How Gamers Are Solving Science's Biggest Problem

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.

There are thousands of problems troubling our society today, one being the increase in school shootings. In this case Sandy Hook Elementary School where 22 year old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, 20 of which we children. The investigators at Sandy Hook looked towards science to determine why Adam Lanza did this. The scientist found one factor that stood above all the rest. Adam’s increase in violent video games he played, such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. Each of these games give a 1st person view of killing civilians and the realism of death.

According to the article “Be a Gamer, save the world” by Jane McGonigal, in the world, we are living in, games are able to be the main element in answering to the challenges of the real world. Although, there are some people who think that playing a game is the waste of time and make mind to not work normally. There are quite a lot of people in the world that they are spending a lot of money and time for playing video games. It doesn’t mean those people who are playing games don’t care about real life and they don’t have any work to do, but they have jobs, children, parents and they are students in schools. Also, they have other life responsibilities to care about. There are some great points in the games that are beneficial for players.

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

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.

The media have been releasing stories of school shooting involving the shooter having experience playing violent video games. Once video games is mentioned the rest is easy pinpointing video games as the cause of the shooting ignoring the other real possibilities . A similar event took place on Newton, Connecticut on an elementary school name Sandy Hook in 2012. The man named Adam Lanza, went on a killing spree and eventually took his own life inside the school. According to Henrik Magnusson, “They dug into Ryan’s profile and found that he had “liked” Mass Effect, a video game they pretty sure had guns, probably.”(Magnusson). Yes the game does have guns but not the guns you expect it to have, it has blaster, laser guns and furthermore you

Many mass shooters past reveal an obsession with video games or a fictional character. For example; Aaron Alexis, who committed the Washington Navy Yard massacre, had an obsession with video games. He played for a typical 5 hours a day without sleep or breaks. His favorite games were first person shooters, and he was known as the “ headshot king “ to his online friends. CNN conducted a survey in 2013 about the violent tendencies of college students and video games. “Violent games also decrease helping behavior and feelings of empathy for others. The effects occurred for males and females of all ages, regardless of what country they lived in. The effects of these games go beyond making players more aggressive. In our research, we found that people who played first-person shooting games were more accurate than others when firing a realistic gun at a mannequin -- and more likely to aim for and hit the head.” ( Bushman 3 ). With the rise in the popularity of the gaming for younger children, could the next American mass shooter be the 9 year old neighbor you have next

Being a gamer, I would usually hear people say, “video games are bad for you.”. Usually those people never touch a game. They don’t understand that certain games have a bigger impact than they can even imagine. Some can tackle issues that are in society today or parodying someone famous. The game, Grand Theft Auto 5 is portrayed as a mindless killing game that influenced children to be violence.

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.

On July 22, 2016, an 18 year old male began to open fire on the Olympia Shopping Mall in Munich, Germany. After successfully killing ten and injuring 36 more, the gunner turned the firearm on himself and ended his own life. After a long investigation, it was reported that the shooter was a fan of First Person Shooter (FPS) video games. This newfound information sparked a new flame to the decade old argument of how video game violence leads to aggressive behavior and more real world violence in teens and young adults. While many news posts spread the word that videogame violence is negative, there have actually been an overwhelming amount of studies and debates that result in videogames with violence having mental and physical benefits to the player.

“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a videogame where you help the people who were shot in all other games. It’d be called Really Busy Hospital.”-Demitri Martin. Role playing games have been a source of fun and entertainment for children and adults. There are more safe and calm games such as Just Dance, and there are more Perilous games such as Call of Duty. Role playing games such as killer are perilous for school age children putting them in danger, teaching violence, and teaching reckless behavior.

"Mainstream media have never liked video games, but it's just getting silly lately," said Dr Vance. A lot of people like using the Aaron Alexis story as “proof” that videogames cause violence. Aaron Alexis was a sailor in the navy, and had great enthusiasm for the video game “Call Of Duty”. On September 16th, 2013, he started to shoot at innocent people inside the Washington Navy Yard, killing 12 people. The media likes to try and blame his liking of “Call Of Duty” for his actions, but Aaron had actually been suffering from a mental illness which is more likely the actual reasoning for his actions (Claims that 'video). Before his actions at the navy yard, he had reported hearing voices in his head telling him

Playing games has been proven to improve hand eye coordination , make learning history and science more fun, make new social connections, quicker decision making and teaches patience. On the negative side of playing video games there's a risk of addiction, pathological gaming (a social disorder), depression, anxiety, and, relationships issues . Pathological gamers recorded more time playing video games and seemed to have impulsive behavior and were more likely to be less social compared to people who were not playing video games and pathological gaming isn't something that people can not just outgrow of and forget about. Some people have been playing a variety of games including those in " open world" which means a player can move freely through a virtual world and is given freedom or "multi-player" games on XBOX or PlayStation which have a more linear structure to their gameplay . Video games have been around since the 1970's starting with Atari ,then Sony Playstation in 1994,and XBOX in 2001. In the earlier years the developer was the boss of the whole game and no more than a couple of testers were required. As games became more complex more publishers would hire more quality assessment staff for testing various games from different random developers. Now most game developers rely on their high technical game testers to fix glitches and bugs in the game. As time goes on the systems have just gotten more advanced with different controllers and better graphics. Computer size has shrunk and speed has increased exponentially . Virtual Reality which have 3-D headsets are also the new craze and knowing how they all work takes skill and learning. The number of positions in the gaming industry is probably going to grow faster than ever .Since 2014 according to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) computer and video sales were around $ 7 billion up to the current $60

Video games have been on the news for the wrong reasons. Whenever you see a news reporter talk about video games they say that it was a reason why a shooting or attack caused by a kid. You will never hear the positive side of video games because that does not interest the news reporters and it does not make an interesting story.

A large gap exists between the public's perception of video games and what the research actually shows. The following is an attempt to separate fact from fiction.