Prosocial Video Games

Some say that video games give them a break from what is happening in their life, and others use video games as entertainment with friends. “It is just as likely that young people with primary, aggressive behavior or antisocial traits preferentially select to play violent video games for recreational purposes” (Porter & Starcevic, 2007). Many adolescents can see it as a way to get rid of their anger and frustration by being able to kill fictional characters. Along with this, studies have shown that with the amount of violence seen, teenagers are more accepting and tolerant of violent behavior (Nowak, Kremar, & Farrar, 2008). The more time that players spend on violent video games, there is a bigger chance that they are going to act violently when provoked. Not only do violent games contribute to the increase of violent actions, but also the profanity that the characters say can increase violent acts (Ivory & Kaestle, 2013). The make up of violent video games is causing aggressive behavior in teenagers, especially because they are the age group that spends the most time playing the games (Anderson, 2011). People are starting to realize what actions can be picked up by playing video games. The state of California tried to help stop the trend of teenagers being influenced by video games, but they were soon shot down.

Violent Video Games Promote Antisocial Behaviors. Video games that have violence involved can cause a change in behavior to gamers. ¨The researchers took a dim view of video games. In fact, they found video games correlated with everything from drug use to poor romantic relationships. And while some of this is unsubstantiated, plenty of it is backed by their evidence, in the form of university questionnaires, and the decade of research that's come before them.¨ Researcher analyze violent video games and came out with the conclusion that it´s not good. In violent video games there are things such as drug use or poor relationships that would influence negative thing to gamers. Studies have shown that video game tolerate drug use and poor relationships among peers.

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.

Over the past few centuries,video games have become a great leisure and hobby among kids of all ages and cultures. With the advancement of technology, video games have advanced highly in its realism and genres. This high type of advancement brought the video game industry to a multi-billion dollar industry. However, with realism, comes negative effects as well. Ever since the creation of violent or “mature” video games, there has been a constant debate on whether it will increase violence in the player. Although, not all video games are violent, and just increase skills in a player such as hand-eye coordination. Nevertheless, there is research going on for the link between violent video games and youth violence. The question is which event happens first in the sequence, do violent video games aggravate a person’s violent behavior, or does a person get rid of their anger through playing violent video games? Either way, violent video games are not beneficial to our society.

Video game opposition also includes the theory that violent video games have a more negative impact on relationships that players of such games form with others. Exposure to violence in media--particularly video games--is also believed to be related to “decreases in pro-social behavior, empathy, and sensitivity to aggression” (Albanese). It is believed that violent video games can lead to behavior issues and detachment from others, leading to possible aggression. This can be viewed as the truth, but it has its shortcomings. This argument solely focuses on the negative and has no method of measurement as to how the behavior is negatively impacted. There is no authentic support that video games lead to negative relationships with

Morality and human nature are important factors when considering the behavioral influences of video games, whether they are positive or negative. Violence in the real world involves much more complexity than any influence by the media. As previously stated, simple factors such as one’s home life, environment, and general human nature are ignored when video gaming’s influences are under scrutiny. In a world where millions of people are dying in real wars, it is a luxury to harbor concern for children to be excited after playing a shooting game (Gee). The moral and behavioral influences of any video game are left up to the interpretation of the player; there is no direct influence in any game that dictates bad behavior to their players. James Paul Gee provides an incredibly important point in stating, “Video games are neither good nor bad on their own, and induce neither violence nor peace.” It is important to consider the context of video games. In David Kushner’s article, he quotes The British Board of Film Classification’s conclusion from a survey: “The violence helps make the play exhilaratingly out of reach of ordinary life… Gamers seem not to lose awareness that they are playing a game and do not mistake the game for real life.” If a violent child did not play video games, then where would the blame fall?

Throughout a number of recent studies, participants playing violent video games have consistently shown increases in their aggressive behavior, both during and after the gameplay. A study that linked violent video games to child aggression found that in every group they tested, “Children who were exposed to more video game violence did become more aggressive over time than their peers who had less exposure” (Harding 1). An increase in aggressive behavior after playing violent video games is quite common in most cases, although many gamers would argue that other factors, such as people’s emotions, cause this negative change in behavior. This reveals numerous questions surrounding the effects that video game violence might have on

These experimental studies find a strong relationship between playing violent video games and increasing in aggressive thoughts. Also, these studies revealed significant effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, cognition, and on prosocial behavior. This article provides evidence in my argument on how significant exposure to violent video game tends to increase the risk of developing aggressive behavior in real life. Furthermore, children exposed to violent material via the media potentially develop increased attitudes of hostility and show decreased emotional response to violent acts against others.

A significantly large portion of the video games created within the past 5 to 10 years contain some form of violence. On top of that, some of the most popular video games out in the market today are extremely violent and warrant an “M” rating for mature. Video game developers are well aware of this trend and continue to produce more graphic, interactive, and realistic content. Therefore, there is a concern that the vast amount of violence in video games is changing how youth develop and what they perceive as normal. Many researchers believe that there is a link between video games and increased aggression in the people who play them.

Researchers state that, “the most frequently cited mechanism by which the games can result in aggressive behavior is the social learning theory” (Sherry 413). The researchers go on to argue that since game players are rewarded for performing violent acts in the video games adolescents may transfer this to the outside world. Another mechanism researchers cite for the effects of violent video games is the general arousal method. This method says that the highly violent games provide the arousal that is necessary to become more aggressive (Sherry 413). These arguments are valid and open up the controversy on video game violence, which has been going on for years.

The controversy of the effects of violent video games is a never ending battle between gamers and science. Hundreds of studies have been conducted on the issue all saying the same thing, violent video games have a correlation with increased risk of hostility in the people who play them. Although correlation does not equate to causation meaning that video games can not be condemned as the only source of aggressive behaviors. This isn’t the only effects that these games have on people. Violent video games are shown to have positive effects ranging from boosting learning in children, improvements in visuospatial cognition, and a decrease in violent crime.

In two studies conducted by Anderson and Dill, Study 1, found that real-life violent video game playing was positively related to aggressive behavior and delinquency. The second study found that laboratory exposure to graphically violent video games increased aggressive thoughts and behavior. In both of these studies men had a more hostile view than that of women. The findings from these studies are consistent to that of the General Affective

about ninety percent of these games contain some violent material, and forty percent of these games reveal hostility towards characters (Glaubke et al., 2001). In our world today, most individuals will speculate that letting adolescents indulge in these types of games will only cause harm and nothing ever good will ever uproot from it. For example, after looking into 136 research studies, (Anderson, 2010) observed that being exposed to violence within video games was connected with increased levels of hostile behavior, hostile cognition, hostile affect, and loss in prosocial behavior (Anderson, 2010). Adolescents with higher levels aggression tend to lean towards playing more violent video games rather that nonviolent video games. According to (Exelmans, Custers, & Van den Bulck, 2015) The general aggression model “GAM” is a social cognitive model that describes the short- and long-term effects of exposure to media violence on aggressive behavior (Exelmans,Custers, & Van den Bulck, 2015). The GAM consists of a three-stage process. The first stage expresses, trait hostility and being apparent to violence expressed through media content could influence the access of hostile thoughts and emotions (Exelmans, Custers, & Van den Bulck, 2015). The next stage, consists of a process taking place that can result in hostile behavior carrying over into the next episode cycle (Exelmans, Custers, & Van den Bulck, 2015). The Short-term

Video games involve prosocial content, such as killing the enemy to save the world; there are positive aspects to video games that counteract effects of violent content. A meta-analysis was conducted to determine that there are positive effects of prosocial video game play; for example, in games where cooperation is mandatory in multiplayer teams, positive behaviours is enforced and taught to children (Greitemeyer, and Mugge 585). For example, an individual will assist another player to kill the targeted enemy; recent findings have shown this cooperative playing in violent video games counteracts the negative effects of the violent exposure (Greitemeyer, and Mugge 585). The cooperative behaviour and empathy has an overriding effect because they are antagonists of aggressive responses (Greitemeyer, and Mugge 586). Prosocial games thus are beneficial in the cognitive development, health, and social behaviour of youth, as it increases the attitude of helping others, and decreases the attitude of aggression. In terms of social behaviour, it is important to note the content of the video game when deciding how it will effect the

“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are