violent video games and play them more; the labels will catch the eyes of parents that may want to prevent children from being exposed to the contents of violent video games.

The violence is no less than propaganda for parents to encourage the censoring of violent games. Although the gaming industry has grown into a multi million dollar franchise, it preys on the youth of society to purchase and participate in violence. Computer and video games have become very popular among children and teens. The age group varies between seven years of age to sixteen years of age. With that knowledge parents need to partake in purchases made.

A child is killing police officers. A teenager is hiring prostitutes to potentially kill them. He is using weapons such as guns, chainsaws, and knives to kill and commit horrible crimes. Thousands of children and teens participate in these actions daily. How? Violent Video games such as Doom, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto are just a few of the games that are full of these awful actions. The Harvard Mental Health Letter states, “The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that 97% of youths ages 12 to 17 played some type of video game, and that two-thirds of them played action and adventure games that tend to contain violent content” (Violent...Young People 1). Another investigation showed that over half of the games the ESRB rates contain violence, and over 90% of those games are evaluated acceptable for people over the age of 10 (Violent...Young People 1). These violent video games contribute to aggressive behavior, bullying, and recently spotlighted school shootings. Many believe these games should be banned for children and teens. Critics say that these games give adolescents a way to vent out their anger and frustrations in a safe environment and that there is research to prove violent video games have no effect on normal children. Because they are harmful, video games that promote violence should be banned in regards to children and youth.