Violence And Video Games

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.

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.

In 2008 an eight year-old intentionally, living in slaughter louisiana,shot his grandmother in the head right after playing grand theft auto IV. In America the rate of mass shootings and obesity each year. Video Games also teach antisocial behavior. Video games are responsible for increase of violence in schools, desensitizing American youth, and prompting unhealthy behaviors.

Kain, Erik. “The Truth About Video Games and Gun Violence.” Mother Jones, 11 June 2013, www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/video-games-violence-guns-explainer/.

Throughout playing a game or after you might see a change in people’s behavior. Carey stated " [m]any similar studies have found the same thing: A dose of violent gaming makes people act a little more rudely than they would otherwise, at least for a few minutes after playing." (1) Studies have shown that after playing violent games it changes there behaviors making them become ruder. People must understand that “[i]t's possible that someone who buys and plays the game will later go on to carry out a horrible shooting. Should that happen, it will almost certainly occur in America, which boasts far and away the highest number of mass shootings (and shootings in general) while boasting no higher rate of video game consumption” (Kain 2). Clearly, this shows in America the person who buys a video game is more likely to start a shooting in the U.S. The U.S is the highest rate of shootings which means you have to be careful of what your playing and the things you do.In spite of the fact that video games might not affect everyone's behaviors and go crazy. The majority of people who do play afterwards become ruder which is the cause to mental issues or breakdowns. Many teens who do play these types of games are more likely to get all these effects.

The Center for Disease Control has reported that 12 out of every 100,000, or 38,772, Americans were killed by firearm-related injuries in 2016. Approximately, 96 percent of those deaths were a result of gun violence. These numbers are up from 11 out of every 100,000, or 35,299, in 2015 and they continue to increase. My research thus far has show that the link between violent video games and gun violence in America is complex and nearly non-existent. My research question will explore the relationship between violent video games and gun violence and whether their relationship is a correlation or a causation. The resources that will support my thesis will focus on the understanding that violent video games are not a cause of gun violence and that the real issue lies elsewhere.

Numerous studies have been done, showing no direct correlation between video games and actual violence. “The US Secret Service conducted a review in 2004 aimed at identifying causes of school shootings, and it found just 12 percent of studied attackers -- that's 5 out of 41 -- expressed an interest in violent video games”(Conditt, 2018, para 6). It was found that video games actually decrease violence in the real world. There was an economic study conducted in 2016 that found, ¨a reduction in crime in the weeks after major video game releases¨ (Conditt, 2018, para 7). This is because the video games give people an outlet to release violent thoughts and frustrations in a safer, virtual environment. In fact, video games actually decrease violence on the

Thesis Statement: While they may cause aggression in some people, playing violent video games does not cause gun violence because other countries that consume more video games per capita have less gun violence, they are mentally beneficial, and the real causes are rooted elsewhere.

The issue of video game violence seems to be a hot topic right now after several shootings have occurred and made a connection to the shooters being video gamers. In looking at past research it is apparent that there seems to large amounts of research that contradict one work to another. Although I would have been interested in conducting a poll of the publics opinion regarding the use of violent video games and their connection to mass shootings I was not able to conduct the research. However, for this paper I chose to conduct a literature analysis to see what research has been conducted and to seek out gaps and themes in this research.

Since the first iteration of the Nintendo game console, video games have become integral part of our entertainment experience. In the last 20 years the improvements in video technology has only bolstered the appeal of video games, making them one of the top forms of entertainment for all ages and genders. The amount of people playing video games continues to rise at an alarming rate. Video games are a great way to alleviate stress, they allow you to relax, escape from reality and just decompress from life.

Media violence has been tremendously growing and attaining the hazardous extents. Two-thirds of TV shows contain some kind of violence. Most self-involving video games contain some violent matter in it. For example, if you manufacture guns, you do not need to give any advertisement, because it is done by the amusement industry. Aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, hallucinations, and fear of being mishandled were caused by the media violence, was explained in a 2009 Policy Statement on Media Violence, by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The increase in aggressive behavior happens by watching violent video shows on TV, and by playing violent video games.

The evolution of video games has taken a drastic change since the 1970’s when video games were first introduced. Since then every decade video games have become more violent in nature with strong language and realistic to suit society today. Craig Anderson states that with more violence in video games they would sell better than games with less violence (Anderson, Gentile, and Beckley pg.5). Violent video games really became popular when the first person shooter games were invented so that we could see through the eyes of the player, as if we were really experiencing it. Society wanted better graphics and games as time went on new technology was invented and society matured in electronics. This meant that for game creators would have to come up with something better selling than the last. Creators would make the games more violent and more realistic each time so that way they can keep the interest of their consumers. Each game would increase in blood or gore slowly, but what really got consumers to buy their games would be the update of graphics in the consoles or games. This is due to the drastic changing of technology and the maturing of consumers wanting better and newer violent video games. Violent video games can cause children to behave violently if not correctly supervised.

There are probably millions and billions of video games sold every year to people. Some people seem to believe that violence correlates directly with video games. Video games are something that is usually a big interest in people at the ages of 13 to 19 years old. Video games usually start off as a little fun and then turn into a major hobby for some people. Emotions change based on whatever happens while a person is engaging in these games most of the time. These games are another way to observe how people react emotionally to these games.

As video game images become increasingly more realistic and graphic. Therefore, is there any link between the violence depicted in those games and violence in real life? Students are the main group people who played violent video games very often. Also, losing a game causes many people to have a negative impact. Last, the attitudes on violent game and antisocial. Games are everywhere around us, such as cellphones, televisions, or computers, but violent games are the most popular type of game. The scene inside the game may lead to real things happen, especially for children, who are eager to experience it. Therefore, violent games may cause many impact, such as crimes, antisocial, and negative effects.

Most of us have certainly pondered on the thought if video games truly create violent citizens, I personally believe that video games do not what so ever. One must distinguish this topic accurately and consider learning to differentiate and not have a biased or radical opinion. There have been many attempts from a number of different people who have tried to give a bad name to video games due to the simulations and realness and say that video games will create a negative environment for anyone who plays them, especially in children. Enthusiasts of video games have spent decades asserting that there is no underlying link between playing violent titles and engaging in the violent real-world behavior. Brand-new data confirms their contentions.