Violent Video Games

Does playing video games increase aggressive behavior in children? Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to Susan Scutti, take a firm stance against children and teens playing violent video games. Violent video game playing and aggressive behavior are correlated, but not causational. With the use of scientific experiment and random sampling, one can conclude that violent video games do have a significant effect on aggression, but not in the way that we think.

Not all video games are the same, but that’s doesn’t matter because the violent one only receives attention from the media. For example, CNN covered a story on an 18-year-old gunman in Germany, they proceeded to accuse violent video games because the kid was a fan of first person shooter games. They then proceeded to talk about why they are bad and how there is a significant link between violence and video games. “Overall, the academy's summary of the results from more than 400 studies revealed a "significant" link between being exposed to violent media (in general) and aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts and angry feelings” (Scutti par.6). They then proceeded to failing to defend why video games are bad by saying “He discovered that playing video games, no matter how

Video games have become a major occupation of majority of the youth these days. They spend hours on end concentrating on video games, some of which are apparently very violent, yet this is actually the whole idea. Coming from the horse's mouth is an argument in support of video games coined from a video programmer's point of view, stating that violent video games allow people to do what they can not do in reality- virtual reality. ( http://www.theroc.org/roc-mag/textarch/roc-15/roc15-08.htm ) For instance, someone said to be having a bad day could use a violent video game to release stress by shooting down a couple hundred bad men than actually taking an AK-47 and spilling down a few brains down the

Violent video games increase the amount of mass shootings every year. The violence in the video games teach kids and even some adults to do things that they normally wouldn't know how to do, the first person shooter effect teaches kids how to use a gun and more than that, teaches them that it's alright to use a gun anywhere. When kids are playing first person shooter games against their friends, it seems like a game to them, those kids think that it is fun to run around chasing your friend with a gun and try to kill them, these games are also like target practice for them. Teaching these kids those skills prepares them for school shootings, abusing their families, and even causing them to talk back to their parents, other family members, teachers, and any other adults that could stand in their way. Adults who play first person shooter video games could be playing them for fun, what they were intended for, but when ever mass shootings occur like the one in Las Vegas at the Jason Aldean concert, or the one in

Despite his recognition of Dr. Spock’s argument that games “sanction, and even promote aggression and violent responses to conflict” (482), Johnson shows no sign of addressing it as a counter argument. The ignorance of such argument might cause opponents question Johnson’s true argument especially that it has been researched for years that a correlation exists between violent gaming and real life violence. Furthermore, virtually shooting others on a daily basis desensitizes people to violence and makes them more aggressive. Therefore, video games can push some people over the edge, turning virtual gunshots into the deaths of real people. There are many cases that can be related to since they are very frequent on news headlines but also in my personal life. Personally, during my high school years, I remember watching seventh graders try to apply what they have learned in a WWE game to a real fight and the results were always unpleasing. Is this really the intended goal behind gaming? Obviously, it is true that these effects don’t show up through the all gamers but its effects can be extensive that they could affect them at some point. So should we take the risk of harming parts of society so that others benefit from its mental skills? Shouldn’t we be more careful about promoting this two-sided

These types of video games have been entrenched in nationalist and patriotic sentiments, always dehumanizing the “other”, eliminating morals from their games. It distracts and excites the player with new ammo or tools and uses selective realism, ignoring the problems soldiers face on the battlefield. This is not surprising considering the military has an extensive background with gaming. There was intense military research on it in the 1940s and then in 1980s the military hired Atari to remodel a game for battlefield simulation. Joystick Soldiers states that even Atari was reluctant to alter this game because of moral quandaries.

I completely agree about the "Call of Duty" series. I play these games and have a lot of friend who play them. a few months ago my grandparents, who don't watch much tv, or movies, were over and me and my little brother were playing a round or two of Special Ops on the game. For anyone who has played a lot of games like that, they know that there isn’t much gore in them, but my grandparents were amazed at the amount of gore that was shown and were kind of appalled at how readily available it has become to take a "person's" life.

As technology as progressed, more people, especially youth, take part in playing video games. There has been an steady increase of video game usage because of the fact that video games have become more life-like and realistic. While they have become more realistic in aesthetic ways, they have also become more violent in content as well. Games like Call of Duty

Morality and human nature are important factors when considering the behavioral influences of video games, whether they are positive or negative. Violence in the real world involves much more complexity than any influence by the media. As previously stated, simple factors such as one’s home life, environment, and general human nature are ignored when video gaming’s influences are under scrutiny. In a world where millions of people are dying in real wars, it is a luxury to harbor concern for children to be excited after playing a shooting game (Gee). The moral and behavioral influences of any video game are left up to the interpretation of the player; there is no direct influence in any game that dictates bad behavior to their players. James Paul Gee provides an incredibly important point in stating, “Video games are neither good nor bad on their own, and induce neither violence nor peace.” It is important to consider the context of video games. In David Kushner’s article, he quotes The British Board of Film Classification’s conclusion from a survey: “The violence helps make the play exhilaratingly out of reach of ordinary life… Gamers seem not to lose awareness that they are playing a game and do not mistake the game for real life.” If a violent child did not play video games, then where would the blame fall?

Rather, I’m laying out the facts that pertain towards the shooting games and other such mature games. In fact, the US military uses violent video games to train soldiers to kill. It also goes down to how well we utilize video games as well. Most terrorists who have played these video games incorporate any level that they played in the video game into reality. If you’ve played any form of a video game, then you must know that for each level you go, the game gets harder which means that you need to either shoot more and you’ll achieve advanced weaponry. In other words, the higher the level, the harder it gets. If you’re fully immersed in the video game, like most gamers are, then you’re psychologically and mentally trapped in that video game that you start believing that you’re living that video game. This leads to aggressive behavior and a lack of distinguishing reality from fantasy. Given the issues in regards to violent video games, are there any solutions to any of

While opposition to violence in video games believe that violent video games cause people to become desensitized to acts of unjustified violence, this study performed by these professors blatantly proves that the opposition is wrong. For example, Florida lawyer Jack Thompson was an avid supporter of opposition against violence in video games. However, in 2008, Thompson was disbarred for his “extensive history of public misconduct” (Cavalli). Thompson, in reference to the mature-rated video game Grand Theft Auto IV, called the game “a murder simulator for violence against women, cops, and innocent bystanders” (Chalk). Using the information gained from this study, we could potentially develop games that use violence in video games to teach children the difference between what is right and what is wrong.

The issue of video game violence seems to be a hot topic right now after several shootings have occurred and made a connection to the shooters being video gamers. In looking at past research it is apparent that there seems to large amounts of research that contradict one work to another. Although I would have been interested in conducting a poll of the publics opinion regarding the use of violent video games and their connection to mass shootings I was not able to conduct the research. However, for this paper I chose to conduct a literature analysis to see what research has been conducted and to seek out gaps and themes in this research.

Video games are widely played for entertainment and amusement; in addition, they can act as aid in relieving stress. Due to advancing technology, video games have evolved and grown into a large empire impacting those within this realm. Thus many ethical issues are brought to our attention due to this development. As a result, we should recognize how new video games are ethically affecting people who play them.

Video games encompass the lives of teenagers and young adults around the world”,” connecting them to new people to use teamwork to take down their enemy. Video games are great because it helps people with teamwork and communication skills. Some of the most popular video games are first person shooters. These games put you into a simulation of war where you see through the eyes of a soldier. This makes it so you feel like you are in the game of war which can be very exhilarating and fun. Two video games of this genre stand out in my mind, and they are the Battlefield Series and the Call of Duty Series. They are both the top sellers in their style of games and if you ask a random teenager, he will know exactly what you are talking about. The thing about these two though are the conflicting sides of the people who buy them. These games both have millions of fans that argue for their game of choice but some of them are wrong, and this is why.

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.