Violent Video Games

Hundreds of studies have been done to determine whether violent video games will really make juveniles more violent. Randomized experiments were used in several studies to examine the short-term effect of violent video games (Anderson and Berkowitz et al. 90). In these studies, children were randomly assigned to play violent or nonviolent video games and then were observed when given an opportunity to be aggressive. The result was that children who played violent video games usually behaved aggressively.

Since video games have been introduced, video games have been accused of contributing too many atrocities, and acts of violence. News outlets paint video games as being a source of which some acts of violence happen. Yes, violent video games have become more popular, meanwhile becoming controversial, but still there exist no links between aggression and video games. The University of Bologna says that “owning videogames does not in fact seem to have negative effects on aggressive human behavior” (Koffler par.7). Meanwhile, news outlets keep on missing the point on how beneficial video games are. Video games do not contribute to violence, can be educational, and they can improve us in different ways.

As many parents and educators like to emphasise, “Violent video games make kids more violent”. Video games affecting youth is a very debatable topic. Most people just come to that conclusion without acquiring any evidence or reason, but there are some reasons why this is a wrong assumption. I believe that violent video games are actually good for people. They allow them to have an escape from real life which is positive, the violence allows people (young people in particular) to think morally about what they are doing, and most violent games let children have fun with their friends.

The article, “The Truth About Video Games and Gun Violence” by Erik Kain discusses how video games and gun violence correlates. The author opens up with someone by the name of Aaron Alexis who resorted to gun violence while playing video games that contained violence. There is a violent video game that scares parents and behavioral experts. There has been a debate on whether people who play video games later have violent behavior. Throughout the years, video games continue to show images portraying violence.

In society, video games have been criticized as an inducer for violent in children. The ongoing debate instigates research on the correlation between video games and violence. In Craig Anderson’s article, “Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence, Part II”, the author criticizes the opposing side and states that violence in media reflects violent behaviors in children. John Glynn’s article, “Guns and Games”, reasons on the benefits of video games and points out the true perpetrator for violent behaviors of youth in the United States to be the gun culture.; While Glynn’s article contains some form of pathos, there is a lack of pathos in Anderson’s. Both articles utilize logos and ethos. However, Glynn offers a more well-rounded argument to support that video games are beneficial and are not the true cause of aggression in children.

Kain, Erik. “The Truth About Video Games and Gun Violence.” Mother Jones, 11 June 2013, www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/video-games-violence-guns-explainer/.

In their research of violent videogames and the effect on children, they have found that “the simplistic belief that exposure to media violence will lead directly to individual violence is clearly wrong.” (Kutner, Olsen, 2008) I am going to ask you to look deeper than this. I assert that although violent video games are thought to encourage real world violence, they actually help to prevent it.

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.

From news outlets, to politicians, to parents: when tragedies occur they place the blame on many different sources. After the Sandy Hook shooting, media networks fiercely debated whether or not video games played a part in the shooter’s motives, as he had played games from the notorious Grand Theft Auto series prior to the shooting. Some even suggested banning video games outright, despite the fact that other mediums that can portray violence, such as movies and television, were overlooked. It is my personal belief that video games can be a form of art, as they can send as powerful an emotional message as any movie or song can. Thus, I believe it is important to understand the motives behind the creation of these games as well as how people interpret their meanings.

In the discussions of children playing violent video games, one controversial issue has been weather it beneficial or not. On the one hand opposers argues that Violent video games ruins kids abilities to handle real world problems. On the other hand defenders opposes saying that these games are beneficial for children. My own view is that video games can be beneficial for kids. In my

Violent games are often played by kids, and kids are the main group of people who have desire to win. So, this mentality causes them get more and more angry, which may directly led to crimes. It is easy to have a casual effect after losing a game. That could makes people want to play another round, until they addicted into games. Children are still growing, and they start another game because they lose the last game, and this cycle will make the children more addictive. If games play more, they will feel immersive, it will give people a fake impression, and will affect the children 's growth. Also it influencing people’s time, this may cause children have less time to feel our planet, the outside world. Some of them are limited by violent video games, because they already addicted by those games. Secondly, violent behavior in reality is often caused by violent video games. People who likes to play violent video games are easy to get confused about reality and virtual. People are very focus when they play games, games could let people feels they are the character in the game. It could make people get angry, and once they finished their game, back to reality, they also may still think about the game, and want to have a chance to experience it, whether the result is as same as the game or not, and this could lead them to have a strong violent behavior in reality. Violent video games may change

Third, when one is dealing with an argument, people tend to ignore the positive aspects of the subject. In this case people ignore the positive side of playing violence videos games. In most cases playing violent video games can have some bad impact on someone's life, but however, playing violent video games can be beneficial. However, most people don’t believe that there no benefits of playing violent video games because of its explicit themes, but however, the more violent the game is the more beneficial is it (The Register). Therefore, people who play videos games such as Call of Duty are better at multitasking and better at perform cognitive tasks because of the quick reactions that most violence video games have. Most teenagers who play violence video game or non- violence video games enhanced skills that involve in the real world. In the world we in every situation is involve with solving a problem or critical thinking and playing violence video game can enhance those abilities. For example, when teenagers or adults play call of duty, he or she has to think about the next move that they’re going to make without getting killed by the opposite person and losing the game for their team.  As this related to the real world, teenagers are able to come up with creative ways to deal with a situation.  As it relates to problem-solving, in most game players perform different tasks to achieve the goal to beat the game, and in order to that you have the ability to not only thinking critically, but players have to be able to make quick decisions, especially playing games such as Mortal Kombat, Call of duty, and GTA V. However, People who disagree with idea would say that many criminals of mass shooting played violent video games. Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway (2011) and admitted to using the game Modern Warfare 2 for training (Pro Con). Understanding that many mass shootings have been carried out by devoted video game players; However, An Apr. 2015 peer-reviewed study published in Psychiatric Quarterly found that playing violent video games had no impact on aggression levels in teenagers (Pro Con). Additionally, many people feel that children spend a lot time playing the game and not enough time

Most of us have certainly pondered on the thought if video games truly create violent citizens, I personally believe that video games do not what so ever. One must distinguish this topic accurately and consider learning to differentiate and not have a biased or radical opinion. There have been many attempts from a number of different people who have tried to give a bad name to video games due to the simulations and realness and say that video games will create a negative environment for anyone who plays them, especially in children. Enthusiasts of video games have spent decades asserting that there is no underlying link between playing violent titles and engaging in the violent real-world behavior. Brand-new data confirms their contentions.

For example according to Edlab, “Kids learn faster than adults because the prefrontal cortex of the brain”. If kids play violent games they will grow up learning and thinking about violence. This can cause them to be aggressive without them noticing. By making these kids criminals it will ruin their lives, all because of a game. This shows how killing is included in kids games. People may say, “Kids may see violence in some games, but not a lot of them.” This is a false accusation and is not the case. Violent role playing games can distract kids from right from wrong, because they will not know them apart. According to CBS News, “90 percent of children play video games, with 85 percent of those games containing some violence”. With so many kids playing violent games kids are becoming more violent and aggressive. By so much violence being displayed in kids lives, they may think that the violence they see in games are okay and are normal. There have been many shootings over the past year. You hear about one every day on the news. This is because kids are being negatively affected by violent games.

However, video games can have a negative impact on children. Several video games encourage children to kill and fight enemies. Violence is life threatening and is a devastating theme of many video games today. Violent games such as Grand theft auto, Halo and Doom promote things like killing and violence of people, criminal behavior, disrespect for the law, and obscene language. Parents can even buy game controllers that look like a real gun for their children and may not think that it’s a big deal. This is sending the message to children that it is ok to play with guns. David Walsh in an article “National Institute on Media and the Family” stated “Children are more likely to imitate the actions of a character with whom they identify. In violent video games the player is often required to take the point of view of the shooter or perpetrator.” Video games are making violence look cool to