Violent Video Games Cause Violence : Cause Of Violence And Video Games

Video game effects are relatively new in modern society. Even though these games are often entertaining, the content of the game has been increasingly more and more violent as technology becomes more prevalent. The popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, violent video games do not cause an increase in aggression, in adolescents. The forceful plan by the government is caused by an exaggeration of the effects of violent video games and this plan are indeed pointless.

Videogame violence is nothing new. As was noted in a recent Washington Times article by Eric Rozenman, one of the earliest videogames, Death Race, created controversy back in the mid-1970’s: “The game involved an automobile driver running down pedestrians. The later expired with unconvincing moans, the skilled motorists recording a tally of crucifixes.”

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.

Video games, since their creation have been a great source of controversy in regards to their effects on mental health and influence on violent crimes. Games have been created over thousands of years ago and have excited generations. Virtual games on the other hand have not existed for over a hundred years, but have made major media controversy over the intense gore in many uncensored video games. One huge standout is the classic known bloody graphic fighting game Mortal Kombat that made the “ESRB” or rating system to show who is mature enough to play this video game. The newest ratings for video games would be represented with an “M” for mature and only 17+ people could purchase copies of those video games with that symbol on the game. Mortal

In 1994, a video game rating system known as ESRB was established due to gory and violent games such as Mortal Kombat and Night Trap. The ESRB decides what age or ages a video game should be appropriate for. The ESRB rating categories ranged from kids to adults to mature. ESRB. "SEARCH ESRB RATINGS." ESRB Ratings. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017. Today, the ESRB rating still exists and recently the ESRB expanded to mobile games and apps. The ESRB rating system for video games will exist in the future and it will continue to expand.

In this age of technology, it's very safe to say that a large majority of the world's population has played at least one video game. This can vary from playing games on console, like Xbox-One, Playstation 4, and for the older generation, the NES to playing mobile games like Tetris. There are many consoles that span from the creation of video games. This has opened opportunities to make several kind of games. These can vary from side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros. on the NES, to Role-playing games (RPG) like Final Fantasy IX on the Playstation 1. While this has caused some great games to surface, it has also allowed intense violence to be let into games. Parents and anti-gaming communities state that this is why kids can become violent. This is false, because violent games can be avoided to prevent this issue, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has even made various precautions to make sure parents know what they're purchasing. Comprehensible symbols, detailed lists, and age restrictions prevents children from "becoming violent".

Some people believe violent video games tend to make people more violent. In 1999 Columbine High School shootings that got many Americans thinking about violent video games (Toppo). It shows that the war on video games was started on evidence that counters itself. People need something to blame for a tragedy and video games are still relatively new and misunderstood by

In the 90’s there was even enough media attention to video game violence that the United States Congress had a hearing on issuing age appropriate labels, much like in movies, to video games to warn parents of the contents of a game. Each of these matters have only helped further tarnish the reputation of video games, and draw worse misconceptions about them.

First, I’d like to tell you about the evolution of violent video games. According to a user on ng4.com named ABizzel1 In 1986 a game called Chiller was released and it was heavily influenced by the popular horror movies of the time such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. Chiller was extremely gory for its time and due to its gore and violence, it was one of the first games to be banned. In 1992 another game shared a similar fate, Mortal Kombat was released in 1992 and rivaled the famed Street Fighter and became an instant success due to its gore and iconic finishing moves and it was the first game to cause political backlash in the US, during a congressional hearing on December 9th, 1993 Mortal Kombat was mentioned, and was banned in several countries. Video games will continue to increase in graphics quality which will promote higher

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.

The first uproar in the United States about violent video games was in 1976, over gaming company Exidy’s Death Race, an 8-bit arcade game in which a player’s car runs over stick figures, turning them into tombstones (Suddath). Death Race caused the United States’ first video gaming ethical terror. The United States was unsure on how to deal with young children getting ahold of violent video games and were focused on finding a way to keep the mental development of young child out of the games harmful way. The growth of moral uproar continued in 1993 where Mortal Kombat, which included extremely violent graphics and "fatality" moves, and Night Trap, in which a male

Fergusion (2008) goes on to say that scientists, media, and politicians often cause what he refers to as , “moral panic” a process of inflicting fear among the populous by suggesting the behavior, or moral decisions of a few individuals within the society have the potential to be a risk to the rest of the society in general. According to statistical research provided by Fergusion (2008), in 1996 roughly 75 million violent video games were purchased in the United States totaling an estimated 175 serious violent crimes. Comparing these numbers to 2005, there was almost 150 million more violent games sold, but yielded an estimated decline in violent crimes by 157 incidents. After a review of statistics published by C. J. Ferguson, it is hard to imagine that there is an actual relationship between violent games and violent crimes due to the staggering amount of violent games sold versus crimes that were actually committed. Statistically, this seems odd considering that eighty eight percent of adolescents ranging from age eight to eighteen are exposed to games, violent in nature, on an average of 13.2 hours per week (Adachi & Willoughby, 2011).

One important instance in video game history was the formation of the ESRB. That is the Entertainment Software Rating Board and they are responsible for giving video games ratings based on what is in them. This was formed due to Congressional hearing in 1993 where the main focus was two controversial video games. It was formed to deflect potential video game regulation by the government as its own entity (NCAC). This allowed for the very controversial game “Mortal Kombat” to stay in stores. This was a fighting game that was the first to feature real ‘lifelike’ violence. It not only featured blood and gore, but also more realistic looking characters. The premise of the game was, the player would pick a character and fight other characters to the death, whichever character won gained the ability to perform a finishing move that was very brutal and involved some form of mutilation to the other character. This was the main aspect that had people in uproar. Though due to the formation of the ESRB “Mortal Kombat” remained in stores. After the formation of the ESRB, there were still instances of uproar over video game violence. In 1997 Jack Thompson files the first of many lawsuits that claims violent video games are responsible for violence in teens (NCAC). This suit was brought about due to the shooting that happened at Heath High School that year. Though the biggest action taken against

Since the 1980’s, social scientists have debated over the effects of video games. Vast improvements and advances in technology have evolved the gaming industry, gaining popularity. Not only has the popularity of video games increased but the amount of controversy surrounding them has also escalated. For decades, critics have accused video games of causing acts of violence and violent behavior. Although the media and critics blame increased violence in the real-world to violent video games, this exaggeration of their effects does not take into account and the fact that there can be no single risk factor that leads to real-world acts of violence and the lack of evidence that suggests a causal link between video game violence and violent behavior. Therefore, the current regulations and laws surrounding violent video games should remain the same.

While video games are fun for a lot of people, violent video games have proven to lead to more than just high scores and a source of entertainment. Violent video games need to be limited to our maturing youth. First, violent video games are one of the biggest and increasing outlets for providing our youth with deranged thoughts and aggressive impulsions. Second, the use of violent video games is very prevalent amongst soldiers in the U.S. Army being ordered to play these games to keep them in a warrior mentality. Another thing to note about the violence portrayed in video games is how popular the violence theme is. The increasingly large percent of popular video games today are vastly shooter games. Without a doubt, the teenage shooters