Video Games and Violent Behavior
Jessi Moffett
CRJ 385
September 15, 2015
Intro
Technology is an important aspect of change in our world. As time goes on, we are introduced to more and more technology every year, which includes media such as video games. The increase of technology has also increased and improved the world including ways of communicating and distribution of information. More often used outlets of media are those used for entertainment purposes, like television, internet and video games. The ones who are most likely to engage in these media outlets are millennials and the most recent generation Z, because they have been introduced to these outlets from a young age. In fact, a study found that children spend around 9 hours a week playing video games (Polman, de Castro, & van Aken, 2008). It is evident that video games are progressively becoming more violent in nature, and with children spending as much time as they do playing video games, there are questions that must be asked, is the violent nature of video games effecting today’s youth? And if so in what ways?
Video Games as a Violent Media
As technology as progressed, more people, especially youth, take part in playing video games. There has been an steady increase of video game usage because of the fact that video games have become more life-like and realistic. While they have become more realistic in aesthetic ways, they have also become more violent in content as well. Games like Call of Duty
A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.
“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!
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,
The release of early games, such as Pac-Man, Donkey-Kong, and Space Invaders, initiated the innovative and precedent era of video game popularity; however, modern games follow a distinctly uniform pattern in violent graphics and paucity of discretion. Whereas early media did little to affect the teenage psyche, the impact of modern media and its barbaric implications are considerably heightened by the large teen proclivity towards television, video games, and film. Surveys by the Kaiser Family Foundation6 have shown that in today’s highly digitalized society, children ages eight to eighteen spend approximately six and a half to seven and a half hours a day using media devices. Correlatively, research from the Pew Internet Project reveal that 97% of American teenagers play video games. Such media saturation, while undoubtedly harmful to health and social interactions, has only become psychologically harmful in recent years with the emergence of violence in interactive and narrative media. Unable to actively participate in violent crimes in the real world, teenagers take solace in doing so in the imaginary one, effectively learning to disassociate themselves from the characters they brutalize and murder. This talent, unfortunately, has become useful to those whose minds have been
As technology advances, the more parents are worrying about their children. The internet has become essential to everyday life, but does it have an effect? Video games have become a source of entertainment for young people all around the world. Videos have been blamed for any violence in young people. Recent games are now becoming bloodier and more realistic. I believe that video games do not negatively influenced young people to be more violent in real life. Instead they develop mentally, socially and emotionally.
A video game is “an electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen” (Merriam-Webster). Video games have been entertaining and challenging gamers since the Game Boy to modern console games. Despite the simplicity of the definition of video games, a video game, especially ones containing violence can have a large effect on the gamer. Because of the realism and advancements in the video game industry, video games can influence the player, and can make the gamer more aggressive, even if the game is not a violent video game. Even though video games have grown in popularity over the past decade, some have not been too popular with parents, for the reason that they are too violent. Violent video games affect
Do Violent Video Games (VVGs) impact youth violence? It impact youth in many ways. They increase hostility. Hostility is the use of bad language and breaking stuff. Most studies show that school shooter played VVGs. Video Games can calls hostility do to the exposure to violence.
In addition, despite controlling content such as hostility traits, and frequency of gameplay, exposure to violent content in video games was shown to be a significant predictor of physical fights (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). The current research study indicates trait hostility not to be the sole factor that leads to aggressive behaviour (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). If it were the sole factor, then children and adolescents who had low traits of hostility would not get into physical fights with others, making their video game habits an irrelevant determining factor (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). The same notion should be seen in individuals with high hostility traits, who, regardless of their video game habits,
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Technological advances have engineered many new forms of entertainment, one of the most popular being video games. Video games have come a long way since they were first introduced to the mainstream audience during the 1960’s and 1970’s and have drawn a large amount attraction among people of all ages and culture. However it wasn’t until the Play-station was released that violence became a concern to parents and politics. The level of violence in video games have been in a matter of controversy dating all the way back to the classic games like Pacman and Space Invaders and with the advancement of technology, eventually pushing into more modern and realistic games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Call of Duty: Ghosts. These games are evolving
In 2005, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law into effect for the state of California that would prohibit anyone under the age of 18 from playing Mature (M) rated violent video games. If there were any violators of this law, a hefty fine of $1,000 would have been issued. However on July 23rd, 2011, the Supreme Court did not have enough evidence and revoked this law claiming that it is unconstitutional and violates the 1st amendment (Mears). Even though video game makers scored a huge victory, the problem still exists. Research confirms that children are spending an increasing amount of time playing top rated violent video games. On average, boys are playing 13 hours a night, while girls are playing only 5 hours a night (“Children and Videos”). In comparison, 97% of children between the ages of 12 and 17 reported playing video games, while 2/3 of them played video games that contained violent content (“Violent”). As the number of children playing video games continues to increase, the amount of violence seen in the real world is increasing as well. The horrific acts of violence (killings, intense violence, strong language, and sexual context) that are situated in these games are becoming more common in the real world because children are imitating these fierce actions. Moreover, violent video games are influencing violence among children by influencing aggressive behavior, lowering the amount of time spent towards education, and incorporating dangerous content into these video
The debate about violent video games and whether or not those games influence the behavior of young people in particular, young boys has been going on for many years. There is no doubt that video games are very popular among pre-adolescents and adolescents. In fact, recent research in the New Hampshire Business Review (June, 2012) shows that 42% of the 300 boys that participated in a survey indicated they would rather play video games than play sports with other boys. In the survey (of boys eight to fourteen years of age) 84% of the 300 boys reported that they either quit or wanted to quit a sports team they were on because they "weren't having fun" (New Hampshire Business Review).
The study was conducted because there were very few studies in the past about violent video games affecting prosocial behavior Also because since there’s a positive correlation between aggressive behavior, they want to know if there’s a negative correlation between violent video games and prosocial behavior. They did research on previous studies that linked violent video games with aggressive behavior and mindset. They also looked at previous studies testing if violent video games affect helpful behavior. These experiments either had unreported results or showed no difference in behavior. The researchers thought they could do a better experiment and prove that violent video games have a negative effect on positive behavior. The hypothesis was the participants who played the extra violent video games will be less charitable and assigned more difficult puzzles to other, while the ones who played the non-violent video games will be the opposite.
Just how popular are videogames? In today’s society very popular, not only do our kids and teenagers play video games but even grown men and women play them as well. Video games are now more popular than watching television or going to the movies. According to Center for Disease Control, approximately 97% of American youth ages 12-17 play video games (CDC). In recent studies there have been quite a lot of debates concerning the behavioral affects of video games among youth ages 8 to 18.
Video games are the most popular form of entertainment and they are enjoyed by people from all age groups. Playing video games can have tremendous impacts on the different age groups, most importantly on the youth. The impact of video games on the youth has many different sides and it is a highly debated topic. One side feels that it has no impact on the youth and is only a game in which the content is meant to be enjoyed. However, the truth is that video games have a detrimental impact on today’s youth, especially violent games, and this is the position of the other side. This side believes the violence in video games is one aspect of