Video Games Vs. Wii

“97% of US kids between the age 12-17 play video games...more than half of 50-Top-Selling video games contain violence” (Guardian US interactive team). Video games are present in almost every home around the world, their commercialization and popularity are increasing abruptly, reaching in hands of a lot of teens who can spend hours and hours just playing them. Because of the huge demand that video games have, their creators are in the necessity to make them more attracting, to increase their sales, and give more satisfaction to their consumers, in this case the majority young people. However violent video games have been blamed to be a very influential factor in child development, contributing to youth violence. In other hand different organizations and personalities had different opinions about it, arguing that violent video games had no link with social violence.

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.

A violent video game is defined as a video game where the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010). For many years there has been increasing concern by the general public, policy makers and social scientists as to whether or not violent video games have a negative influence on the behaviour of youth. With the popularity of the gaming culture growing dramatically amongst children and adolescences; the marketing of violent video games to youth has become increasingly successful, allowing such games to become more easily obtainable regardless of age (Anderson et al 2007). Consequently, the increase has raised the question of exactly what impact exposure to these highly graphic games has on the younger generation; resulting in a range of research and studies to continue to take place on the subject. It has become the norm in most modern societies to associate violent video games as a considerable cause to the violent and aggressive outbursts of youth (Ferguson 2010). Some even go as far as connecting some crimes committed by young people as a result of their exposure to violent video games. While others claim there is no link between violent video games and negative youth behaviour; some suggesting that violent video games have a positive impact on the behaviour of youth.

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

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.

Gaming consoles have come a long way from where they started. There was many variations of the game Pong to 3D realistic environments. From the start as a simulator all the way down as way of exercising. There were many consoles at the beginning, and then through time it came down to a final three top selling companies. Every gamer, close to the age of thirty and over, has seen the generations of game consoles evolve. There are 7 generations total of game consoles. Game consoles have become part of our culture, some people do not know it yet, but in some way they are gamers. In the beginning there was Ralph H. Baer, “The Father of Video Games”, and he created the “Brown Box” in 1968. Now the Brown Box was a working prototype. It was the

As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than 50% of games have violence. (Procon.org) Video games that have violence have been blamed to have caused bullying, mass shootings, and violence towards women. (Procon.org) An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide series of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017. (Procon.org) Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence and it rewards players for simulating violence . (Procon.org)

So, I’m going to change things a bit. Instead of just talking about dates and numbers, which can be boring; I’m going to give this a little casual twist. So, in order to start the history let’s get a few facts out of the way. Let’s talk about gamers, mainly because I’ll be using the term a lot; gamers are people who spent a lot of time playing videogames. The Average gamer playing video games has spent twelve years playing them. Adult gamers have an average of fourteen years of playing videogames, guys have an average of sixteen years, and girls have an average twelve years. Speaking of girls did you know that 47% of gamers are girls? I would have never guessed that, but it’s a fact. So, as of 2013 49% of all people who live in The United States owns a console. All of them that own a console have at least two of them. Me, I own eleven… I think I may have a problem. Anyway, now that some of the facts are out of the way let’s start, THE HISTORY OF VIDEOGAMES! Now before I start I want to talk about all the most important events in the history of videogames, as I call them eras. Each era is very important because they shaped the videogames we know and love today.

Over 90% of children around the world play video games, and over 90% of those are violent. This staggering amount of simulated violence has initiated devastation to everyone. Parents of all origins try to protect their kids from cruelty, but in the process of buying them pugnacious video games, they are pursuing the opposite effect. Simulated brutality in games are precarious because the history of gaming is tied to violence, it is treating killing as banter, and it surges bullying and aggression among players.

Since video games have been introduced, video games have been accused of contributing too many atrocities, and acts of violence. News outlets paint video games as being a source of which some acts of violence happen. Yes, violent video games have become more popular, meanwhile becoming controversial, but still there exist no links between aggression and video games. The University of Bologna says that “owning videogames does not in fact seem to have negative effects on aggressive human behavior” (Koffler par.7). Meanwhile, news outlets keep on missing the point on how beneficial video games are. Video games do not contribute to violence, can be educational, and they can improve us in different ways.

“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!

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.

Games play an important part in human development, it is one of the most popular way people use to release stress from work, school or from family members. Its popularity is due in part to the variety of games that have a lot of variety including but not limited to; PC games, Board games, Console games, and so much more. The most famous out of all of this is the Console games, the most popular of which are the PlayStation 4 (PS4) and the Xbox One. After considering why consoles are still popular this essay will explain why the PlayStation 4 is superior to the Xbox1.

“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.