At least every child has played video games once in their lives. There are various genres and types of video games such as action, first person shooters, adventure, education, role-playing, strategy, and many more. 89% of video games contain some violent content (Slife, 2008). The most addictive, common, and popular video games among children are the violent video games (Slife, 2008). A lot of video games these days depict “real-life violence” meaning that the settings and plots of these video games are taken from real-life wars and events. For example, in Call of Duty, the plot is being in World War 2 and doing campaign missions identical to World War 2 events. While playing a video game, no matter what the genre is, the person is bound …show more content…
There is no clear relationship between violent video games and real-life violence and most people do not act out after playing games.
Some people such as Douglas Gentile who is a Developmental psychologist believe that video games cause real-life violence and children acting out in violent ways. For example, in 2006, an 18-year-old named Devin Moore was arrested in Alabama on suspicion of car theft and then attacked a police officer, stole his gun, shot two officers, and fled in the police car (Layton). He had no criminal history but it has been said that he played a lot of Grand Theft Auto prior to the killings, which could have led him to do what he did. Clearly, the video game affected his behaviors and he decided to mimic the game and do the same things from the game in real life. Another example is the Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold apparently played a lot of violent video games such as "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom", and "Mortal Kombat" before attacking their high school (Layton). The Columbine shooters were affected by video games, it made them more violent, and they their actions during the shooting were very similar to the violent video games. In addition, when playing video games, the game is very interactive, repetitive, and is based on a reward system so the gamer is bound do learn from the game (Gentile, 2003,pg.356). Active participation and interaction
The most extensive argument many have argued toward violent video games affecting one’s behavior can simply be described as that many shooters were fans of violent video games before committing the shootings. A common example people making this argument raise are the Columbine shooters, who were big fans of the video game Doom. While many believe that Doom’s excessive gore and violence led the two teens to perpetrate the mass shooting, that is not the case. What those who argue against video games fail to realize that those who commit these crimes had a history of other conditions. After many mass shootings, researchers often discovered in autopsies that the suspect had a long history of aggression or mental health problems that gaming was not responsible for. Patrick Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson, writers for US News, wrote
According to Henry Jenkins, an American Media Scholar and professor at MIT, “young people in general are more likely to be gamers —90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play.” That is an overwhelming amount of young people. In recent years, there have been incidents such as the Columbine school shooting which have shown young people committing terrible acts of violence. In the case of the Columbine shooting, the teenagers who committed the shooting were both found to be avid players of a violent computer video game known as Doom (Ferguson, 26). This has raised lawmakers and concerned parents to begin opposing violence in video games. These people believe that video games (and violent video games in particular) can cause young people
A perfect example of video games altering our youth’s minds is the 1999 Columbine Highschool massacre. The massacre involved two students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold fire shots
On the other hand, “it seems like after every school shooting that occurs, the media are quick to blame violent video game play for the shooter’s actions. In a 2004 study, the U.S Secret Service found that only 1 in 8 school shooters had an interest in violent video games.” ( Ramirez page 15). Different sources contribute to teen’s aggressive behaviors such as action movies, books etc. Furthermore, “the U.S. military uses video games both to recruit future soldiers and to train new recruits for combat.” (Ramirez page 1). In addition, violent video games are also contributing to the
Video Game Violence has been a controversial topic for many years. It is easy to shift the blame for school shootings, and other crimes on to video games; an example of this is the Columbine High School massacre, a school shooting that occurred on April 20, 1999, where two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went to their school and killed 12 students, one teacher, and wounded 21 others. Because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were fans of video games and actively played games such as Doom, Wolfenstein 3D, and Duke Nukem, this pushed the blame on to these companies and would lead to lawsuits and sour the mouth of the public view of video games. That is only one of the many that would paint a bad picture into the mind of the public. This
There is much persistent debate throughout culture these days concerning video games. Common questions asked are things like ?Where should the lines be drawn in terms of content? and What audience, if any, is this appropriate for? As lawyers fight, bizarre crimes are blamed on video games, constant studies take place, and technology continues to evolve, the video game world continues to thrive and be extremely profitable. While there is near-constant focus on the supposed ?negatives? of games like simulated killing, drug use, or sex, most people, especially those completely outside of gaming circles, fail to acknowledge that gaming of any kind can possibly have positive effects on players. While increased hand-eye
On April 20, 1999, two high school seniors walked into Colorado high school carrying AK47 rifles and opened fire. They shot dozens of people, killing 12 students and one teacher. School shootings had happened before, but this was a new scale of carnage. While searching for the reasoning behind this massacre, it was found out that the shooters had spent a lot of time playing violent video games. The question that has been asked by many is “Do violent video games cause violence in real life?” The answer is yes. They do cause violence in real life, but not to the extent publicized. Many different studies and experiments have shown varying results. Most say that violence in video games does cause violent behavior. However, it is too
The Pew Research Center reported in 2008 that ninety-seven percent of youth ages twelve to seventeen played some types of video game, and that two-thirds of them played action and adventure games that tend to contain violent or vulgar content. A separate analysis found that more than half of all video games rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board contained violence, including more than ninety percent of those rated as appropriate for children ten years or older. Given how common these games are, it is a small wonder that mental health clinicians often find themselves fielding questions from parents who are worried about the immense impact of violent video games on their children.”, says the Harvard Mental Health Letter (Violent Video Games and Young People, Harvard Health).Violent video games can, and will often result in criminal activity later on in and adolescent’s life. Teenagers witness the things that their video games are telling them to do. It gets stuck in the teen’s mind, and they eventually know how to not only master killing someone in High Definition, but also in real life. Louisiana law enforcement shared a striking story about how an eight-year-old boy intentionally shot and killed his elderly caregiver after playing “Grand Theft
Blood and gore, intense violence, strong sexual content, use of drugs. These are just a few of the phrases that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) uses to describe the content of several games. The future of entertainment revolves around technology. Along with the evolvement of technology, video games are also changing. More ways of playing violent video games are created each year, but most of us have this question in mind; do violent video games influence people to act aggressively?
Playing video games does not cause violent behavior. Don’t get me wrong, some video games show horrific acts of violence. “A recent survey found that 92 percent of U.S. kids--ages 2 to 17--play video games, and their parents bought 225 million of them last year to the tune of $6.4 billion.” (Sider 79).What’s here to argue is that violent video games do not cause violence among children, but the blame for violence should be on the individual and people who should have taught the individual better. If kids are not able to see the difference between reality and fantasy, then they really can’t be blamed for committing acts they see in a game and then imitating, not fully understanding the consequences of doing it in the real world.
As technology advances, new and creative forms of entertainment immerge from these advancements. One form that has grown immensely in popularity over the past dozen years has been video games. Taking form nearly four decades ago, video games have been one of the major embodiments of the growth of entertainment technology. Today, video games have taken many shapes, from the general PC and console games to special applications that can be found on social networks and even millions of cell phones around the world.
In today world video games have come along way since the birth of game consoles, with such games as Pac Man, Donkey Kong, and Frogger. Not only have the graphics done a complete three hundred and sixty degrees turn but the violence has also on video games. There have been many people discussing on the topic of video games that have violence and the effect it has on kids. It brings out more aggression on kids that play those types of games than those who does not. Although some video games are considered harmful to society, we must find the necessary steps to improve on what we allow our children to play to fix this controversial conversation.
Lately there have been increasing amounts of people that say that violent video games are causing a number violent actions. To some extent this is true, but there are also studies that say games help people release their aggression in an appropriate way. I would tend to agree with the later.
“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.
Video games are played by many adolescents as well as adults throughout the world. Some games are peaceful puzzle games that teach people how to solve problems in complex situations, and others are violent games that consist of killing in order to conquer your opponent or opponents. There are a multitude of games that can consist of surviving starvation, but despite the countless games and different genres, the most popular games are those that consist of violence. The problem with so many people playing violent video games are the potential mental health risks that the games might pose for the players. Besides the physical health risks of sitting around staring at a screen for hours, video games, for better or for worse, are believed to affect a person’s mind on how fast they perceive information, and the amount of patience they have during frustrating situations. This doesn’t mean that all games are bad for people, but it also means that not all games are good for everyone’s mental wellness either. There are disagreements on the subject, as some believe that abstaining from all video games, or just violent games, is the most beneficial solution for people, but others believe that videogames are not a problem for society and can yield beneficial factors for the players.