In today’s time with the new head turning technology in video games most of the games have some sort of violence present in them. Many games past and present incorporate some kind of violence such as, killing with weapons, using explosives, and crashing cars. With all of the present day technology all activities portrayed during in-game scenarios are becoming more and more realistic. In 2005 the state of California enacted a law to ban the sale of certain violent games to children without the consent of their parents. The law was created based upon the idea that with the realistic in-game events real behavior could be drastically effected by the violence. The worries are that tragic events such as massacres could occur based on ideas seen in games. Incidents such as high school shooting have heightened concerns of potential connections between violent games and violent actions.
While some argue that violent role playing games are a positive game to play, I feel that they have a negative impact on teens. In the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-out” by Guy Martin they did an experiment where students played a shooting game in school. Some teams were getting 13 kills in 4 days. This is so bitter that a high school students goal is to “kill” people. By teens doing this, it is teaching them that it is ok to kill someone. Pretending or not this may lead teens to be more capable of killing someone in real life.
Violence is everywhere in our world, and when teens and children play violent role-playing games, it says “violence is acceptable”. In the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out” by Guy Martin a high school student says “I’m looking for some good massacres early” in reference to their high school's annual end of year game, “Killer”. In this game, the students team up and take on the role of assassins, out to kill all others. These are only high school students, 14-19 years old and Killer is only a game, but they are using violent terms like massacre like any other word. They use it like mass killings are acceptable, and that attitude is what is hurting the world. In the same article, Martin said, “Since the start of the game, the twelfth graders had been sleeping on futons in vans borrowed from their parents, the better to pull off a stoop-side ambush and avoid being ambushed themselves.” They are not even adults, yet they are treating a game so seriously, sleeping in a car, talking about waiting to ambush. Yes, they are using tactical thinking, but there are plenty of non-violent opportunities to use that skill, like in chess. Teens need to stop because violence is never acceptable.
Video games are prevalent among impressionable children and teenagers. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the violent themes used in video games. Teenage shootings in schools have led society to question the relationship between video violence and criminal activity. After considerable research, expert opinions, and research findings, the American Psychological Association found that there is no link between gaming and criminal behavior (Casey). With this, the pursuit of video violent games continues to grow in our society. With games that show execution style murders, blood oozing from gunshot wounds, and victims moaning from wounds, it certainly is gratifying for the indulgent player. The ongoing concern about aggression and violence has once again been proven to be non-existent (Alert). My thoughts are that this cartoon like violence is appeals to the need for violence in an artificially designed environment. In this manner, violence is contained within the boundaries of fantasy. This is unlike “The Crucible” which occurs in with real people, events, and situations. Thus, directing violence in the realm of societal dysfunction that has endured with
Did you know that according to Dr. Bret Conrad, the majority of gamers believe that video game violence has few, if any harmful effects on them personally? Well, many people today play games with simulated violence ranging from games like “Killer” to games like Grand Theft Auto. One example, “Killer”, takes place in multiple New York City high schools at the end of the year. It consists of two teams, each student is assigned a person to shoot and they have to shoot them before they are shot. The students have to use water pistols to shoot their person. Once they are killed, their game is over. While some agree that games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, games with simulated violence are beneficial for teens because they help kids with problem solving skills, keep them busy and helps them help others.
Some people think kids shouldn’t play violent role playing games because they think it gets kids to stalk other kids, but i think it’s good because it promotes teamwork, strategy, and espionage, all three of which will help the student in the future. At St. Ann's high school a game lasts two and a half weeks and has built up a seventeen-point rule book, a map of the safe zones around the school, a judge, and an entry fee, all for a harmless water pistol game. In the end this was all just about Killer, a last-man-standing game of water-pistol ambush, just because people considered it a violent role playing game even though it teaches the kids a lot and is just a water pistol game and if you still disagree with me go out out and try it for yourselves
Video games have become a major occupation of majority of the youth these days. They spend hours on end concentrating on video games, some of which are apparently very violent, yet this is actually the whole idea. Coming from the horse's mouth is an argument in support of video games coined from a video programmer's point of view, stating that violent video games allow people to do what they can not do in reality- virtual reality. ( http://www.theroc.org/roc-mag/textarch/roc-15/roc15-08.htm ) For instance, someone said to be having a bad day could use a violent video game to release stress by shooting down a couple hundred bad men than actually taking an AK-47 and spilling down a few brains down the
In the late 90s, it seemed that school violence was on the rise as three separate devastating school shootings occurred over a three-year span. The most severe of the three due to the high death toll was the shooting at Columbine High School, also the one most associated with violent video game influence. The two assailant's levels of gaming expertise and their participation in online gaming was in question as motivation for their killing spree. It was this knowledge that sparked a media frenzy over who's to blame for the heinous acts being committed by these obviously troubled youths. However, other issues in these children's lives can contribute to a deeper explanation.
Role-playing games are played by kids of all ages all of the time. But do these games start to cross the line when they become violent? Role-playing games with violence have many negative outcomes and they influence bad behavior.
Video game companies are continuously releasing more and more realistically violent video games onto the market in order to sell more copies, because market statistics clearly show that violence sells: all the most popular video games include a violent main theme. Many games include very real-life scenarios with existing weaponry that were created to be as close to the real thing as possible. This can teach children all about the way a gun works and how to use it. If a child is killing people in an almost perfectly realistic virtual world, it would quickly desensitize that child, making it easier for him/her to commit such acts in real-life. A young boy brought his dad's gun to an American school one day and used it to shoot a boy who had been bullying him. In the video games the boy played, when a person was shot, the person would simply fall to the ground with a
As the level of violence in video games increases, so does the level of concern for those who play them. Some people are quick to blame school shootings on games just because the kid played a “violent” game. “The topic of videogames and violence can be compared to the chicken or the egg question, which came first, violent games or violent behavior”(Violence and Videogames). However most kids in mass shootings tend to have easy access to guns and are mentally unstable.
Guns, blood and violence… sounds like something that wouldn’t be making teenagers smarter, right? Well, violent games actually do impact teens positively, in fact they help with the development of many skills they wouldn't otherwise have, like faster reaction time and problem solving skills. Violent video games and role playing games are a highly controversial topic, but they surprisingly have more benefits that not. They teach kids and teens teamwork, how to use their resources and good morals. Teenagers should be allowed to play violent games because it teaches them important life skills.
Games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, because the teens participating are going through other people’s personal information, attacking people in public, and, more generally, are more violent when they are older.
There is an argument going around about whether or not schools should allow students to role play games with simulated violence. I agree that they should not allow it.
“Head shot! That guy was destroyed!” These are just some examples of the dialogue spoken between children who play video games like “Call of Duty” or “Halo.” Children brag about the number of people they have killed in these games. Playing violent video games may cause children to act violently. First, violent video games train players to act aggressively by repeatedly killing an enemy over and over. Second, children mimic what they see, whether it’s in real life or on a video screen. Third, being exposed to the violent behaviors of the game, dead bodies, and blood, make the players insensitive to violence. Because the violence from video games affects the behavior of children, violent video games should not be available for purchase by anyone under age eighteen.