Guy Martin Shoot Out Analysis

Violence is everywhere in our world, and when teens and children play violent role-playing games, it says “violence is acceptable”. In the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out” by Guy Martin a high school student says “I’m looking for some good massacres early” in reference to their high school's annual end of year game, “Killer”. In this game, the students team up and take on the role of assassins, out to kill all others. These are only high school students, 14-19 years old and Killer is only a game, but they are using violent terms like massacre like any other word. They use it like mass killings are acceptable, and that attitude is what is hurting the world. In the same article, Martin said, “Since the start of the game, the twelfth graders had been sleeping on futons in vans borrowed from their parents, the better to pull off a stoop-side ambush and avoid being ambushed themselves.” They are not even adults, yet they are treating a game so seriously, sleeping in a car, talking about waiting to ambush. Yes, they are using tactical thinking, but there are plenty of non-violent opportunities to use that skill, like in chess. Teens need to stop because violence is never acceptable.

Guns, blood and violence… sounds like something that wouldn’t be making teenagers smarter, right? Well, violent games actually do impact teens positively, in fact they help with the development of many skills they wouldn't otherwise have, like faster reaction time and problem solving skills. Violent video games and role playing games are a highly controversial topic, but they surprisingly have more benefits that not. They teach kids and teens teamwork, how to use their resources and good morals. Teenagers should be allowed to play violent games because it teaches them important life skills.

The assassination role play game played at St.Ann’s private school and other American schools is a fun learning experience for kids. At the end of the school year, high school students in groups complete “assassinations” assigned to them by a judge. The harmless “assassinations” are done by shooting the opponent with a water gun. This continues until only one team remains and they are rewarded with the winner's pot that each team contributed twenty dollars too. This organised and safe game should be allowed to continue and is a great lesson for kids.

For many students, they grew up playing violent video games, but St. Ann’s high school in New York City takes it to the next level. The students participate in the last-man-standing game of water pistol-ambush, Killer, where the students spend a brutal two and a half weeks stalking and “killing” each other, all while school is still in session. This game is perilous to the students as they feel unsafe in their own communities, promotes violence, and has a negative effect on the student’s grades. The game Killer causes the students to feel unsafe in their own homes, to the point where they cannot leave through the front door of their own home to go to school. According to the article “High-Jinks: Shoot-Out,” it states, “He woke up and, as usual, hopped a neighbor's fence and exited through a neighbor’s house.”

There has been a lot of disagreements on teenagers play violent role playing games. Some people say it’s distracting for teenagers to play violent role playing games and some say it helps them. The assassin is a popular game that was developed in 2003 by Warren Gerstacker. It is now a popular game that is also played in Brooklyn Private School. If you ask me, I say it is good. Nicholas Kilstein stated “Students either became creative or was already creative because of assassin.” First of all, violent role playing games helps students in the future for jobs and colleges. Second of all, violent role playing games motivate and encourage students to work together. Lastly, violent role playing games help students learn smarts that aren’t taught in school. Teenagers should be able to play violent role playing games because it builds creativity.

The first reason that the game, “KIller”, is perilous for teens is that participants go through the personal information of their classmates. Guy Martin in his article “Shootout” (2009) notes that, “In 2007, Jake Protell, a freshman, distinguished himself by ferreting out the itinerary of a field trip that two targets were taking to Tel Aviv.” Based on this excerpt, it seems as though some irresponsible students are willing to sort through field trip forms that do not concern them, just to “kill” someone in the game. In a similar situation of invading personal information, a group of [adjective] seniors “Posing as Cohen’s teammate Dominic, using Dominic’s caller I.D. The call had been engineered from a remote computer by a squad member with prodigious hacking skills.” This quote from the article shows that students in the game went as far as to use someone else’s phone number to call the landline of a victim’s house, where they most certainly don’t

The simulation of 1984 really brought the book 1984 to life . While playing the game my classmates and I were able to experience the horrors of the thought police, doublethink, and ingood. Playing the game I ultimately felt trapped by Big Brother.

Having the teens play this game might be helpful and good. It makes the teens more sociable, also it gives them some skills that they can use in the future.”A total of seventy players…” More than 70 people are involved in the game. This is good because they can talk to people and also make more friends. “No study has ever shown that violence video games result directly in actual violence….”

For instance, in South Carolina there was a kid facing the death penalty for murdering a father of two. The boy and his friend thought it would be funny to rob a store and ended up killing a man. When the boy was asks why he killed the man he says, “ I don’t know. It was a mistake. It wasn’t supposed to happen.” (Paragraph 38) He never intended to do what he did that day, it was a natural reaction he had developed from video games. When experiencing intense moments whilst playing video games, your heart rate increases. Because of this, every time your heart rate increases, you get sparks of stimulus that sets you off. This idea is made apparent when he concludes, “…kids who have never picked up a gun in their lives pick up a real gun and are incredibly accurate. Why? Video games.” (Paragraph 41) In conclusion we are training our kids to kill by allowing them to train via the media but mainly video games.

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.

Video games are prevalent among impressionable children and teenagers. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the violent themes used in video games. Teenage shootings in schools have led society to question the relationship between video violence and criminal activity. After considerable research, expert opinions, and research findings, the American Psychological Association found that there is no link between gaming and criminal behavior (Casey). With this, the pursuit of video violent games continues to grow in our society. With games that show execution style murders, blood oozing from gunshot wounds, and victims moaning from wounds, it certainly is gratifying for the indulgent player. The ongoing concern about aggression and violence has once again been proven to be non-existent (Alert). My thoughts are that this cartoon like violence is appeals to the need for violence in an artificially designed environment. In this manner, violence is contained within the boundaries of fantasy. This is unlike “The Crucible” which occurs in with real people, events, and situations. Thus, directing violence in the realm of societal dysfunction that has endured with

First and foremost, the students can be incapacitated and/or get in trouble playing this game. While running around, one is focused on surviving and killing, so they may become oblivious to their surrounding, making elimination seem like the better option. While running around, they could easily walk into a street, and not notice a car, or if one searching for their target in a car, they’re focused on the target, not the street. This puts them and others around them in danger. One example of a bad idea is that four seniors had waited in a van outside a 15-year-old's house. This looks suspicious to onlookers, and they could have been reported. If the authorities had driven by and saw silhouettes of multiple pistols, the outcome... wouldn’t be very nice. If worse came to worse; and the cop had checked out the suspicious activity, it’s highly unlikely they would take the response, “We are waiting for this kid to come out his house,” or “We are waiting for our target,” very lightly; All while in a van(s). Of course, it may be the worse case scenario, but it is definitely possible.

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

As shown throughout the story Shootout, killer teaches and encourages violence. Studies have shown that many people have used the violence learned in role playing games and carried it out in the real world. In the game killer played in schools, kids are encouraged to make “kills” by shooting others with water guns. As quoted in the story, “The game lasts two weeks and is especially ferocious”( Martin 1).It is important to notice that introducing teens to violence before they are out on their own can encourage violence in the real world. Some might get so caught up in what happens in a role playing game, that it can carry out aggression in the real world. According to Guy Martin, games such as killer can cause people to turn on each other and can even cause people to call it a massacre. Massacre is not a word to be played around with, for it is a real life tragedy ( Martin 1). This is significant because when one plays around with a word that is a

Video game makers have even advanced video games to give you the fell of using real weapons, also called virtual reality. There is a professor at the University of Missouri says that violent video games change behavior. First person shooter games help team players how to hurt people because first person shooter games are usually more realistic. Sixty percent sixth to eighth grade boys who play m-rated video games have hit or beat up somebody. Many people who have acted in mass shootings played violent video games. Violent video games have the tendency to lower people's empathy and they also lower people’s kindness. The APA says violent video games will risk the factor for aggression. When violent video games reward a player for violence, kids think violence is a good thing because they learn that you get rewards for committing violent acts. Sixty-seven percent of parents even agree that violent video games do lead to aggression.