“In video games, the category of “first person shooters” has been controversial with critics concerned about what that means to players who actually perform acts of violence within the games. Instead of merely watching a character perpetrate a violent act, the player is actively encouraged to participate. Gamers will often refer to their characters as “he” or even “I.” “This suggests some confusion is brought on by the intense identification players sometimes feel towards their avatars. Players typically remain attached to a single character they can control; thus they have a very strong following pattern. Game designer, Will Wright, has argued that games may have a unique ability to make players experience guilt for the choices their characters have made in the course of action. Because players are making choices, they feel some degree of responsibility” (242-243). Summery Gunshot says in his article that, video games are very violent. Gamers are emotionally connected to the game. When they have a choice to act violent towards opponents and when they choses do so they feel guilty and emotionally responsible. Gunshot interviewed a game designer named Will Wright agrees with Gunshot’s theory. Paraphrases In the article “10 Critical Questions about Fictional Representations of Violence.” By Henry Gunshot he disgusts the violence of playing video games. Gunshot uses the term “first person shooters”-it means that the gamers have to perform violence. Most of the players are
to begin, violence in video games are at an all time high. The acts and crimes you can commit range from, murder, rape, and assault. This demonstrates,especially to children and teens, that violence is okay and you commit all these horrible crimes with no consequences. In the article
In the article ‘Shooting in the Dark’, the author discussed on the effects of playing violent video games and is trying to determine if it may be linked to aggressiveness in people, mostly focusing on adolescent and kids. The author used examples such as the killers from mass shootings like Columbine High School, and the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado having something in common - that they were all video gamers. In the argument, the author gathers evidences from experts and studies to determine if playing violent video games do play a role with why people go through rampages or have the urge to want to do so.
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
In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.
Video games are the common source of individual’s entertainment. Developers and creators have the option to incorporate the different styles and context within these games. The decisions and portrayal of each game are influenced throughout society. A common aspect creators incorporate in gamers is violence. The portrayal of violent factors among users has been a prominent issue in society. The violent effects on media consumers is influenced by video games though research findings of the types of controllers, the actions within scripts, interpretation of individuals traits and situations, the portrayal of Grand Theft Auto, as well as tying ethical standpoints.
Violence in video games has been proved to raise the aggression on video gamers in the short and long term, whether it’s in their language, attitude or actions. Also video games not only cause this but they also decrease prosocial behavior and empathy (Anderson, 2010). Violent video games have been one of the main reasons why students decide to shoot everyone in an educational institution like the well known Columbine Massacre in 1999. “[They] liked to play Doom (a computer game) in the afternoons”,“No one can say for sure why...theories including...violent video games (Doom)” (Rosenberg, Unknown). As we can see very clearly violent video games
Being a person who plays video games some being violent and others being strategy based, I personally do not think that violent video games make or cause people to act violently. Yeah I will say that some games could be quite graphic but even before games came out, people were violent and acted aggressively towards each other they would fight or bully each other even kill one another they did not even need or have to play games to do such things. People tend to have violent tendencies even without playing a violent video game, just imagine the time you were so angry at somebody that you wanted to harm them be it punching, slapping, or beating them up a game did not influence you to think that way. You thought about hurting that person because you were upset with them or something they did.
Ever since the video game was invented many years ago, violent, bloody games have existed also. Some include killing zombies, shooting people, and fighting that ends in either someone dying or being hurt. The outcome remains the same, and a select few continue to live out these games throughout their daily life. These games can sometimes cause people to become angry. Although, some video games may have a negative effect on some people’s lives, other reasons such as their home life can be a factor in these people’s behavior.
Second, Repetitive killing in the game can cause the player that’s playing the game to act aggressively. Most violent video games are just about killing or portraying some type of violence, if the player does these actions to often and for long periods of time he or she can subconsciously learn those actions and become violent. In a study “two groups of kids were asked to play violent video games more than another group. The group who had more exposure to the game was more violent than the one who did not play as much” (Harding). If the child plays the game too much they can develop the habit of being aggressive just for fun or they may not understand what they are doing because they are learning to be violent from the video game. Most games out today have blood, drugs, explicit content, and many weapons such as explosives or rifles. Being exposed to these kinds of behaviors in the game can make the players insensitive to violence. An article on Huffingtonpost.com states "studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become 'immune' or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior with greater exposure to violence" (Freeman).
So, among the negative effects people claim violent video games have on their users, there are always the causes that give drive to the impulse to play and enjoyment video games of this genre. Whether you enjoy them for the entertainment or simply for the blood-spilling theme, the games seem to give off and satisfy a sense of desire in the people who play
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.
For this purpose of this study violent video games will be anything that allows the users to experience violence through the use of guns, the use of weapons/objects that are used to injury/murder characters in that game, the display of blood and/or dismembering, physical combat in which the only way to win is to injury/eliminate opponents.
Bandura states “people are more likely to attend to, recall, and imitate media violence that they believe could exist in real life” (Bandura, 1965 as cited in Brewer, 2011, p.17). Also in first person shooter games, the player and his or her surroundings tends to look more realistic, such as in Grant Theft Auto. It has a higher rate of sensory realism, which refers to “to formal features of a representation that progressively simulates the same experience in the natural environment” (Williams & Clippinger, 2002). When playing a first person shooter game, players may feel more personally targeted, since they are witnessing and conducting violent actions as if they are the character. This can lead players to experience higher levels of identification and engagement with the violence. For example, when describing the gaming experience, players of a first person game may say, “I just got shot.” Previous research has shown heighten aggression occurs as a result of playing first-person video games, due to the player’s identification with the virtual characters (Anderson & Bushman, 2001, and Tamborini et al., 2004 as cited in Jeong, Biocca, & Back, 2012, p.1842) enhancing of one’s presence (Schneider et al.,
Since several video games contain some sort of violent content, it has been hypothesized that gamers nowadays tend to be more aggressive. Gentile also states that “playing violent games increases aggressive behaviors, increases aggressive cognitions, [and] increases aggressive emotions.” This is an intense list of negative consequences, but what makes violent games instill such hostility? Many video games today include multiplayer in addition to classical single player modes. With real life opponents, gamers are much more competitive and inclined to demonstrate dominance over friends and real life opponents. Whereas facing a computer can be competitive, there may be a stronger feeling of satisfaction after defeating a nonvirtual enemy which could translate into real life aggression towards real people. Though correlation does not mean causation, the fear that violent video games may increase problematic antagonism is clearly not misplaced.
“Recent contents analyses of video games show that many as 89% of games contain some violent contents” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 3). More than half of video games being sold around the world contain some form of violence. All of the violence involved in the video games being played by children is a pattern leading to aggression. Aggression can be caused by many things; however, violent video games are the main cause of aggression in young adults. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad, Alto 1). Thinking that violence in the virtual world is the same as in the real world is the first step to showing aggression. Aggression in children caused by video games is the biggest effect parents and researchers worry about. Violent video games teach children that shooting and killing people are