Violent Video Games Harm Our Kids: Article Analysis

A twelve year old boy named Paul sits about three feet from the fifty-two inch screen television with his eyes fixated on his character, a humanlike fox. He is able to use his game controller without looking away from the television. He sits erect and is so focused on what he is doing that he is unaware of everything that is going on around him. Occasionally he will yell out "Die! Die, sucker!" Just then his five year old brother, Skyler, stops beside him. Skyler exclaims with a smile, "What are you playing?" followed by, "Can I play?" The violence has caught his eye. Paul replies, "Sure, but I need to show you how to work the controller." He continues

Giumetti and Pattrick M. Markey, chose to write this article on the theory of violent video games being associated with aggression. They had quite a few references where they have gotten their information from. They used those references to help them emphasize their theories, beliefs, and facts of violent video games and aggression before doing the study on their participants. All the different types of researchers and their theories were an example of how their is diversity in the examples that they had. Each one of those researchers had developed some facts on how the video games that are violent will cause angry people, or people in general, to experience some sort of aggression. They have a unique form of how they interpret their research to the actual study, since everything is very different. The ethics of the study are greatly represented in the article. It is simple to understand that they had very excellent morals for doing this study. First, they gather participants that are in college or around that age. This is because they needed people who would understand the environment of video games, instead of having grown adults who would not be as affected to study. Everything that they did during the study was based on good morals and everything was effectively all done with the consent of the participants. The limitations that they might have had is knowing whether the person would show aggression or satisfaction after playing the violent video game. Since the violent games are supposed to show the aggression that that person should have after playing it, they could come out with a different approach to it. The confounds that were found were when the people showed the aggression that they had after they heard the stories that had happened to the main character in each story. Since those are not controlled by the researchers, the participants are allowed to have their own personal reactions towards what they heard. Both articles,

Do Violent Video Games (VVGs) impact youth violence? It impact youth in many ways. They increase hostility. Hostility is the use of bad language and breaking stuff. Most studies show that school shooter played VVGs. Video Games can calls hostility do to the exposure to violence.

An article in "Psychology Today" discussed how studies have shown that video game players that play in a violent game such as Call of Duty will start to act aggressive due to the violent exposure in the game. The author states that in Call of Duty there is a scene where the player destroys a tank and must finish off an enemy character screaming for his life. The author than describes how virtual reality is going to replace video game consoles and make people less sensitive to violent acts, Rosenblum imagines that virtual reality will take games such as Halo or Call of Duty and increase the effects of desensitization by a factor of ten, if not fifty (Rosenblum 35). The author later states that researchers as well as industry figures are afraid of what violent content players are exposed to in video games. This article argues that the rise of video game and technological advancement has led to a desensitized culture amongst the younger generation which can lead to an increase in crime. In a similar article groups believe that people with autism spectrum disorder

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".

There is a naysayer who believes that violent video games cause people to be more aggressive in behavior, but also adds on by saying that this behavior leads to actual real-life violence. Jean Twenge has a Ph.D. in psychology at San Diego State University, and is a strong believer in video games causing harmful real-life actions. To help support her reason, she brings up a tragic incident. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The motive behind the shooter is unknown, and media outlets such as Times news article has stated that video games are not to blame, however Twenge strongly believes that video games are what makes a person more aggressive in real-life. “It could be that aggressive kids want to play aggressive games, or that an outside factor such as family background causes both.” (Twenge). Twenge goes on in her article about experiments that have tested and proved to show that violent games do cause aggressive behavior, but she fails to provide the source(s) in which the experiment was done. This source in general goes against what position I am taking in this paper, and I have the evidence to go against this author.

In the article Violent Video Games Do Not Cause Violence, Eric Kain gives various reasoning and evidence to support the directly worded title, as well as general info on the topic itself.

From Math Games for kids to blood and gore video games have a lot of different sides to them. Video games are decided on by the player. Saying that games cause violent behavior in kids is inaccurate. We as people decide who we are and what we will do with our lives. A digital screen and a controller can’t make us any more violent than we already are. Blaming violence on a simple sixty dollar piece of plastic is unfair. Games are rated early childhood to Adult only. This means that what we play is up to us and we are in control of what we choose to have around us. This also means that if you are a parent and you buy a rated M game for your seven years old it is your fault. Video games do not influence violent behavior in kids because there are multiple positive facts about video games that are proven while most negative data on video games aren’t proven and are just speculation, it reduces stress and the chances of the player bullying others.

Now video games are getting more and more popular, and teenagers like to play them. However, many parents are worry about that some types of game are not suitable for teenagers, like violent video games, they believe it will bring some negative effect to teenagers. Although parents believe that violent video games are harmful, it cannot be banned. Therefore, the parents should supervise their children play the violent video games. In many people’s view, violent video game possible bring negative effect to teenagers in three ways, psychological, morality and aggressive behavior.

Hamilton-Giachritsis (2005), Erwin and Morton (2008), Gentile and Stone (2005), and Jason et al. (2005) revealed a correlation between violent video games with immediate and later aggressive behavior. All of the research for the effects of violent videos games are conducted on older children and current research has not yet studied young children or preschoolers. It is important to note what research exclaims about the long-term effects violent video games can have on children later in life during adolescence (Anderson et al., 2008; Gentile & Stone, 2005; Kirkorian, Wartella, & Anderson, 2008). Anderson et al. (2008) and Gentile (2014) reported, 90% of American

“In fact, the number of violent youth offenders in the United States fell by more than half between 1994 and 2010—while video game sales more than doubled since 1996.” (Kain). The research between Kushner and Kain show that video games have been studied for years and there has not been any evidence that video games increase violence. Kushner and Kain both have found studies claiming violence increases aggression, but there is no proof that videogames increase violence. Dr. Cheryl Olson, a professor at Harvard Medical Schools Center claims if videogames cause kids to be violent, it would be noticeable (Kushner 12). Kain gives examples of two mass shooters that played video games, and he simply stated that the video gaming community is too large for two mass shooters to effect (Kain).

Today our world is surrounded by technology and new inventions that make our lives better. Some of the most popular of hobbies among children and teenagers are video games, but what many people don’t know is that they are bad for them. Violent video games in particular have been proven to not be appropriate for the age groups that play them and to have a negative effect on school, social behavior, and increase aggression.

The effect of violent video games on children’s behavior has been the major concern of numerous researchers over the last several decades. Indeed, a great number of researches conducted by psychologists show that regular exposure to violent video games has both long-term and short-term negative effects on a player’s behavior. Aggressiveness and lack of empathy are considered to be two main outcomes of constant playing games with violent content. However, it should be noted that the content is not the only criteria that should be taken into account when measuring games’ effects on behavior. Indeed, much attention should be paid to the difficulty of games and time spent on playing. Thus, a brief overview of studies concerning the violent video games effect and those disproving this idea along with the analysis of other factors affecting children’s behavior such as moral standards and family environment will show that violent video games are not principal factors that affect children’s behavior and cause child violence.

“We cannot and will not ban the creation of violent video games. But, we can prevent the distribution of these disturbing games to children, where their effects can be negative.” (Kohl, Herb). Nowadays most trending entertainments are revolving around electronics technologies such as virtual reality, video games, and media. As the technology becomes more sophisticated and advanced, most violent video games are becoming more realistic and make the player feel part of the battle and killing the enemies. It is undeniable video games have their own positive side for adults who play responsibly, but they have several disadvantages, which can hurt children's behavior, mental development, and school performance.

Children are big contributors to the video game industry that pulls in billions of dollars every year. Research has shown that more than half of the top 50 best selling games contain violence, and that also these best selling games are teaching kids that violence is okay. (Do video games cause violence?) This video game trend is putting all the lives of U.S. citizens in danger. If the children of today’s society are thinking that violence is okay, then something is wrong and a change needs to be made. Also our society has lost the face to face connection that was once cherished at one time We are too worried about our game to put down the controller, and have a conversation with one another. These brutal and harmful video games have led to violent massacres, hostile urges and aggressive behavior, and finally these games are teaching children that violence, is acceptable.