The Use of Violence in Video Games and Its Impact on Young People
By S Walsh
The purpose of this essay is to discuss the use of violence in video games and the impact it has on young people. Since the very first video game created in 1958 by Physicist William Higginbotham, which was a very simple tennis game, to the now online multiplayer games such as the call of duty series, video games have progressed massively in terms of graphics, gameplay and explicit graphical content. Over the past few decades there has been an increase in the use of video games as a pastime (Carnagey, Bushman, Anderson-2006). In the article “The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence” (Carnagey, Bushman,
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The article on medical daily "With Violent Video Games, It 's Quantity Not Quality That Has a Negative Effect on Teen Behaviour" (S Castillo 2015) states that British researchers looked at two hundred and seventeen teens with an almost even amount of both sexes, their playing habits and their individual personalities. This study showed that half of the females had never played video games compared to 13 percent of the males who had. While sixteen percent of the males in this study spent three or more hours playing whilst just three percent of females in the study did the same. This showed that the kids who played for the most length of time where the ones likely to develop behavioural problems and struggle in school. A study conducted by Dr. Przybylski called "Electronic Gaming and Psychosocial Adjustment" where he states that electronic play has functions in similarity to traditional forms of play in terms of social skills, and identity development, he also thinks in terms of video games belonging to a category such as bad play as absurd, and that age-inappropriate gaming did not significantly impact the results when compared to movies and television shows. The study also shows that age-inappropriate gaming 's negative
Throughout history man kind has always searched for ways to entertain himself, each time developing new activities and games. Video games have become a very popular way to spend time and have fun from the 1970’s up to now. With new developments appeared different video game genres from adventure to racing, but the violent video games appear to be the most popular ones (Shin, 2003), for example: shooters, fighting and video games where you have to eliminate, destroy, or kill your enemies.
“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!
The aim of this paper is to provide a critical review of the article The Effect of Video Game Violence on Physiological Desensitization to Real-life Violence by Nicholas L. Carnagey, Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J. Bushman (2007). In this article Carnagey, Ander and Bushman experimentally examine the effects that violent video games have on those playing them, specifically in the area of physiological desensitization. It is the goal of this review to provide readers with an overall summary and critique of the article. This review will describe, discuss, and evaluate the key points of Carnagey, Anderson, and Bushman’s article and
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.
While violent video games have increased as a form of entertainment, an issue has begun to form on whether violent video games have a negative impact on children and adolescents. Steven F. Gruel (2010) formed an argument about the negative impacts of violent video games on children. The purpose of this paper is to critique Gruel’s argument by finding flaws and strengths using the methods of claims without data, overgeneralization, failing to cite sources, and considering alternative explanations.
Video game effects are relatively new in modern society. Even though these games are often entertaining, the content of the game has been increasingly more and more violent as technology becomes more prevalent. The popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, violent video games do not cause an increase in aggression, in adolescents. The forceful plan by the government is caused by an exaggeration of the effects of violent video games and this plan are indeed pointless.
The average adolescent spends a major part of the normal week watching or interacting with some form of the media’s products. Video games are one of these media based mediums and have become increasingly popular since the 1980’s. According to a report in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, "Female gamers spent an average of 44 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and four minutes playing on the weekends, and male gamers spent an average of 58 minutes playing on the weekdays and one hour and 37 minutes playing on the weekends" ("Video Game Play Among Adolescents"). What can we understand from this evidence? The fact is that adolescents, male or female, are spending tremendous amounts of time each day sitting in front of
Video game violence is an increasing problem in today’s youth with violence as one of the most popular themes. Games such as Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty are among the most popular games and have been scientifically proven to have a major effect on teens. Many people try to argue that there is a difference in the effects between genders, however it has been proven wrong. Video games have the same effects as other forms of entertainment but do not get attacked like video games because the other forms are much larger than video games and have a much wider audience. Violence in video games is a rising problem in the United States, causing teens to have less self-control and more emotional disturbances,
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.
It is agreeable that there are some correlation between teenagers playing video games and how it affects the youth mentally. Heavy consumption of violence video games does indeed stimulate a change reaction in the brain waves, but there is no hard evidence stating that those changes causes teenagers to act aggressively and violently. On the contrary, it is a popular beliefs that violence video games does indeed causes teenagers to displayed unpleasant behaviors and actions because that is what they learned and observed from the games. Therefore, parents should limit and regulate the amount of time their teenagers are playing violence video games so that they can protect their children from negative behaviors.
The focus of this essay will be on the controversy of violent video games and their effect on youth behaviours. The goal is to examine the two different arguments presented in the case of the video games and compare and contrast them to form a critical analysis. The two views being discussed in regards to violent video games are as follows: authors who have researched and found evidence to support the claim that violence in video games encourages violence in youth. In the opposing side are the authors who have researched and found evidence that opposes the idea of violent video games creating violent youths. The conclusion will focus on analysing the sources used and relating the research back to course material to create a detailed and critical
Today, you are most likely to see that the first item on a child's christmas list is any video console with violent video games included. For the most part, nobody actually pays attention to the harm they could be exposing their young kids to or maybe they do not notice until it is too late. Its irrational to think that a violent video game would not be able to psychologically and silently affect the mind of a young kid, as it is also causing the kid joy at the same time. But this irrational idea can be proven wrong through research about the effect that violent video games cause on young kids. This effect, that the research mentions, can negatively impact their lives at a young age. Research from different association state that violent games can increase the rate of kids fighting among their communities up to actually committing real crimes. Violent video games also affect the children's emotion toward certain topics such about crimes, fighting, and mass shootings. In certain, video games that portray women getting sexually or physically abuse, can also lead to them doing this certain actions as they grow older. The young kids start to lower their empathy and kindness toward family members, friends, and any person they interact with. Yes, every situation is different, but young children are still exposed to the danger that violent video games have, and their effect on the kids mind. Even though it all depends on the person and how deep they take the video games, but this
The advancement of technology in the contemporary word has increased the use of video games by children, teenagers and young adults. The video games have existed for almost three decades and the controversy of their causing violent behavior spans the same period (Porter and Starcevic,422). The release of Death Race game in 1970s initiated a debate with organizations, governments officials and other institution taking sides in the argument of whether violent video games cause violent behaviors. The issue has been a bond of contention and has attracted several scientific studies as well as psychological explanations. As a result, the media, regulatory authorities and professionals in mental health have debated the effects of video games on the behavior of those that play, especially the young people. This essay argues that video games do not cause violent behaviors.
The lives of adolescents consist of indulging themselves with some form of an activity that occupies their restless minds. Violent video games are a conflict in modern day society because children are witnessing harsh behaviors that are conditioning them to believe it is acceptable to commit these actions displayed before their eyes. There are many health effects that are involved with participating in these products of entertainment such as an increase in aggression, poor social skills and the formation of terrible habits. The ideas that will be discussed in this essay will pertain to how children are becoming aggressive when dealing with life’s obstacles because they will have no experience developing methods of calming down. Also, adolescents will isolate themselves from society because they will become accustomed to completing malicious missions that will keep them entertained, which will constitute as a reason for them not to leave their abode.
According to a review of research on the positive effects of video game,published by the American Psychological