Violent 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.

The main argument of this article is that video games have a direct link to short term and long term aggression. The author presents this argument by providing studies from peer reviewed articles that all conclude that video games do cause an increase of aggression. The main point of this article is to answer the question, “Do violent video games lead to aggression.” The article is about the effects of violent video games leading to aggression. The author uses recent examples, like the Sandy Hook and Washington Navy Yard shooting. In both of these examples, the author cites that both shooters had a history with playing violent video games. The author uses a study which selected individuals to play violent video games for a certain period of time. The study would then compare the results to a group who played non-violent video games. The study concluded that violent video games cause a direct link in aggression due to humans reenacting the actions the characters within the video games perform.

“According to data recently released by The NPD Group, in 2012, U.S. video game software sales reached $6.7 billion (174.8 million units) and computer game sales were $380 million (13.2 million units)” (Improving Economy). To many, the violent video game industry has turned all adolescents into mass murderers. However, they’re absolutely wrong. Very seldom do adolescents who play violent video games commit acts of violence, and the ones who do usually have a mental disorder. Instead of blaming the tragedies that occur on violent video games, the news media should explain to people that a large percentage of young males play violent video games, indicating that the two are uncorrelated. They should alternatively research other possible solutions to the crisis. In lieu of negatively affecting people’s lives, video games could potentially improve their lives!

The story line behind some violent video games includes games in which players earn points by carjacking taxis, scoring drugs from cursing thugs, and mowing down pedestrians.(see http://www.feedmag.com/vgs/duncan.html>) Some cartoonish tag lines in some sadistic video games include : -- "As easy as killing babies with axes" and "More fun than killing your neighbour's cats". This kind of themes definitely influence the players, especially the younger ones, and inflict violent tendencies on them. It is no wonder, that this killing mania in violent games was seen to seep out into the actual world when a high school junior opened fire in his school cafetaria in Littleton, Colorado, killing two of his classmates. The gunman was reported to be an ardent fan of Quake and Doom, some rather violent video games. More proof of the relationship between video games and violence is revealed by a study which clearly reveals how this kind of entertainment affects our lives. Greater details of the history of how high school students turned gunmen in Columbine High School are given, which shows that the effect of video games in their lives was a major source of influence in doing what they did best.

As the level of violence in video games increases, so does the level of concern for those who play them. Some people are quick to blame school shootings on games just because the kid played a “violent” game. “The topic of videogames and violence can be compared to the chicken or the egg question, which came first, violent games or violent behavior”(Violence and Videogames). However most kids in mass shootings tend to have easy access to guns and are mentally unstable.

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.

As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than 50% of games have violence. (Procon.org) Video games that have violence have been blamed to have caused bullying, mass shootings, and violence towards women. (Procon.org) An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide series of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017. (Procon.org) Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence and it rewards players for simulating violence . (Procon.org)

Children who play violent video games are often aggressive as shown by Carll and Elizabeth K.’s research has shown. After a young adult, Adam Lanza, had played School shooting, which as the name suggests you shoot students, went to a school and killed 26 students and staff members in total. As well Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold who shoot kids and staff in Columbine high school were found playing Doom a violent game which in it you kill a lot of monsters. Video Games make people have worse relationships with people. This was all found in Opposing Viewpoints in Context, “Video Games”, “Video Games Prohibit Antisocial Behaviors”, “Violence in Video Games and Other Media Can Cause School Shootings”, and “Violence in Video Games is a serious problem”.

After the elementary school shooting of Sandy Hook in 2012 this issue of violent video games became a hot issue calling for a connection of violence to video games. However, the final investigative report suggested that he was more a fan of nonviolent games (Ferguson, 2015). Video game violence is an issue that continues to be studied due to the inability to come to a general conclusion on whether or not the games provoke violence in connection to mass shootings. With shootings occurring and receiving mass coverage the media and public often seek a person/item to place the blame on. After the tragic events that left people dead or injured one of the topics that emerged was that of video games affects/effects on the person.

Video games such as World of Worldcraft and Call of Duty, have become prevalent across America. These games allow the average American boy to act as if he was a fantasy character or allows him to feel as if he was a military personnel on a killing spree. World of Worldcraft and Call of Duty are extremely violent and addictive video games. It was said that the Columbine killers stated that they got their practice from playing video games. When there are games such as Gran Theft Auto where you get points for raping and pimping women, it numbs the mind to the despicable acts of the video game. When boys that regularly play violent video games are confronted, they have a much higher chance to become increasingly aggressive (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh). The children who play video games also have a smaller chance of succeeding academically.

Three different studies open with the example of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, the two adolescents who opened fire at Columbine High School in Colorado (Anderson and Dill, 772; Ivory; Vastag). These two were major video game enthusiasts. According to Anderson and Dill, Klebold and Harris played Doom®, “a game licensed by the U.S. military to train soldiers to effectively kill.” In his article, “Does Video Game Violence Sow Aggression”, Vastag cites Susan Calvert as saying “an increase in aggressive cognition” and “aggressive action” will be seen in children who play violent video games. The aggression shown will not always be as extreme at it was in these two teenagers, but will increase aggressive thoughts and behaviors (Ivory).

“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are

Do violent video games make kids more violent? Of course not, just because your kid plays games like "Saints Row 4" doesn't mean they're going to shoot up their school. Even if kids talk more violent they're never going to actually do what they say unless they are literally mentally ill. I'm legally considered a minor and I play fairly violent video games more often than not, and I don't want to rebel against the law or something dumb like that. In the current year games like GTA5 are very popular. Kids now are being influenced by annoying sell out youtubers that play violent games for money, swear, and call everyone who doesn't agree with them an actual Nazi. This kind of behavior is now considered tough or whatever, therefore kids now are saying more violent things even know they're not going to do anything they say they are.

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.