Video Games And Responsibility :

In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.

Content analyses show that 89% of video games have some violent content. Half of the video games on the market have extreme violent actions toward other characters. Games, today, are allowing players to not only connect with the game physically, but also emotionally and psychologically. In essence, the player becomes the character. According to Nielson Media Research, at least 45 million households in the United States have at least one video game console (Markey & Charlotte, 2010). The average age of video game players has increased to age 34, and 60% of Americans play interactive games on a regular basis. However, researchers believe that younger children are more susceptible to the negative effects of playing violent video games compared to older teenagers and adults. Furthermore, games that include violence have raised serious concerns among

In the article “Can a Video Game Lead to Murder?,” Ed Bradley reports on an incident in Fayette, Alabama involving the shooting of three police officers by a teenager and a multi-million dollar lawsuit against both the makers and sellers of the Grand Theft Auto video game. In his report Bradley uses inflammatory words, skewed facts, and quotes of prominent public figures to try and agitate uninformed parents and make them more conscious of games and the effects they may have on their children.

It has also been revealed in studies that exposure to violence in video games can produce violent behavior, and possibly even lead to violence at school or home. The resolution of this problem is not easy, but one short-term explanation is for government guidelines for game sales. If the government makes retailers keep track of which games are being sold to young kids, then children would not be able to buy violent games. Because video games have a rating system, it would only be needed for retailers to guarantee that minors and young children are unable to buy games with a rating greater than their age limit. I do think that as parents we need to focus on what we let our kids see and the activities they participate in. The debate about whether video games have a negative or positive actions depends on one’s philosophical perspectives. Parents need to reexamine their method on how their kids should interact and engage with video games. This good vs. bad approach might be comfortable, but it also seems to be out of touch with the kinds of thinking that we consider through to be in the highest attention of our kids. Is this exactly how we show our kids to ponder about things? I do not think so! We insist that they learn to be at ease with some level of

From character to character, the brutal kills range from ripping out spines to slicing the opponents straight in half to chopping off foe's arms. They were all just obeying the thunderous voice rumbling, "Finish him!" This is Mortal Kombat – one of, if not the, most popular fighting game franchises ever created. At its conception in 1992, it was hit with a hard wall of controversy for its heavy use of gore and the general fear it would influence children to reenact these so-called “fatalities” in real life. Ever since the 1970s, man was finally able to interact with the screen, creating a universe written in ones and zeros. However, does the screen speak back to us, and cause effects outside of the console? Though video games have widely

Even though some of these games can be taken too far, it isn’t reasonable to blame the games for the fault of some players. Furthermore, because children are being raised in such a violent society already, the games should not be considered a dangerous or bad outlet for

Video games are teachers that involve players into the virtual world. Nowadays, many video games include violence in many of its aspects such as war, stealing, slaying and many more. According to Video Games ProCon, “10 of the top 20 best-selling video games in the US contained violence.”(ProCon, 2014), they also believe that violent video games have not only cons but also pros; they stated that “Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled.” (ProCon, 2014). However, the RWJF Blog team stated that the California law describes Violent Video Games as a “video game in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.” (Fisk, 2010) meaning that when playing those games, the player is not left with any option to resolve the issue but the previous ones. Many people believe that Violent Video Games may have a negative impact on minors. According to the case, the legislature of the California state propagated a law that bans underage minors from buying or renting video games that include any form of violence, they believe that those games promotes the feelings of aggression among minor players. The law was

Violent video games have remained in the spotlight amidst mast shootings in the United States orchestrated by avid violent video gamers. This has raised concerns about the adverse effects these games might have on gamers. Nevertheless, I was raised in a family where video games were an integral part of our daily activities to keep me and my siblings at bay from the violence in our neighborhood. My parents reasoned that allowing their children play video games at home prevented them from being exposed to violence in the neighborhood. I remember being an “active gamer” by the age of six where I started off playing video games that required little planning and/or violence. However, by the age of twelve, I explored more complicated video games that required strategic planning with reasonable violence.

More than half of the video games purchased are from underage children. The sheer scope of media choices renders futile any effort to rein in content through regulations. Regulations which nobody seemed to follow or obey. Occasional pixilated displays of violence or sex can be found in some games that are sometimes sold to children. These comprise a tiny part of the total array of media content freely available to anyone. (Koffler 51). Further, hearing from Mark and Keisha Hoerrner, parents allow the exposure to violent video games, without even checking the industry ratings. Victims susceptible to increased aggression learn that violence is acceptable to solve problems, and they perfect the art of shooting as though the virtual gun was a real weapon (39). Hoerrners’ concede that parents need to be aware of the inappropriate content that is viewed, as well as inform the players reality to socially acceptable behavior in the real world. The Hoerrners and Koffler agree to such statement that violent video games don’t have any further effect on aggression, due to the fault of parents and the video games stores themselves. Even though such belief is valid in the sense that parents have to have a watchful eye, but in order to make the statement true, more information must be

Video game violence has been a discussion dating back to games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders to current games like Call of Duty and Mario. Many people are lead to believe that video games can cause children to act violent. However, video games do not cause violence in children. Video games can help in many ways either in society, people with certain disorders, or improve some mental issues.

After playing video games, children often decide to re-enact and even imitate some of the actions that took place in the game. If the game is not violent and promotes good behaviour parents then this is not a problem, but if the game is violent this can sometimes end in catastrophic events that all parents are secretly are praying to prevent.

Over the years, the popularity of computer and video games has grown. Specifically violent video games make up more than 50 % of the top selling games. These games include violent themes that involve guns, crime, blood, and gore. There is an ongoing belief that these types of games are to blame for the many acts of violence in society and have encouraged America’s youth to act out in aggression. Several organizations, such as the PTC (Parents Television Council) have moved to discourage the development of violent games while also pushing for stronger regulations when purchasing such games. There is also debate among parents and concerns on how games can negatively influence their children. So is there a direct link between video games and violence? The truth is video games do not encourage violence in society based on several factors which include scientific studies, statistics on crime, and prevention measures adopted by game publishers.

Aimee Tompkins (2003) claims that children are being affected by everything what they see around them in the youth, and people, who see violence in the youth, always tend to be more hostile and less responsive to images of violence. That 's why parents try to border children from any possible negative influences. But they often do not even realize that by buying to child a game console, they put them into the risk. Since most video games contain violent character. According to statistics given by the ‘Children now’ organization (2001), 89% of the top-selling video games have violent character and serious violence is contained in half of them.

“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are

Controversy about video games continue to escalate between parents and gamers, regarding the psychological effect of simulated, realistic, and 3D violence on the minds of young children and growing teenagers. Yet, research shows that video games contribute very little to today’s everyday violence, despite complaints and concerns that games influence a child’s normal behavior. Technology is a way of life in today’s world, computers are used by toddlers, adolescents, and adults alike. No matter what career path a person chooses, the computer plays an essential role in the job. The more our technology progresses and as our industry grows stronger, computers and electronic entertainment will grow to be found everywhere around the world. This includes videogames.