Violent Video Games Research Paper

The main argument of this article is that video games have a direct link to short term and long term aggression. The author presents this argument by providing studies from peer reviewed articles that all conclude that video games do cause an increase of aggression. The main point of this article is to answer the question, “Do violent video games lead to aggression.” The article is about the effects of violent video games leading to aggression. The author uses recent examples, like the Sandy Hook and Washington Navy Yard shooting. In both of these examples, the author cites that both shooters had a history with playing violent video games. The author uses a study which selected individuals to play violent video games for a certain period of time. The study would then compare the results to a group who played non-violent video games. The study concluded that violent video games cause a direct link in aggression due to humans reenacting the actions the characters within the video games perform.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of a recent study examining the effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior in young children. Let me first provide a brief summary of the study. (a) The hypothesis is that violent video games cause aggression in young children. (b) The target population is young children. (c) The samples are young school age children and the sample sizes are sixty children separated into two groups with 30 children being in the experimental group and 30 children being in the control group. (d) The independent variable is violent video games and the dependent variable is aggression. (e) The result of the experiment were

True or False: Violent videogames cause children to become more aggressive. Sorry, that was a trick question. Despite much bandying of statistics and loud talking by critics on both sides of the argument, the real answer is that there is no real answer—at least not one that’s been proved scientifically (Zipp). Video games are an appealing target for a public figure in search of a crusade. Movies and music have energetic advocates, but it’s hard to find anyone who will defend games for their artistic value, or even on the grounds of freedom of expression. Usually the strongest argument made for games is that they are harmless fun (Koffler).

As technology as progressed, more people, especially youth, take part in playing video games. There has been an steady increase of video game usage because of the fact that video games have become more life-like and realistic. While they have become more realistic in aesthetic ways, they have also become more violent in content as well. Games like Call of Duty

A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.

Since violent video games, like Mortal Kombat, were created, adolescents who play these games become more aggressive than before. To me, playing violent video games is unsafe for these people since they have the negative influence on these people. I believe that researching on that topic would help us get the sense of what problems to avoid. I wish to know what are the possible effects of violent video games on adolescents’ aggression. The independent variable is violent video games, and the dependent variable is adolescents’ aggression. My hypothesis is that adolescents who play violent video games become very aggressive than those who don’t. For this essay, I would like to present the findings from each article that will answer

If an increase in aggressive behavior is not unsettling enough, there is also plenty of research to support a desensitization of young people who play video games. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, Doom® was made to train soldiers to kill effectively, and then it was released for children to play in the comfort of their own home. The sole purpose of the video games was to desensitize soldiers to killing and now in September Doom 3® will be released. “Violent games lower a player’s inhibitions to real life violence” (Ivory). Adolescents become desensitized by playing violent video games, and along with this desensitization their perception of right and wrong becomes skewed (Benzie). According to Benzie,

to commit crimes in their adult life, however, this is not limited to males only, as females were about four times more likely to experience this early in life (Finkelhor, 2012.)

In this age of technology, it's very safe to say that a large majority of the world's population has played at least one video game. This can vary from playing games on console, like Xbox-One, Playstation 4, and for the older generation, the NES to playing mobile games like Tetris. There are many consoles that span from the creation of video games. This has opened opportunities to make several kind of games. These can vary from side-scrollers like Super Mario Bros. on the NES, to Role-playing games (RPG) like Final Fantasy IX on the Playstation 1. While this has caused some great games to surface, it has also allowed intense violence to be let into games. Parents and anti-gaming communities state that this is why kids can become violent. This is false, because violent games can be avoided to prevent this issue, and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has even made various precautions to make sure parents know what they're purchasing. Comprehensible symbols, detailed lists, and age restrictions prevents children from "becoming violent".

An article in "Psychology Today" discussed how studies have shown that video game players that play in a violent game such as Call of Duty will start to act aggressive due to the violent exposure in the game. The author states that in Call of Duty there is a scene where the player destroys a tank and must finish off an enemy character screaming for his life. The author than describes how virtual reality is going to replace video game consoles and make people less sensitive to violent acts, Rosenblum imagines that virtual reality will take games such as Halo or Call of Duty and increase the effects of desensitization by a factor of ten, if not fifty (Rosenblum 35). The author later states that researchers as well as industry figures are afraid of what violent content players are exposed to in video games. This article argues that the rise of video game and technological advancement has led to a desensitized culture amongst the younger generation which can lead to an increase in crime. In a similar article groups believe that people with autism spectrum disorder

It was Christmas Day and Savanna’s nine year old brother had just received a new game that he had been wanting for his X-Box, “Grand Theft Auto.” As soon as he opened it, he began to play. Three hours later he was STILL playing. Savanna was sitting on the couch reading a new book, when she started to notice some frustration coming from her brother. As he sprung up off the floor, he let out a yell of anger, went over to the living room wall, and punched it, leaving a hole in the wall. Savanna wondered if this violent reaction was because of the violence he had been seeing in the video game. A review of almost a decade of studies found that exposure to violent video games was a “risk factor,” for increased violence in youth.(Radowitz) From

Playing video games does not cause violent behavior. Don’t get me wrong, some video games show horrific acts of violence. “A recent survey found that 92 percent of U.S. kids--ages 2 to 17--play video games, and their parents bought 225 million of them last year to the tune of $6.4 billion.” (Sider 79).What’s here to argue is that violent video games do not cause violence among children, but the blame for violence should be on the individual and people who should have taught the individual better. If kids are not able to see the difference between reality and fantasy, then they really can’t be blamed for committing acts they see in a game and then imitating, not fully understanding the consequences of doing it in the real world.

As we look around in today's society, we are surrounded by technology and as it advances we have relied on these technological advancement as a form of media. A form of media that has been controversial because of it's rapid growth and advancement would be video games. The first video game that was available to play on a console at home was Pong, a simple game that was similar to tennis where two line must hit a dot and score a point. Pong was released in 1972 and after forty-three years video games are still relevant. According to a team in the University of Essex in the UK, " People around the world spend a massive three billion hours per week playing video games." ( Entertainment Software Association) At first

Originally, the purpose of violent video games is to entertain. However, its content encourages violence and invites to enjoy cruelty. When playing video games, kids are required to kill a human being to get a perfect score. If kids are left to spend plenty of time playing violent video games, they will be obsessed with brutality. As a result they will have difficulty to tell apart fantasy from reality and start dreaming about killing and scoring in real life. As it can be addictive, it also isolates them from human contact, which leads to lack of sympathy. That’s why most school shooters are great video gamers. I will support my thesis with evidences and quotes from expertise.

Call of Duty, Halo, Assassin Creed among others may seem violent to many parents but they continue to purchase these games for their children. In our society video games have become part of an everyday activity in a majority of homes. Video games can be considered toys any children can play with. However, video games are becoming harmful because children are playing these violent games and are causing them health problems, mentally, emotionally bad effects.