Press Start To Continue: An Argument For Violent Video Games

In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.

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.

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.

This article is a very useful source. Is useful because it answers the question, “Do violent video games cause an increase in aggression.” The question is answered thoroughly by the author because they cited recent studies, examples, and peer reviewed or scholarly sources that all concluded that violent video games cause an increase in aggression. The author is objective because they countered their argument by stating that

Matthew Grizzard et al., "Being Bad in a Video Game Can Make Us More Morally Sensitive," Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, July 2014. Another study published in Computers in Human Behavior discovered that youths exposed to violence in action games displayed more prosocial behavior and civic engagement, "possibly due to the team-oriented multiplayer options in many of these games."Christopher J. Ferguson and Adolfo Garza, "Call of (Civic) Duty: Action Games and Civic Behavior in a Large Sample of Youth," Computers in Human Behavior, Mar.

Other effects may also include physical and mental aggression. Some signs of these effects taking place are increased violent thoughts, violent verbal outbursts, irritability, as well as bi-polar type mood swings that usually seem over aggressive for the topic that is at hand. A study showed "Spending large amounts of time playing these games can create problems and may lead to: Poor social skills..." (Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence). Video games maybe attributing to an already rapidly growing problem in America. Social interaction skills, sites such as Facebook and Twitter are depriving our upcoming generations of social skills needed to be able to prosper in the world they will be sent into when they are on their own. In this modern society we live in today, if we cannot socialize and interact with people efficiently our job choices are reduced drastically from say, wanting to be a doctor down to creating website domains, or taking take-out orders over the phone at a fast food restaurant.

There has been much debate on this subject, largely between researchers against the media's availability and possible influence and the game players who feel the connection simply doesn't exist. To answer the question, we'll look at both sides of the issue, and hopefully come to a middle ground. We will begin by looking at the arguments that support increased aggression in children as a result of these violent games. After that, a look at the other side, the side that many young gamers support themselves. It's going to be difficult to reach any common ground between the drastically different sets of opinions, but it's time to begin nonetheless. If you're ready, "Press start to continue..."

Violent video games are usually the blame for school shootings, bullying or just regular aggressiveness. In “Violent Video Games Linked to Child Aggression” they did a study and looked at how children and teen’s video game habits relate to their behavior. The study supposedly showed that “children who were exposed to more video game violence did become more aggressive over time than their peers who had less exposure”. Although this study show that children are more aggressive when they are exposed to violent video games, I believe that children do not become more aggressive after playing violent video games.

The article, Violent video games and anger as predictors of aggression, explains the research that was done to show how video game violence is conjoined with aggression. The study was done with 79 females and 88 males. The result of the study was that those who were more angry at the time, were the ones who were more affected with the study. Jack Thompson (2000) explained how those people who were involved in school shootings were more likely prone to being video gamers. Especially now that video games now have more violence in them, which makes people want to buy them more because of how entertaining it is. They also believe that those who are known to be angry and play violent video games are characterized to be socially awkward, lonely,

First, violent video games can cause many behavior changes. According to Issue 2836 of “US Today Magazine”, “... 67% of parents and 90% of pediatricians agree that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children.” Also the article states that from the opinions of researchers, 8 out of 10 agree that violent video games make children angrier or more aggressive. These results mean that more than half the people who debate this topic say it is true teens or children who play violent video games

The relevance of violence in video games in the United States today is currently being discussed as a concerning topic in congress. Many people argue these video games influence individuals to commit crimes and lead to mass shootings. The arrival at a decision to ban the production and distribution of M-rated video games in America has come to a standstill. Research has proven that violence in video games has many positive and negative effects on the brain, but the severity of these effects does not compare to overall aspect of violence in video games. Ferguson admits “...there is not enough evidence to prove that violence in video games is directly related to aggressive behavior” (Ferguson, ). Because there is no proven evidence, congress is at a standstill on its decision to ban these video games until they are proven to have a negative influence on society. News media continues to persuade the masses about their opinion on the subject and most of the time their evidence is false or one-sided. The people deserve the truth about extreme video games and until research accurately proves the effects of these video games, people will believe the opinion of others. The evidence suggests that extreme video games involving violence offer players a form of catharsis, along with enhanced cognitive skills,

Studies have shown that people with constant exposure to violent video games have higher levels of aggression but are unsure if the video games are causing it or if the kids are playing the games because of a preexisting interest in violence. While most people consider violent video games to be dangerous because they show kids how to commit violence, I personally think the main problem is it desensitizes kids to morbidly serious things like guns and bombs. Bruce Bartholow, an associate professor of psychology at MU, says “The brains of violent video game players become less responsive to violence, and this diminished brain response predicts an increase in aggression.” However another study from Dr. Andy Przybylski at Oxford University’s Internet Institute says, “The fact that the study had not found evidence of a link between violent games and real-life aggression did not mean it does not exist but academics are divided about the possible effects.” So the link is most likely there but it has yet to be proven and differentiated from the effects of other types of video games. A big argument against this is that violent video games are extremely common and school shootings are extremely

Video game makers have even advanced video games to give you the fell of using real weapons, also called virtual reality. There is a professor at the University of Missouri says that violent video games change behavior. First person shooter games help team players how to hurt people because first person shooter games are usually more realistic. Sixty percent sixth to eighth grade boys who play m-rated video games have hit or beat up somebody. Many people who have acted in mass shootings played violent video games. Violent video games have the tendency to lower people's empathy and they also lower people’s kindness. The APA says violent video games will risk the factor for aggression. When violent video games reward a player for violence, kids think violence is a good thing because they learn that you get rewards for committing violent acts. Sixty-seven percent of parents even agree that violent video games do lead to aggression.

Video Games have come a long way since their first introduction into the main stream. With video games becoming more sophisticated and using advanced technology, it seems as if video games are closing in on the gap between games and reality. However, as video games become ever so life-like it brings up the question of if the violence associated with video games is having a negative consequence. There have been many accusations over the years over the harm video games are causing children and teenagers. Experiments have been conducted trying to associate a link between video games and aggressive behavior. Even the media has been known to point fingers at video games for the cause of children

Herb Kohl, who is an American businessman and politician and is a former state senator of Wisconsin had once said “We cannot and will not ban the creation of violent video games. But, we can prevent the distribution of these disturbing games to children, where their effects can be negative.” It is true that violent video games are causing aggression in children, but the responsibility to protect them is their parents. Research on the connection between violence in games and violence in real life is still in its infancy (Peckham). The negative thoughts on games are actually caused from a “moral panic” but in truth, video games are having positive effects on the population such as reducing crime rates and shootings.