Violent Video Games Cause Violence

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/.

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.

People have always been looking for a reason why horrible things happen. The media is quick to blame video games as the target and cause of many shootings that have occurred, ever since Columbine and Quake. People have been blaming video games for violence for years now, ever since violent video games have been made. News reports blame video games more and more for each shooting, telling the public how this person played video games for x amount of hours a day, and that video games caused him or her to shoot people, and how video games encourage and reward violence. Anti-video game lobbyists have been campaigning to have violence removed from video games, citing resources that they themselves have created as reasons for

With recent school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, policymakers have placed increased emphasis on violent video games as a probable cause of gun violence. President Donald Trump, for example, is scheduled to meet with representatives from the video game industry to discuss the issue with them.

Are violent video games directly correlated to teen violence? This is the burning question many researchers are dedicated to answering. The common form of the question is “Is the increase in violence in games creating killer kids?” The simple answer is no. Instead the opposite has occurred, as games became more violent, the players became calmer. The games create a “safe” outlet for any anger or angst that young people possess. Crime rates in the teen population have lowered and violent teens admit to having little to no interest in violent video games. The games that most people fear are destroying the youth may actually be one of the things helping them grow and become “normal” members in society.

“Academics have researched and documented flow-related experiences for decades, with many repeatedly linking it to a number of positive outcomes for adolescents, including academic improvements in high school, improved self-esteem, and decreased levels of anxiety” (Glynn).

What if I told you that video games do not cause violence like “smart” people tell you. Video games do not cause violence and people who think that are probably not gamers themselves. However, I beg to differ with all of those people. I say violent video games are will not make you a bad person like most every parent that is above the age of forty says. Now, it's my turn to tell you why playing violent video games will not make you violent.

Over the past few years, the United States has seen violence that has come from the inside of the country. Various high schools, have had shootings inside of them from some of the high school students that go to that specific school. Some experts blame the shootings by categorizing the students as someone who has been tormented and bullied basically most of life, while other experts believe the shootings were caused by the violence in video games. There has been a lot of nation-wide discussion about if violent video games really do cause violence and aggression in young gamers ever since shootings at high schools increased. However evidence has shown differently than what most experts think. Violent video games do not cause violence and aggression in young gamers.

Violence and Video Games A lot of teenager’s love the game’s Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto 5; well at least I know I love them. These games are played on the daily by many teenagers. But some Adults and people who work in the government, thinks game’s as such as those cause some teenagers and adults to do violent things but why? Just because, some teenagers and adults play violent video games doesn’t meant that’s making them do the things they do.

Violent video games are blamed for causing violence, aggressive behaviors, crimes, bullying, fighting, and school shootings. The media portrays video games as a tool that influence children and teenagers to commit violent acts. During the Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association case, the United States Supreme Court ruled the rejection of banning video games in California because studies have not proven the violence caused by video games. Statistics have shown the decrease in juvenile crime rates and increase in violent video game sales. Studies conducted by medical professionals have also proven that video games do not cause violence but rather increase moral sensitivity, prosocial behavior, and moral compass for children and teenagers. Video games do not cause violence because there is no evidence that suggests that video games cause violent behavior in children and teenagers.

Violence is everywhere, in magazines in the shops, on the TV, on websites like YouTube as well as in video games. Yet, why is it that those video games are said to be the biggest media source responsible for the violent outbursts of different individuals? Is this really the case? Every eight out of ten homes in the United Kingdom own a current generation games console and video games have become a fantastic source of education when helping kids to learn, such websites like educationcity.com or the VTech Learning System that teach kids literacy, numeracy and the sciences through their games. However it seems an American politician called Joe Biden deemed that violent video games should be taxed just because some isolated cases that

According to technology fox news, video games stimulate aggressive thoughts. In the study, children ages of eight to seventeen who constantly play video games exhibit a more aggressive behavior such as pushing, hitting in comparison to three years before playing video games. In the meantime, the individuals who diminished the measure of time they spent playing fierce video games saw an abatement in forceful conduct, the specialists say. The explanation behind the increment in forceful conduct was the youngsters who play a great deal of brutal video games had an increment in forceful considerations: for example, they will probably decipher an uncertain demonstration, similar to somebody catching them, as unfriendly, said study analyst Craig Anderson, a therapist and teacher at Iowa State University. They were additionally more prone to see forceful conduct as a proper approach to react to incitement,

My family members do not play video games much and have not committed any violent crimes. None of them have told me that they love violence with a passion or make vulgar responses when they play video games. Russell Elmore wrote a dissertation and inquired about the advancement in technology to allow for more realistic scenery in video games (Elmore “THE EFFECT OF VIOLENT VIDEO GAME EXPOSURE ON EMOTION MODULATION OF STARTLE AND AGGRESSION”). Many children in my family look at video games as a resource to take up time out of their day. Even though they play violent video games they are welcoming and comical people when I speak to them. When they are mentally ill or struggling with others, we won't discuss violent video games. All of my relatives use a technology resource as help for an upcoming task or to connect with others. When I do bring up video games, we will not carry on a conversation long. Word Count- 1293

Not only that, losing in a game invokes the feeling of frustration as well. Similarly, these feelings are often seen in the real world. For example, football watchers often exhibit frustration when their favorite team loses a match against a formidable foe. In few cases, this leads to destroying objects around the house to release the anger that comes from defeat. Similarly, video game players experience frustration such as playing games such as Golf with Friends and fails to perform a hole in one. Thus, this leads to aggressive behavior such as exhibiting profanity. Although unlike football, video games receive backlash from media that they cause violent behavior. Although, Paul Tassi argues that video causes aggressiveness; however, he claims that it comes mostly from the fact that players tend to become frustrated due to losing rather than the content of the game (4). Therefore, the experience of losing causes aggressive behavior rather than the game itself. For example, players can express aggravation when they encounter games like Mario, where they miss to land a jump and fall to their death which results in starting all over from the beginning. Although, some may argue that the frustration creates violent behavior. Although it may be true to a certain degree, this does not mean that everyone will become violent simply from being frustrated. In fact, it mostly depends on the person's tolerances of experiences of failure or lack of mastery. Overall, video games are not

Video games as a media have been around since the 1970s. According to Dai and Fry (2014), the video game industry is rapidly growing and went from having a market volume of $100 million in 1985 to $4 billion in 1990. In 2013, the worldwide market was totaled to be $93 billion. Exposure to violent video games, like exposure to violent television, can lead to aggressive behavior (Pellisier, 2016). There are different types of video games, from educational video games to aggressive blood pumping games, but to date violent video games still rank number one in the category. Children are likely responding more aggressively to normal stimuli after being exposed to aggressive or violent video games.