The Effects of Video Game Violence

I decided to research the negative effect video games have on people.Video games, especially violent ones, have become increasingly popular over the last several years. Kids will sit in front of a television for hours straight playing the same game. In these games, they kill humans, zombie, animals, and more. I’ve always wonder what effect these violent games have on people. Staring at these aggressive video games for so long can’t be a good thing. Kids find video games so addictive; they can’t put them down. This is why I decided to research this topic. To find out the different ways these games can affect people.

video games have also a negative effect on the health of children like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome has long been related with computer use this caused when the main nerve between the forearm and hand is held or pressed. This occurs when the carpal tunnel the area of the wrist that contains the main nerve becomes irritated. Overuse of a computer mouse can cause such irritation, as can extreme use of a video game

The obvious mental problem is aggressive behavior, but others include social phobias, anxiety, and even depression. Physical effects caused by video games include fatigue, migraines due to intense concentration or eye strain, carpal tunnel syndrome caused by the overuse of a controller or computer mouse, and poor personal hygiene. Now one thing, the bad effects are mostly caused by spending too much time on video games. So that means, if you or your child spends less time on video games, there are good effects. Video games increase coordination, improve problem-solving skills, sometimes enhances memory, and improves attention and concentration. It is a great source of learning, as it improves the brain's speed, enhances multitasking skills, and improves social skills. Patricia Greenfield, a psychology professor at UCLA, has studied the relationship between video games and intelligence and finds a positive correlation. Her research attributes an increase in worldwide "nonverbal IQ" (spatial skills, the use of icons for problem-solving and the ability to understand things from multiple viewpoints) to the spread of video games. I was thrilled to hear my prejudice confirmed--until Greenfield noted that this rise in IQ comes at the expense of potentially more important social skills. Which is to say that kids typically don't interact that well when they spend hours sitting in front of the computer or console. "It's

One of the biggest factors that video games have impacted is peoples health. Video games have good and bad factors to peoples health. For example some problems that video games have impacted are obesity, aggressive behavior and cognition, sleep deprivation and many others. They have also impacted the problem of addiction. One would figure out after researching this subject that just being a male gender increases addiction of video games. Video games can also be a healthy and therapeutic. Games also change how people think and how peoples brain works. They have enhanced peoples visual skills and actually make it easier to create new sensorimotor skills. Peoples thought process have also been impacted because of video games. People that play action video games are proven to have faster decision making but as accurate as people that do not play video games. Video game players interpret the world differently than non video game players. Nolan Bushnell once stated, “Video games foster the mindset that allows creativity to grow” (Colzato). This quote is stating that video games promote creativity and help humanity grow and become more creative in our world. We need creative people in our world to build buildings, become art teachers, and many more jobs. One might be surprised to learn that after researching this subject on how dramatically video games impacted the human

Are people becoming zombies due to so many video games? Everybody plays video games, but it is more common among young people, who are developing. It’s important to know about the effects video games can cause on players. People have different points of view on this subject. Excessive video game use is damaging to physical health in several important ways, such as strains and tension on the body, addiction and obesity.

Some adults criticize videogames for having a negative effect on people. Video games are not all bad, some types are just more than others. There are many types of games that have both negative and positive effects on the human brain, the most effective ones are violent, strategic, and educational.

Another way video games have an effect on our health is by being therapeutic. There are studies also showing that it is used in psychotherapy. There are two different types of gaming therapy. Electronic

Video games are a lighthearted pleasure most of the time. There are plenty of shapes and forms of games to choose from. Video games can be enjoying and a pleasure to play with family, but it can cause serious health problems to the human body. Video games are harmful for health because they cause seizures, obesity in some cases, and an increase in aggression.

In recent years there has been a significant increase of shooting incidents, specifically in America. When there is a shooting event the media is quick to question if the suspect had a history of playing violent video games. There is already the initial connection between video game violence and aggression; but is this connection scientifically correct? This topic interests me because of the increase in school shootings and violence. I have personally heard many times that video game violence has led to many adolescents to extreme forms of violence. Through what has been said in the media I decided to research the topic myself. This is a current event issue that is a present reality for many college students. Does video game violence directly relate to human violence?

Violence in video games is well-known for toeing the line between entertainment and immorality. The controversy began as early as 1976, when protestors destroyed an arcade game that revolved around hitting human-like creatures with a car. As computers grew more advanced in the next two decades, video game violence became increasingly realistic (“Background of the Issue”). This prompted the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, commonly abbreviated ESRB, in 1994 for parents to make informed decisions regarding the content their children were exposed to. The 1999 shooting at Columbine High School fueled the debate further, drawing potential connections between virtual violence and real-world consequences (“Background of the Issue”). In the years following, laws regarding the sale of video games with graphic violence sprouted up across the nation. Even the Supreme Court was involved (“Background of the Issue”). Today, “as many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry” (“Violent Video Games”). Critics of video game violence argue that it directly increases a person’s violent behavior and lowers their tendency to act for the benefit of others. Defenders of video game violence argue that media coverage of video game violence is heavily biased, studies that link it to acts of violence are flawed, and that video game violence is a harmless outlet for emotions of aggression.

Just like other media, such as internet, television, movie or even music first appears, video game also has attracted more and more attention. The questions about the negative impact of video

Video gaming is mostly associated with consoles such as the Xbox and Playstation, however, wireless technology and handheld devices are producing more and more gaming applications making such an activity further accessible to those who may not perceive themselves as an ‘avid gamer’. Much research into video gaming has focused on aggression and violence; see (Bandura, 1977; Graybill, Strawniak, Hunter & O’Leary, 1987; Scott, 1995; Silvern & Williamson, 1987; Zillmann, 1983). Research into the effects of violence in video gaming and aggressive behaviour has suggested physiological arousal causes an ‘excitement transfer’, consequently seeing and experiencing violence causes violent and aggressive behaviour (Zillmann, 1983). Additionally, Bandura (1977) suggested that adolescents who play violent video games are mirroring the behaviour experienced through game play, therefore resulting in aggressive behaviour. Hence it is imperative to research the sway anti social content in video games has on pro-social behaviour. Aside from aggression and violence there are other negative factors that need to be fully investigated, such as sexism and violence towards women in video games.

Since the beginning of the video game industry, violence has been a huge factor in the entertainment aspect. Even the more subtle, friendly games like Super Mario Bros. are full of underlying violence such as having to kill small and sometimes large creatures to advance the game. The most popular games among children and teens today happen to be the more gory, dark, and killing heavy games. These games almost always have very toxic communities full of people who love to scream at other players for not getting their way. With today’s advancement of technology, video games are reaching an all-time high of realism that has become rather risky and questionable to some. All of this brings up the one of the most talked about topics among today’s

This issue is mostly focused on health problems. For example, losing track of time. This can lead to the lack of exercise because you lose track of time, skipping meals or even lose sleep because they are so into the game they want to beat the score or the mission. Not only can video games make you lose sleep but can also cause sleeping problems. For example, nightmares or impair school performance and lead to aggressive behaviors. Video games can also be bad for their eyes because children and even adults spend too much time looking at a screen for such a long periods of time. Researchers say that more than 3 hours a day can lead to poor psychological adjustment which is the behavioral process of balancing conflicting needs, or needs against obstacles in the environment.Other problems can be backaches, headaches, numbness that they might feel in wrist, hand, shoulder, and elbow. Also playing video games can make the player addictive to the game which can cause aggressive behaviors.

Violent video games have always been a hot topic since the release of the first Mortal Kombat in October 1992 for home consoles, which, because of its violence, resulted in the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). There have been studies that show a correlation between violent video games and aggression resulting in both an increase and decrease in aggression among players, but all if not most studies have only been short-term experiments. The real question is whether violent video games cause an increase in short-term aggression to the point where the players start to commit violent actions because of it, but, if the aggression does increase, how to prevent the short-term aggression from increasing to the point where it becomes a problem without taking the games away.