Violent Video Games can Increase Aggression
Video Games: A Cause of Violence
Modern Warfare 3
Can A Video Game Lead To Murder?
Video Game Violence
The video game industry has created many games that promote violence.
All of them consist of the same exact violence. Whether it be crashing
cars, drinking underage, or killing people randomly. All show illegal
actions for underage kids, and make them seem do able.
They're many games that show brutality towards law enforcers. Grand
Theft Auto for example, shows direct violence towards any type of
civilian including law enforcers. There was a direct law suit in
Alabama, suing the makers and marketers of this game because they
believed that months of playing this game led a young teenager to go on
a rampage and kill three men, two of them being police officers. This
one game has led a huge dispute to whether violent video games should
be able to be sold anywhere in the U.S.A.
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml)
They’re cases that have been pursued because of these games being
played for hours at a time, even days. Kids stay up countless amounts
of hours playing these games, killing armed forces thinking that its
okay to walk out with a gun and pull the trigger without getting any
consequences. Recently there was an article in the New York Times
saying that the Supreme Court’s have decided that persons under the age
of 18 shouldn’t be allowed to buy or rent a mature rated game. This
proposed law was just based on the assumption that such games influence
violent behavior in real life. I’ll be honest, right now one of my
favorite games happens to be the new Call of Duty, Modern Warfare 3.
Possibly now one of the most popular games in the world. Practically
this is a game where you are trained to kill the enemy in any way
possible.
(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/02/politics/main7015694.shtml)
People sometimes take video games way to far. The other day when Modern
Warfare 3 was released a bunch of men in France with multiple cars
crashed into a delivery truck filled with 6 thousand copies of this
game, this party ended up stealing every single copy, costing the U.S
$550,000 in cash! Video games lead some people that think they have
nothing else to do, to do some stupid things.
(http://www.gamespot.com/news/6000-copies-of-modern-warfare-3-stolen-in-french-heist-report-6344301)
Research shows that video games affect 4 year old children all the way
up to the age of 45. Recent studies shows that 7% of young adult teens
play violent video games for at least 30 hours a week. These days,
video games are getting to be more accurate with body parts and
explosion ratios, also with the way people look, showing the way a body
can decompose. Although the violent video games used to have no
exposure to guts and intestines, now a days the explosions that make
the body fly everywhere are more realistic than ever. Game graphics
have changed so much over the past few years that it is almost like
watching a real body fly in
pieces.(http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723)
Everyone deals with stress these days. But these game tend to start
different emotions to stir, such as aggression towards either the
aggressor or the person being abused. Also it can effect you mentally,
emotionally, and also physically! Aggression is defined as when someone
attacks another or a group of people with intent of harming them. It
can be a verbal attack such as insulting someone, threats upon someone,
even physically beating them! These direct behavior aspects develop bad
habits such as name calling, sarcasm, being prejudice, nagging, and or
temper tantrums.
There isn’t a day that goes by that even a college student, like myself
doesn’t deal with stress about either work that may be due or even a
big exam or project that is coming up. Also people in the real world
working a person in a higher ranking, someone who has to do the dirty
work for another, that person has a lot of stress on their back as
well. These violent video games give people a reason to be stressed,
such as Call of Duty. This game if you do well in it gives you perks to
kill others, the better you do the more people you can kill. So if you
die you loose that “said perk”. I personally have played this new game,
to me it is a great activity to do when there is nothing else to do.
But to others this game can be “life”. Some people who play this game
take it so seriously that they may get so stressed possibly they could
hurt themselves, the system, or even another when they’re playing.
Violent games like this suggest that killing is okay, but you better do
it as fast as you can or you will get caught.
Violent Video Games can be blamed for many things. School shootings,
bullying, and violence towards females have been happening more and
more because of these violent games. In 2008, 97% of 12-17 old kids
played video games, 10 out of 20 were violent. Dylan Klebold and Eric
Harris, two adult teens in high school opened fire on their very own
students. They shot 20 people and killed 13 before being detained.
These two students were active violent video gamers. They played games
like Mortal Kombat, and Doom, two games right there that instigate
killing. Although doom is a game where you are stuck in space killing
aliens it’s all the same. Several video game industries such as Sony,
and Nintendo were sued because of these actions.
(http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723)
Scientists have known for years that video games cause players to
become more aggressive. This occurs because the brains of violent game
players become less responsive to violence, and with this diminished
brain response it is predicted that aggression will then increase
further. Researchers believe that if you play these violent video games
to much your brain starts to become desensitized to any violence. MRI
scans of kids who play violent video games have shown less activity in
the areas that involve emotions, attention and inhibition of our
impulses. But then it was after a week of not playing any video games
that it was realized your brain heals itself and returns to normal
thoughts, but still it wasn’t back totally.
(http://www.metrolic.com/dull-brain-responses-to-aggression-due-to-violent-video-games-170538)
There are different ratings on the back of game boxes. It goes from,
T(for Teen E(for everyone), M(for Mature). About ⅓ of today’s video
games are mature
rating.(http://videogames.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003627).
This means that they’re a good amount of games that show blood, and
either civilians or cops, or just aliens being killed in numerous
amounts of ways. Most people these days buy mature games because they
seem more fun. Out of those people who buy these mature games 40% of
those people are under the age of 18, considering that there is less
than 20% of kids under the age of 18, 40% is a pretty large percentage.
Other than that 40% playing mature games, another 5% of those under 18
play non mature. These statistics mean that out of the 146 million
gamers in the US, 65.7 million are children and teens, 20 million of
them being 12 and under.
(http://dev2.slideshare.com/n00774741/video-game-violence-and-our-youth-by-andy-yost)
In today’s society violence has become too commonplace in our sources
of entrainment. But the most disturbing violence comes out of video
games because you are the one doing the shooting, and the beating, and
the explosions. Studies have found that over 85% of video games contain
some violence, and 50% of them contain serious violent actions. Also
science has shown that even the very active nature of playing a violent
video game is having some frightening effects. These kinda games
promote you to kill, and by killing you level up or gain new and better
tools to kill better. At lease in TV and movies its acting and computer
generated affects.
(http://www.shsoutherner.net/opinion/2011/02/14/violence-in-video-games-causes-desensitization-to-violence-in-reality/)
True gamers stay up at an average of 8 hours per week playing video
games. Video games are addictive by nature. “Just one more level” kids
say that constantly, and it has the stuck on the couch for hours
determined to win. People of all ages are losing their lives both
physically and spiritually over being addicted to these games. But all
it takes is 20 minutes of playing a violent video game, and it already
has caused gamers to have their reaction and decreased heart rate to
scenes of violence. There are speculations that some mothers have
banded together to create a kind of strike groups such as MAGOW,(mother
against Gears of War), also MACOD,(mothers against Call of Duty). These
mothers believe that the government should have never allowed such
violent to be in a game to begin with. But regardless of what the
rating is parents still buy these games for their children. Just the
fact that parents even let their children play these games is a little
worrying. If these games lead kids to view violence as “no big deal”
then future America is in for some big consequences. Parents who don’t
allow their children to play video games at all are smart and dumb at
the same time. Not exposing your child to video games can cause them to
become addicts once they’re exposed to them. But also they can be smart
because without video games in their lives they would have some other
main focus points, such as school, or getting a job. Kids with violent
video games at there disposal are affected physically, psyhcologically,
and also emotionally in dark ways. This may cause them to become angry,
or to bully, and or be rude to their parents, siblings or even friends.
Higher rates of suicide and depression as well. Parents sometimes don’t
even know the content of the game they are buying their children.
(http://www.shsoutherner.net/opinion/2011/02/14/violence-in-video-games-causes-desensitization-to-violence-in-reality/)
These games are presented as fun, fast paced adventure where you are
the hero taking out bad guys however you see fit. Violence in these
games is shown as justification, consequence free. Players gain
positive emotions from causing negative actions. Playing these violent
games makes it easier for people to access aggressive thoughts and
feelings. For example school children who play these mature games are
more likely to get into fight with other classmates.
The video game industry of course has different speculation on whether
or not they increase aggression. Also they believe that these violent
games let kids release aggression. The Video game Industry is almost
like a Tobacco Industry arguing against science to defend their
findings. When studies showed that cigarettes caused lung cancer,
Tobacco Industry fought to defend their product. Like them the video
game industry says that violent video games won’t stop people from
viewing killing people as less than it is. Video games are only getting
more violent and more creative, more realistic in every way. Violent
video games necessarily don’t cause more violence but they definitely
change the way kids and young adults view it. The Army even uses
violent video games to train their forces to kill. But they’re not used
for any entertainment they’re used for intentional desensitization
tools.
Kids have an innate longing for adventure, especially in boys. They are
persistent in going on journeys, and experiencing new things. Real life
is being replaced by screen life. Kids are loosing the love for nature,
and being physically active, and hands on experiences that used to be
the way to live. The ability to see beauty in everything becomes
blurred and eventually blacked out of sight. These kids who don’t
understand the beauty of nature become fat, and couch potatoes, they
barely sleep because they play games all night. It affects your whole
life if you let it control you. Your grades slip in school, don’t
understand how to be appropriately sociable to anyone, and you loose
sight of people who may have cared about you including family and
friends. Addicted video gamers have what can be associated with an
illness. On top of becoming obese they aren’t humane.
"The Entertainment Software Association - Games & Violence." The
Entertainment Software Association - Home Page. Web. 09 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.theesa.com/facts/violence.asp>.- primary source
Anderson, Craig A. "Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered
Questions." American Psychological Association (APA). Web. 09 Dec.
2011.
<http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.aspx>.
Show how video games are violent of all ages.
By Dillon Butler
Sociology
Griswold
