Pros And Cons Of Violent Video Games

A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.

“According to data recently released by The NPD Group, in 2012, U.S. video game software sales reached $6.7 billion (174.8 million units) and computer game sales were $380 million (13.2 million units)” (Improving Economy). To many, the violent video game industry has turned all adolescents into mass murderers. However, they’re absolutely wrong. Very seldom do adolescents who play violent video games commit acts of violence, and the ones who do usually have a mental disorder. Instead of blaming the tragedies that occur on violent video games, the news media should explain to people that a large percentage of young males play violent video games, indicating that the two are uncorrelated. They should alternatively research other possible solutions to the crisis. In lieu of negatively affecting people’s lives, video games could potentially improve their lives!

Prolonged scenes of massive violence, graphic sexual content, and animated blood are examples of statements that the Entertainment Software Rating Board uses to depict the content in over fifty- five percent of the video games rated yearly. The debate of whether the aggressive nature of these video games influences youth violence in our country has been heatedly battled for decades. Since the mid 1980’s, it has been suggested that high profile cases of violence are due to an aggressor’s excessive video game use. However, much like a cold case the type of connection between video game use and youth violence remains without a definite answer. Most believe that video game use negatively influences child aggression acts in our country. Others firmly declare that video games provide a realm of opportunity for child development. Ultimately, it is impossible to say that video game use affects every child the same way. New studies suggest that video games do not affect every child that plays a game. Although violent video games are innocuous for the majority of adolescents between the ages of twelve and eighteen, the effects of these games are aggravated in those with pre- existing antisocial or depressive traits.

According to Jeff Grabmeier, "‘Broad Consensus’ that Violent Media Increase Child Aggression," news.osu.edu, Oct. 6, 2014, 90% of pediatricians and 67% of parents agreed or strongly agreed that violent video games can increase aggressive behavior among children.

In the 1950’s parents were thrown into a panic because of the possible negative affects rock and roll music could have on their children. Much like the bad reputation rock and roll music received in the 1950’s, violent video games have been questioned and looked down upon as a newer form of influential media. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, increasing rape, and increasing the amount of women being abused. Despite the popular belief that video games can be very harmful to a child’s mind and cause violent behavior, video games don’t cause as much psychological damage to children as people have been trying to claim. Because there are too many factors to consider, and there is a lack of evidence proving that video games cause children to become more aggressive, violent video games can’t be at fault for increasing youth violence.

Should teens be able to buy violent video games? No, teens should not be able to purchase video games that contain violent content. Violent video games in a person’s early years could result in much, much worse things later on in life. Studies show that violent video games could result in bullying, criminal activity, or in worse cases, suicide.

There is no doubt that violent media, in any form is more accessible today than it ever has been in the past. Why is nothing being done to make sure these things don’t fall into the hands of the wrong people, mainly children. Anyone who has played competitive online first person shooters has come across the 10 or 11 year old little kid, that should have never had access to this type of game. These games are harmful to developing minds and even older people with underlying mental diseases. How can we restrict these types of games to help better our community?

Video games create social and emotional problems in today’s society. More and more scenes of violence are being drilled into the brains of innocent children, and no one is doing anything to stop it. Children are spending countless hours playing video games and consuming their contents. As many as ninety seven percent of the kids in the US ranged from ages 12-17 play video games, contributing to the twenty two billion dollar domestic video game industry (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?). More than half of the fifty top-selling video games contain violence (Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?). Research also showed that children from ages 7-12 routinely played games rated M for mature audiences, which was the most violent and

Attention Getter: Can violence in video games lead to violent outbreaks and bad behaviour in real life, many people believe so. Are these violent video games moulding and fuelling today’s generation of young minds to a more violent side, forgetting the idea that these games are solely for entertainment purposes. Many studies have taken place surrounding this idea, giving valid points to both sides of the topic.

Video Games are a form of media that continues to grow throughout society. As it grows and becomes fully adopted by adults and children alike, it seems as though a shroud of controversy follows suit. Many parents and those alike seem very afraid or reluctant to let their children play video games in today’s age. They fear for the long term affects such games might have on their children or even the short term effects. Many people see a correlation between aggressive behavior, violent moods, and bullying, when violent video games are in the equation. It seems as though it’s popular in today’s media to try and find a scapegoat or a specific target to point the finger and say, “it’s their fault!” video games have become that target. The following four literature reviews will explore research conducted on the effects of violent video games on human behavior, and try to reveal more light on the controversial topic.

With the rapid development of new gaming systems, violent video games have become well-liked by children and adolescents. The playing of violent video games has always been a controversial topic, but in recent years it has become a heated debate. Whether the playing of these games desensitize the player or not. Video games have been around since the late 1970s, however violent video games were introduced in the 1990s. In recent years the violence in games have increased along with the enhanced graphics making the games more realistic. Violent video games can have positive and negative effects on children and adolescents.

The Psychological Group reports that more than 90% of children in the United States play video games. Among kids that are between the age of 12 and 17 the percent rises to 97%, more important that 85% or more of these video games contain violence in them. “CNN channel’’ That tells us that almost all of the video games that we let our children play contains some form of violence and we should do something about that. Our children are a gift that we should keep safe.

Introduction: Many people believe that violent computer games should be banned because they have numerous negative effects on the gamers which are usually teenagers and children. Some researches say that people imply the violence seen on games into reality thus clearly stating that computer games influence human behaviours. The disadvantages of violent computer games bring about negative effects to the gamers.

In today's world, video games have become popular since scientist Michael Higginbotham made the first video game entitled ''Tennis for two'' which is known as “pong” (Brookhaven National Lavatory). As technology developed, video games have more details, are more appealing, and are more realistic. Furthermore, in today's world, violence has been a problem in America. In most cases everyone has experienced violence, whether it is on television, movies, or in their own home. As people search for a solution many people would say violent video games are the cause of this problem. Violent video games have been seen as the cause for aggressive and negative behavior among society. However, games do not inflict this behavior, for it is already instilled in the youth’s mind, there other things that promote violence, and playing violent games can be beneficial.

The violent video game controversy has been an issue since the 1970s, so it is time for a solution to be found. An arcade game that was developed was played by the player running over stick figures with a car. These stick figures were supposed to represent gremlins and not people, so protestors took the arcade game out into the parking lot to burn it. A website clarifies, “The debate over violent video games can be traced back to the 1976 release of the game Death Race” (ProCon.org). The effects of video games on children is a debate regarding the mentality of children as they play these games. A mother buys a video game for her son that has been begging for days. She walks in without bothering to look at the rating. Although on the case the game is rated “M” for mature audiences. The boy plays for hours on end as soon as he gets the game. Every day for the next week he sits and plays the game. He is immersed in the game, shooting enemies on the battlefield. He begins behaving aggressively at school towards his classmates. His mother wonders why, but it finally clicks that this did not happen until after the video game. She needs to find a solution and fast before this starts getting out of hand. The solution that makes the most sense is for children to be moderated as they play violent video games by their parents.