The Negative Effects Of Violent Role Playing Games In High School

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.

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.

For many students, they grew up playing violent video games, but St. Ann’s high school in New York City takes it to the next level. The students participate in the last-man-standing game of water pistol-ambush, Killer, where the students spend a brutal two and a half weeks stalking and “killing” each other, all while school is still in session. This game is perilous to the students as they feel unsafe in their own communities, promotes violence, and has a negative effect on the student’s grades. The game Killer causes the students to feel unsafe in their own homes, to the point where they cannot leave through the front door of their own home to go to school. According to the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out,” it states, “He woke up and, as usual, hopped a neighbor's fence and exited through a neighbor’s house.”

These violent role-playing games are influencing bad behavior in adolescents. “High-Jinks: Shoot Out,” by Guy Martin reveals the dangers of these games. “All other players are anonymous, so that in the days leading up to the game the school becomes a souk of intelligence-gathering and disinformation.”(Martin) This quote is stating the fact that as the game gets nearer kids start to lie to each other. Lying is something that kids have been taught not to do since they were little. But when they play this game lying becomes okay.

There has been a lot of disagreements on teenagers play violent role playing games. Some people say it’s distracting for teenagers to play violent role playing games and some say it helps them. The assassin is a popular game that was developed in 2003 by Warren Gerstacker. It is now a popular game that is also played in Brooklyn Private School. If you ask me, I say it is good. Nicholas Kilstein stated “Students either became creative or was already creative because of assassin.” First of all, violent role playing games helps students in the future for jobs and colleges. Second of all, violent role playing games motivate and encourage students to work together. Lastly, violent role playing games help students learn smarts that aren’t taught in school. Teenagers should be able to play violent role playing games because it builds creativity.

At St. Ann's private high school in Brooklyn Heights and in other schools around the country it is end-of-year tradition to play a game of “killer” school wide. The game includes “shooting” and “killing” your “prey” (other players) while trying to protect yourself. While some may state the game is motivating and entertaining for the high schoolers, it is argued that this game is being taken too far, consuming the kids and encouraging bad decisions.

The first reason that the game, “KIller”, is perilous for teens is that participants go through the personal information of their classmates. Guy Martin in his article “Shootout” (2009) notes that, “In 2007, Jake Protell, a freshman, distinguished himself by ferreting out the itinerary of a field trip that two targets were taking to Tel Aviv.” Based on this excerpt, it seems as though some irresponsible students are willing to sort through field trip forms that do not concern them, just to “kill” someone in the game. In a similar situation of invading personal information, a group of [adjective] seniors “Posing as Cohen’s teammate Dominic, using Dominic’s caller I.D. The call had been engineered from a remote computer by a squad member with prodigious hacking skills.” This quote from the article shows that students in the game went as far as to use someone else’s phone number to call the landline of a victim’s house, where they most certainly don’t

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

Role playing games at Brooklyn's Heights New York City high schools are distracting students from the real world. ‘’Using Dominics’s caller I.D. The call had been engineered from a remote computer by a squad member with prodigious hacking skills.’’ The students are taking way too much time just to create a caller I.D. ‘’Jake Protell and his squad--Paulie Lowther, Charlotte Istel, and Mark Croitoroo--mowed through entire teams, racking up thirteen kills in four days.’’They spend four days just ‘’killing’’ thirteen people, and doesn't even know they are in school. Despite this how are the students taking it was to extreme.

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.

“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!

As shown throughout the story Shootout, killer teaches and encourages violence. Studies have shown that many people have used the violence learned in role playing games and carried it out in the real world. In the game killer played in schools, kids are encouraged to make “kills” by shooting others with water guns. As quoted in the story, “The game lasts two weeks and is especially ferocious”( Martin 1).It is important to notice that introducing teens to violence before they are out on their own can encourage violence in the real world. Some might get so caught up in what happens in a role playing game, that it can carry out aggression in the real world. According to Guy Martin, games such as killer can cause people to turn on each other and can even cause people to call it a massacre. Massacre is not a word to be played around with, for it is a real life tragedy ( Martin 1). This is significant because when one plays around with a word that is a

Video games such as World of Worldcraft and Call of Duty, have become prevalent across America. These games allow the average American boy to act as if he was a fantasy character or allows him to feel as if he was a military personnel on a killing spree. World of Worldcraft and Call of Duty are extremely violent and addictive video games. It was said that the Columbine killers stated that they got their practice from playing video games. When there are games such as Gran Theft Auto where you get points for raping and pimping women, it numbs the mind to the despicable acts of the video game. When boys that regularly play violent video games are confronted, they have a much higher chance to become increasingly aggressive (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh). The children who play video games also have a smaller chance of succeeding academically.

Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and Halo are all video games that most would consider being violent. Whether it is stealing cars or shooting down the enemy it can clearly be seen that the characters in these video games are not setting the best example for the people who play these games. This leads many to wonder if these violent video games can alter the way that people view things as right and wrong. Does playing more violent video games cause one to act more violently than someone who does not? Even though many of the violent video games out there say that they are for mature audiences that does not stop parents from buying these violent games for their children and adolescents. This leads to many people in the scientific community to look at whether violent games can lead to an increased amount of aggression in children and adolescents.

“Boom! Headshot” “Time to kill that commie bastard” these are not from some war movies or documentaries. These are the dialogues of some recent games in market. In modern age, children often feel proud about the number of people or enemy they managed to kill when they are playing these games in various console. While even a decade before, this would not be the normal past time of an eleven year old teenage kid, but because of the improvement of technology they are seeing this type of violent activity as just another way to pass their leisure time. Against these incidents video game violence has been an important topic for years among the socially aware parents and media. Since the evolvement of old fashioned technology, classic computer games such as Super Mario, Pac man has also been replaced by games such as ‘Call of Duty’, ‘Grand Theft Auto’, ‘Mafia’, ‘Mortal Combat’ etc. where killing, shooting, fighting mostly violence is being used as the medium. Studies showed, among people who play video games in United States, the largest number of percentage is children, These violent acts affects children’s mind and behavior in very negative way and causing so much physical and mental problem, though studies also showed that some video games are also very helpful for kids to enhance their ability and skills. As video games and industries has gone far more away at this