Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior

The 10 commandments and Hammurabi’s code are simular because of they make sure people value their elders, but are different due to Hammurabi’s code having favoritism towards people of the higher class. One common theme between the two texts is the respect for their elders, “195. If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.” , and from the commandments, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”It means that children should not disobey or harm their elders. It is important because it is a key part of values within both of the societies. Now, a key difference is the type of consequences for violating the laws. Hammurabi’s code bases theirs off of social class, and

On August 19, 2017, I got to speak with Juanita Poole who works for General Motors downtown. She is an accountant and have worked for them for many years. I was able to talk to her about her job and the ins-and-outs of the company.

Bowen, Lisa. Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits, review finds. American Psychological Association. February 2014. Vol 45, No. 2. Print version: page 10.

In today’s society there has been an ongoing debate regarding the effects of violent video games and the development of today’s youth. Many people believe that the violence in video games promotes aggression. According to Doctor Brad Bushman’s article, "Do Violent Video Games Increase Aggression?" he claims that violent video games leads to aggression because it is interactive process that teaches and rewards violent behavior. Yet others believe that this not the case. Gregg Toppo of the Scientific American, writes in his article, “Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?” that video games are not a significant issue because teenagers know how differentiate between reality and fantasy. Because of the controversy surrounding this topic, I decided to research the question, “Does exposure to violent video games cause aggressive behavior among teenagers between the ages of 13 and 18?” Initially before performing any extensive research on this subject, I hypothesized that violent video games do cause aggressive behavior. I then proceeded to study different scholarly works that both supported and opposed my hypothesis. What I learned from those works eventually gave me a more complete understanding of the topic and allowed me to take a more educated stance.

Technology is an important aspect of change in our world. As time goes on, we are introduced to more and more technology every year, which includes media such as video games. The increase of technology has also increased and improved the world including ways of communicating and distribution of information. More often used outlets of media are those used for entertainment purposes, like television, internet and video games. The ones who are most likely to engage in these media outlets are millennials and the most recent generation Z, because they have been introduced to these outlets from a young age. In fact, a study found that children spend around 9 hours a week playing video games (Polman, de Castro, & van Aken, 2008). It is evident that video games are progressively becoming more violent in nature, and with children spending as much time as they do playing video games, there are questions that must be asked, is the violent nature of video games effecting today’s youth? And if so in what ways?

The impact video games have on the brain can differ by the opinions of others. Some may argue that it is a disadvantage and others may say it is the total opposite, an advantage. I will be exploring the viewpoints on both ends of the spectrum. Looking into documented research on the topic, I will be discussing the benefits of gaming, why people correlate excessive playing time to negative behaviors, and the long term effects that video games cause to the brain.

Video games have been around for half a century when, the first simple tennis game was designed by William Higinbotham in 1958. Since then, video games have gotten more in depth, with better graphics and more options which include violent video games. Violent videos have gotten more popular with a better amount of variety including the franchise of Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. These are the most common and popular video games and because of the violence in them debate has started whether or not violent video games cause people to be more violent in society. Since the debate has started, research has been conducted and the introduction of violent video games into society has not cause violence to increase in adolescents and children.

"Get over here!" The angered and scratchy voice bellows from deep within the strong, mean-spirited ninja. The ninja throws forth a blade that is fastened to the end of a long, black rope. The sharp point of the spear pierces the skin and takes root deep within the stomach of a screaming, young woman. Blood splatters from the impact, and the ninja forcefully retrieves the blade by pulling on the rope to which it is attached. The shrieking, young woman is lurched forward, attached still to the steel blade and without the ability to defend herself. Currently, she stands paralyzed and helpless at the hands of her attacker.

People often mistake video games to only be bad for your health, but what if they all weren’t? While playing video games, there is an improvement found in the brain’s many regions (Pellissier). Playing video games isn’t completely bad for you, and can actually help the brain. Actually, video games can be beneficial to the human brain and even to the point of life changing ways. Games can change your lifestyle by changing the way the brain processes information, affecting the brain's functionality, giving an addiction to playing video games, and affecting the brain academically, which gives people the choice of whether or not play video games.

The arrival of violent video games and the media covering recent mass killings, an emotional debate has developed about the impact of video games on aggressive, violent, and criminal behavior. Findings from certain research are contradictory: some studies show an increase in aggressiveness, while others suggest a decrease in criminality. The increase in the diversity of game platforms makes playing violent video games easier to play, which is a source of concern. Video games are not solidly anchored in the popular culture, while in the past an eccentric pastime no longer exists (Fournis 1). In 1971, the First Amendment was adopted to primarily protect speech critical to the government; in contrast to the English seditious libel laws, which allowed punishment for true speech derogatory. The Supreme Court decided that violent video games cause aggression in children solely based on the First Amendment instead of scientific evidence (Bushman 306). Both sides of violent video games have valid points, but they are missing the one key and most important point, which is the psychology within the household.

Video games and their alleged link to violent tendencies with people who play them and younger children in particular is not a new controversy in the gaming industry whatsoever, or is it really one that is currently being talked about. At least not as much as Mass Effect: Andromeda's atrocious character facial animations. But it's always good to address the inanities that are made by activists and conservatives who constantly attack and attempt to boycott developers from releasing a game they have spent years making saying that it's because of political correctness. The argument that games can cause violent behavior is one that does not provide any solid facts that games and behavior are correlated in any way. In fact there are more studies

In addition, despite controlling content such as hostility traits, and frequency of gameplay, exposure to violent content in video games was shown to be a significant predictor of physical fights (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). The current research study indicates trait hostility not to be the sole factor that leads to aggressive behaviour (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). If it were the sole factor, then children and adolescents who had low traits of hostility would not get into physical fights with others, making their video game habits an irrelevant determining factor (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, and Walsh 18). The same notion should be seen in individuals with high hostility traits, who, regardless of their video game habits,

The Holocene Epoch is the timescale given to the last 11,700 years of earth’s history, beginning at the end of the last ice age. (BD Smith et al, 2013) Therefore it can be noted as being a relatively warm period in history in comparison to other scales of time from the past. The Early Anthropogenic Hypothesis is an idea put forward by Professor William F Ruddiman from the University of Virginia which states that the effects of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions did not occur simply since the industrial era, but may well have been kick started many thousands of years before this, closer to the start of the Holocene. By which may have prevented the start of an ice age during this timescale.

Video games have been argued about for decades. Some people have argued that video games are linked to violence. However, new research shows that video games can be used for therapeutic purposes, exercise, stress relievers, positive interactive learning, hand eye coordination, and different types of patient treatment for people all around the world.

Many gamers would argue that videogames have a positive impact on their lives and minds. They would be correct in saying that games do indeed change the way people think, but games go beyond that point, “studies indicate that playing video games not only changes how our brains