Games with simulated violence: diverting or perilous? Ask almost any teenager today, and they will say that either they or their friends play some kind of simulated violent game. Also in this day in age, we are seeing increasingly more school shootings and massacres than ever before. So, are these two things connected? Are these violent games more harmful than they seem? Well, after reading Shoot-out by Guy Martin and other articles, it can be concluded that simulated violent games are overall more perilous than helpful for teens. One reason why games with simulated violence are more perilous for teens than helpful is it causes them to take extreme measures in order to win. This is seen in the game played in several New York City high schools …show more content…
One of those arguments is that games with simulated violence are diverting because they encourage teamwork because of the teams that many games involve. Although this may be true, it is also relevant that these games can spark betrayal, which can ruin relationships and friendships. This is seen in one game of Killer where the judge of the game organized a boyfriend-girlfriend killing. In the end, this could have ended up with a nasty break-up between the two. The other side may also argue that games like Killer are helpful because they are getting kids off the couch and running around outside. This is in fact also accurate, however, many simulated violent games that teens today play are not games like Killer, but rather, simply video games that involve murder. This causes kids to be even less active and have another thing to do while they sit cooped up in their house, lounging around on the couch. Which is inevitably a significant factor that causes childhood obesity. Furthermore, those who say that these games are diverting argue that they teach valuable life skills like problem solving, collaboration, and perseverance. This is true for these games, but they also come with more deleterious lessons, like that murder is fun. With other activities that are available for teens today like sports, music lessons, or clubs, the same positive lessons are learned, but the negative messages from violent games are not
While some argue that violent role playing games are a positive game to play, I feel that they have a negative impact on teens. In the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-out” by Guy Martin they did an experiment where students played a shooting game in school. Some teams were getting 13 kills in 4 days. This is so bitter that a high school students goal is to “kill” people. By teens doing this, it is teaching them that it is ok to kill someone. Pretending or not this may lead teens to be more capable of killing someone in real life.
Some teens and children are not yet mature enough to understand that those video games are edited and made with animation and that real people can not do all the stuff their character does. Some start to take cues from their games. These games are teaching them how to be extremely violent. According to the article
Did you know that according to Dr. Bret Conrad, the majority of gamers believe that video game violence has few, if any harmful effects on them personally? Well, many people today play games with simulated violence ranging from games like “Killer” to games like Grand Theft Auto. One example, “Killer”, takes place in multiple New York City high schools at the end of the year. It consists of two teams, each student is assigned a person to shoot and they have to shoot them before they are shot. The students have to use water pistols to shoot their person. Once they are killed, their game is over. While some agree that games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, games with simulated violence are beneficial for teens because they help kids with problem solving skills, keep them busy and helps them help others.
Games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, because the teens participating are going through other people’s personal information, attacking people in public, and, more generally, are more violent when they are older.
Parents are always getting frustrated with their children about getting outside more to get some fresh air instead of sitting inside playing video games… A high speed, action filled game would do just that. Adults wouldn’t need to worry about their kids getting outside because they will already be running around with friends. In Guy Martin’s article, he says, “Since the start of the game, the twelfth graders had been sleeping on futons in a couple of vans borrowed from their parents, the better to pull off a stoop-side ambush and avoid being ambushed themselves.” Some people would argue that violence simulating games would be perilous because it could teach an adolescent bad or unsafe habits, but they would not need to worry because the people involved in the game could use a water gun instead of a real gun, a water balloon instead of
Role playing games with simulated violence are diverting for kids. I believe they’re good teamwork building activities, there’s no legitimate physical harm to the people playing, they’re a breathtaking escape from everyday life, and they don’t teach any sensible violent skills to people playing.
Can violent video games truly be a cause of real violence in our adolescents? Can they really lead to such terrible tragedies and massacres like the one at Columbine high school? That is exactly what writer John Leo is suggesting in his essay, “When Life Imitates Video.” He starts us off here by pointing out the similarities between the actions taken during the Littleton massacre and the events of video games like the two shooters often played; and he criticizes the plethora of shooting games available today and how realistic they are. These games that are played by so many today, Leo warns, could “blur the boundary between fantasy and reality.”
“Although the game appears to be a fun and exciting activity for teens, there have been incidents recently that add a very dangerous element.” Principal, Kathy Charlton of Hempfield Area High school remarked. These incidents included students running around near school buses and ambushing each other in and around restaurants and local malls. It is my belief that violent role playing games should not be executed. Furthermore, it initiates transgressive habits and it also teaches students how to kill and set up for violence.
According to the article, “Shoot-Out”, by Guy Martin, violent role-playing games definitely make the teens more aware about their surroundings and be cautious all the time. “He woke up one day and, as usual,
Overall, violent role-playing games can be diverting instead of encouraging violent and aggressive behaviors. Some of the effects have been found to be beneficial. While they shouldn’t necessarily be encouraged, there is a place for them if they can be moderated. This can actually help students and kids become more creative and better problem solvers. It can also divert their violence as well making them better off than they were in the first
For many teenagers in America, simulated games with violence are all they do and all they think about. You can argue that violent games teach kids to strategize quickly, but what about all of the negative effects? Kids are proven to be more aggressive playing these violent role playing games. Psychologists who study human behavior won’t even let their own kids play these barbaric games. Also violent games can cause kids to lose sympathy and be immune to traumatic experiences. Kids should be limited on playing these violent games so they aren’t a risk to themselves or others.
Although these games may be fun for teens and young adults, they have negative effects. Overall, role playing games with simulated violence are perilous because people divert their attention too much to the game, it teaches them it’s okay to do crazy things, and they may use actual violence when they are
To begin, most of the simulated violent games consist of strategy, and tactics. In these games, kids not only have to use the skills they already possess, but they also have to plan and consider possible mistakes they might make. These skills are often hard to come by and even harder to strengthen. Which makes these games a valuable asset for those who like to or, want to learn how to plan ahead. They also create resilient young citizens with insightful minds all while providing players with useful skills. A particularly compelling example of this is, “The call had been engineered from a remote computer by a squad member with prodigious hacking skills.” This illustrates that those who play these games have a wide variety of useful skills. Whether or not they realize it, children use a lot of concentration and tactics in order to be successful in these games. In some ways, simulated violent games could be considered the more engaging, active version of chess.
It is agreeable that there are some correlation between teenagers playing video games and how it affects the youth mentally. Heavy consumption of violence video games does indeed stimulate a change reaction in the brain waves, but there is no hard evidence stating that those changes causes teenagers to act aggressively and violently. On the contrary, it is a popular beliefs that violence video games does indeed causes teenagers to displayed unpleasant behaviors and actions because that is what they learned and observed from the games. Therefore, parents should limit and regulate the amount of time their teenagers are playing violence video games so that they can protect their children from negative behaviors.
With the popularity and production of video games constantly rising since the mid 90s, you would also imagine that the violent and illegal acts in teens would have also risen, but that is not the case. In fact, violent acts in youth have steadily decreased during the past 20 years, and are projected to continue to fall. While there could be many reasons for this drop in violence, the most likely one is that the inclusion of violence in video games actually provides an outlet for frustrated and angry teens to safely discharge their anger in the digital world, and not upon anyone in the real world. Video games offer an area in which your mind can explore and wander with no fear of consequences, so in