The Pros And Cons Of Violence In Video Games

An Iowa State University News Service article featuring three studies done by Iowa State University psychology professors Craig Anderson and Douglas Gentile makes note of this and in their research, the professors looked into whether violent video game exposure led to more violent behavior in children and adolescents or not (“ISU Psychologists” 449). In their three studies, they noted that kid’s games in general have a behavioral effect, that students who played violent video games were more violent or in favor of violence, and that violent video games may lead to poor performance in school as well as a higher rate of social rejection (“ISU Psychologists” 450). Regarding this information, a major increase in aggression in individuals would definitely run the risk of being detrimental in many cases, especially in regard to children. Since children are still in a developmental stage, violent video game could potentially have more of an overall impact. However, in some cases, it can be argued that perhaps video game-related aggression can be a good thing because it’s only a minor amount of aggression in most people, and this minor amount of aggression can be a good thing as it can provide a competitive boost. Even violent video games may have some sort of benefit to the

It is debated around the world that videogames have a great influence on violence in the youth, more specifically in adolescents. It is a controversial topic because of the fact that in the past five years there have been many severe acts of violence with an adolescent in the middle of it. Although this true, I disagree with this statement. There may be a correlation between the two, but I do not think that video games make kids violent. In this essay I will voice my opinion on the worldwide debate of whether or not video games are the direct cause of violence in young adults.

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.

This could be opening the doors to a plethora of other cases and assumptions that can lead to our youth potentially becoming killers. Research was conducted on the exposure of television violence and its effects on kids, organizations like the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association and the Academy of Pediatrics have concluded that there is a cause and effect relationship amongst those exposed. However, such studies does not demonstrate that media violence causes aggressive behavior, only that the two phenomena exist together (207). This finding was used to make the assumption that it would likely be the case with video games.

Violent video games do not cause violence. Just because a kid plays video games and shot someone does not mean it was because of the video games. According to an article written by Henry Jenkins on www.pbs.org, “But young people, in general, are more likely to be gamers - 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play. The overwhelming majority of kids who play do NOT commit antisocial acts.” This shows two things. Just because a kid that happens to play video games and did something violent, does not mean it was because of the video games. His older sibling probably bullies them at home. This also shows that playing video games cause violence, but quite the opposite. Now speaking from personal experience, If I’m playing video games, I’m not thinking of how I am going to bully the school nerd, or shoot someone, I’m focused on the game and how to beat it. Me thinking of how to beat the game is preventing me from doing something else violent. It also means I’m sitting in the dark in my room, not out and about doing things to people that

Laurie D. Berdahl, M.D. states that “I think that it’s good for people to understand that is at least 30 years of research that playing violent video games increases violent behavior in kids, she said “It’s no longer controversial. Basically, there’s solid research that even if someone doesn’t become a mass shooter, his or her reactions become more violent and aggressive. There is no longer any question.” There has been many studies into the effects of violent video games on the adolescent mind. Many of them have brought up some very important and very concerning questions. Am I a bad parent for letting my child play this violent video game? Will my child become a school shooter from playing this video game? These are some very important and vital questions to the crisis that is adolescents playing mature rated video games. The reason most parents do not want their children playing violent video games it that some parents do not want their children to grow up violent and hateful of people. Violent video games can and will affect your child’s mind and how he or she reacts to things. A child who plays violent video games six to seven days a week will definitely react violently to situations in which a child who does not play violent video games six to seven days a week would react

Whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, it doesn 't take long before society suggests violent video games might be to blame. Video games have been culprits of crime today to many eyes in America. Just about anyone in most modernized countries has heard the claim before, placing the blame on a video game, music or television for the violent acts seen in their youth today. There is no link to violence on video games. Typically, these trends seem to pop up when we are referencing school shootings, gang related crime and other domestic terrorist acts done by our youth. It is too easy to quickly blame something like a violent video game for their behavior.

Video Games have come a long way since their first introduction into the main stream. With video games becoming more sophisticated and using advanced technology, it seems as if video games are closing in on the gap between games and reality. However, as video games become ever so life-like it brings up the question of if the violence associated with video games is having a negative consequence. There have been many accusations over the years over the harm video games are causing children and teenagers. Experiments have been conducted trying to associate a link between video games and aggressive behavior. Even the media has been known to point fingers at video games for the cause of children

In recent years, technological advances have introduced many new forms of entertainment, one of the most popular being video games. Since their introduction, professionals and parents have become concerned with the addictive power that video games can have on people, particularly children and adolescents. Today, concern has shifted from the addictive effects of video game playing to the possible effects that they have on players’ aggression levels. As defining aggression as any thoughts or behaviors related with the intention to cause harm. Many scholars have been researching videogames' effects on children. The most popular aspect of videogame research is whether or not games increase aggression.

Many of the young people of today’s generation have played video games; whether it is Candy Crush, Flappy Bird, Mario, Sonic, Call of Duty, Minecraft, or Skyrim. Almost every electronic device is capable of running games. As advancement in technology increases, the video game industry will also advance. More and more of the next generations are bound to be affiliated with video games. There is a debate whether video games cause people to be violent, especially in adolescents. Do video games really cause violence? There have been many researches done to come to a conclusion to this question. Not only did Armadi Tansal write an essay to help answer this question, but there has been an online

The reason video games and movies on their own don’t dictate whether or not they make children violent could be found in Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory which basically says that people, not just children, learn from the action of others such as friends, family, and peers. An experiment was performed in 1961, in

It is believed the average gamer usually ages 13 and up spends up to 6.3 hours a day playing video games. That is an alarming rate, which concerns both the public and scientist. Through out this paper three different articles will be analyzed and their view on the impact of video games on children’s and adolescents. The first article to be discussed is “Prospective Investigation of Video Game Use in Children and Subsequent Conduct Disorder and Depression Using Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children.” In this article research is done on how video game violence have affect a child’s behavior. They conducted this research by using self-report questionnaires; they started by asking children at age 8/9 years their game use. The type of video game played was assessed with the question: “Which types of computer games do you have at home?” Children were free to check any game that was applicable to them. Different game options were included in the questionnaire, the options differed from violent games like those that include firearms, blood and weapons, sport games, racing, puzzles, “and other educational or learning games. This questionnaire was designed this way to get the most precise results. The studies results indicated that playing violent video games in childhood has a weak association with an increased risk of conduct disorder in adolescence. They measured this by testing and investigating children who had

Politicians and gamers have been arguing about violent video games for years now. There are many solutions to this controversy; however, there are two good solutions that are good for this argument. When they see a minor playing violent video games, they can solve this problem by enacting one, to follow the ESRB rating, or two, to allow the parents to make the final decision to decide whether they should allow their child to play a certain game or not. Parents should do more research and try out the games for themselves if they think that a game is not good for their child. If a parent isn’t doing any research on the game that he or she are buying for their children, how will they know if it’s right for them? Good parenting is what allows a child to grow up knowing that he or she are being allowed to play games that are right for them, so they don’t get traumatized. Many children grow up to play games that are to mature for their taste. Some kids can’t handle these games. Whether the ESRB rating is enacted, and a minor plays a game with an M rating that should be seventeen and up.

Video games that allow players to be “violent” have been around for a longer time period than these newer occurring incidences of mass gun shootings. Mass shootings have become more rampant in approximately the last 20 years, but Pac-Man (a video game that involves the main character killing and eating ghosts, otherwise the main character dies) has been around for almost 40 years. Most people need a scapegoat to help them rationalize why gun violence occurs. I believe all of the bad charges against violent video games are just an instance of a moral panic. The “Encyclopedia of Social Deviance” says, “These panics occur when the reaction of the media… and the general public are out of proportion to the real and present danger a given threat poses to society.” (448). Scott Shackford, author of “Imaginary Guns Don’t Kill People”, explains that when people see instances of gun violence, they tend to blame violent video games. Video games cannot force people to shoot people. Violent video games do not contribute to gun violence; they are shunned so that people can have something to blame.

There has been a lot of factors linked to child aggression. One of biggest factors is children playing violent video games. Although video games are commonly used by children there can be negative effects when introduced to violent video games. Recent studies have shown a correlation between violent video games and the behavior of young children. Violent video games influence children's behavior because their attitudes become more aggressive, the availability of violent games has become very easy for children , and with the help of technology the graphics of the video games make the game look identical to real life.