Violent Video Games And Violent Behavior

Whether violent media content leads to real-life violence is always debatable. And in recent years, school shootings have made video games a new focus of public concern and scientific research. In public opinion, video games cause more aggression in comparison to traditional violent media contents because video games have more features of interactivity, "due to the active engagement and participation of players" (Hummer and Wang et al. 137). But more and more reports tell us that video games are not the main cause of school shooting issues; rather it is the negligence of parents, schools, and communities.

A secure link between violent video games and violent behaviors has not yet been proven. Studies have shown numerous design flaws and have used unreliable sources such as noise blast tests to test their theory. Aforementioned only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. A report has not yet been proven to link violent video games with violent behaviors in school shootings but show that behavioral problems come from violent movies and other resources.

"Get over here!" The angered and scratchy voice bellows from deep within the strong, mean-spirited ninja. The ninja throws forth a blade that is fastened to the end of a long, black rope. The sharp point of the spear pierces the skin and takes root deep within the stomach of a screaming, young woman. Blood splatters from the impact, and the ninja forcefully retrieves the blade by pulling on the rope to which it is attached. The shrieking, young woman is lurched forward, attached still to the steel blade and without the ability to defend herself. Currently, she stands paralyzed and helpless at the hands of her attacker.

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?

Do violent video games make people more violent in public and in general? Studies done by “Bureau of Justice Statistics; Entertainment Software Association’’ states that total violent crime is going down as computer and video game sales are going up. Some people think violent video games are the cause of school shootings and other violent crimes. As many as 97% of kids ages 12-17 play video games (contributing to the $21.53 BILLION domestic video game industry). More than half of the 50-top selling video games contain violence.

In today’s society there has been an ongoing debate regarding the effects of violent video games and the development of today’s youth. Many people believe that the violence in video games promotes aggression. According to Doctor Brad Bushman’s article, "Do Violent Video Games Increase Aggression?" he claims that violent video games leads to aggression because it is interactive process that teaches and rewards violent behavior. Yet others believe that this not the case. Gregg Toppo of the Scientific American, writes in his article, “Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?” that video games are not a significant issue because teenagers know how differentiate between reality and fantasy. Because of the controversy surrounding this topic, I decided to research the question, “Does exposure to violent video games cause aggressive behavior among teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18?” Initially before performing any extensive research on this subject, I hypothesized that violent video games do cause aggressive behavior. I then proceeded to study different scholarly works that both supported and opposed my hypothesis. What I learned from those works eventually gave me a more complete understanding of the topic and allowed me to take a more educated stance.

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

The possible harmful side effects of violent video games has been long debated for many years, especially in light of recent tragedies such as the Columbine shootings which was initially thought to have been caused by excessive violent video game play. Over the years, many professional health associations have joined in agreement of these harmful effects (Anderson, Ihori, Bushman, Rothstein, Shibuya, Swing, Sakamoto & Saleem, 2010). Past research has revealed evidence that violent video games and media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both short and long term contexts (Anderson & Dill, 2000). However, because video game violence is a newer phenomenon with this technology emerging in the late 80’s and early 90”s, research is still very limited (Anderson et al., 2010). Nevertheless, Anderson and Dill (2000) produced two quantitative research studies in their published article, “Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life” using the General Affective Aggressive Model formulation, which revealed a correlation between video game violence and increased aggressive behaviors in both long and short term frameworks.

Video games and their alleged link to violent tendencies with people who play them and younger children in particular is not a new controversy in the gaming industry whatsoever, or is it really one that is currently being talked about. At least not as much as Mass Effect: Andromeda's atrocious character facial animations. But it's always good to address the inanities that are made by activists and conservatives who constantly attack and attempt to boycott developers from releasing a game they have spent years making saying that it's because of political correctness. The argument that games can cause violent behavior is one that does not provide any solid facts that games and behavior are correlated in any way. In fact there are more studies

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Pac-man, Space Invaders and Super Mario Bros are the games kids used to play now it is more like Call of Duty, Doom, and Assassins Creed. As time has gone on the video games children have played have become more violent than ever before. Such violent games have changed the ways kids behave. Video game violence does have a connection to violent behavior.

advanced, it was very difficult to create images that are commonly seen in our societies today. As one writer puts it, the reality of virtual games is so improved that the characters are able to perform real life reactions to an effect. For example, when a character is shot in the neck, he falls to the ground face down clutching to his throat. Sometimes when the character is shot, a large spray of blood covers the walls and the floor where the body of character lies. In other instances where explosives are used, the character burst into small but recognizable body parts (Shin).

In recent years, technological advances have introduced many new forms of entertainment, one of the most popular being video games. Since their introduction, professionals and parents have become concerned with the addictive power that video games can have on people, particularly children and adolescents. Today, concern has shifted from the addictive effects of video game playing to the possible effects that they have on players’ aggression levels. As defining aggression as any thoughts or behaviors related with the intention to cause harm. Many scholars have been researching videogames' effects on children. The most popular aspect of videogame research is whether or not games increase aggression.

Critics of violence in video games believe that it increases an adolescent's tendency toward violent actions. Multiple credible organizations also view playing violent video games as a statistical detail affecting a person’s aggressive tendency. Over 98% of American pediatricians say that children and teens become more aggressive when exposed to violent media such as a violent video game (“Violent Video Games”). The FBI uses an individual's violent video game history to assess the risk of a school shooting threat. The American Psychological Association cites frequent violent video game exposure as a risk factor that contributes to violence in teens (“Violent Video Games”). Some groups that are against video game violence go as far as to list it as a primary cause

What images pop up in your head when you hear the word aggression? Have you ever thought whether violence portrayed in different forms of media make people more aggressive? The immediate reaction to such a word is fighting or violence. Many issues are determinants of aggression but media violence has played a huge role in influencing aggressive behavior. Over the past years, aggression has been tied to numerous video games that are violent in many different ways. Aggression has been defined as “behavior motivated by feelings of anger and hostility and whose primary aim is to harm another, either physically or psychologically (Gilovich, Keltner, Chen & Nisbett, 2016). Even though individuals do not realize, many aspects pertaining to violent video games have been thought to be correlated with aggression in individuals who play them. Some issues include how violent they are, how long the games are engaged in and what age the individual is. In this present paper, the timing of a violent video game and its role in influencing aggression, is investigated.