Preview

The effects of videogames on society

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
963 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The effects of videogames on society
Good morning/afternoon, Ladies and gentleman, if there is anyone present that has not before played some form of videogame then it will be a feat against the odds, by some chance. As the Sony figures for November 2011 to January 2012 show that PlayStation sales have stayed steady worldwide, with the Middle East emerging as a major market there has been a Recent incident, A four year old boy shot and killed his father, this happened after the man refused to buy his son a PlayStation console. This Saudi Arabian boy has been labelled the country’s youngest ‘killer’, the idea of a four year old killer is phenomenal, but the idea that the PlayStation consoles helped cause this incident sparked the controversial debate over the effects video games have on our society and community. In the past thirty years since the development of videogames, they have had a significant impact on the way leisure time is spent.
Video games are a huge part of many people’s lives; they have been rapidly developing since their conception in the 1970’s. Each generation uses the newest technologies available, leading to more impressive graphics and realism. The idea that this form of entertainment causes ill and often violent actions throughout society is widely discussed, though nearly every new medium from comic books to gangster films have had a finger pointed at them screaming corruption! On average the level of violence in American national school studies are at a stable or declining level. The industry of videogames and products is rapidly growing due to the high demand; in 2009 Australians spent $2 Billion on the videogame industry a 47% increase from 2007, this figure was published on news.com . (1) The demand of video games is not only in youth, adults are becoming more involved as the market for videogames has a niche aimed at older generations. The use of videogames in schools is also becoming popular with research showing that playing videogames can positively influence brain

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Final for Wr 122

    • 1967 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Rampage, shootings, killing, murder, blood, and gore are all things that people think of when they hear the words, “Video Game.” Video games have quickly taken on the role of being harmful too kids. Could this be true? Crime rates have been on the rise for the last five decades, so we must ask do video games have anything to do with this? Are video games destroying our children? Every time a school shooting happens people look for something to blame. Furthermore, in the more recent decades people have been blaming the violence of video games, for in these games you have weapons that you often use to kill people or other things with. These games have been said to be extremely graphic and aggressive and have many parents worried. However, after reading many essay’s including, “Art Form for the Digital Age,” by Henry Jenkins, and “Do Video Games Kill?” by Karen Sternheimer, I changed the way that I viewed video games. Before reading these essay’s, I felt as if video games had no other purpose but just to be aggressive, but now I see that video games are not all bad, for they are also a form of art, and art is not to blame for children being violent. Therefore, video games do have other purposes and are not completely bad for kids.…

    • 1967 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    When people think of video games’ effects on society, many envision apathetic young adults wasting time in their parent's basement, mashing buttons in front of a glowing television screen instead of looking for a job; some envision rabid children, screaming into microphones and throwing tantrums in stores to get their parents to buy the latest popular video game; still others envision the violent, disturbing images, and antisocial content in many video games worming their way into impressionable young minds, cultivating the future killers and sociopaths of tomorrow. Much research has been done on the negative effects of video games on individuals and society, but not as much research has been completed on the positive effects they have. In class, the prosocial aspects of video…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    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.…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Video game consoles have made their way into the households and hearts of millions of people all around the world. New games of all different genres are continually being produced and bought by consumers from every inch of the globe, only becoming more popular as time goes on. Throughout the past couple of years technology as a whole has been on a drastic up rise. With continuous breakthroughs in the technological field the video game industry has been able to flourish into its current state. Companies now days are able to produce more and more realistic like gaming experiences. These life-like graphics and visual effects put the gamer right in the action, bringing joy to many while enraging numerous others. The way in which one views and understands the game’s contents is the way in which one perceives the video game. More often than not parents, who do not play video games, tend to focus on the negative aspects of the game, namely violence. The parents who are buying the video games for their children see only the cruelty and disgusting features making up only part of the whole. Most avid gamers would agree with the above statement, arguing the blood and gore is just a small part of the many aspects of some video games that complement the other components such as graphic quality and plot. The way in which one perceives an individual video game more often than not depends on whether or not the person is a gamer. The way in which some people perceive video games angers me because it seems as though they are over looking the big picture and viewing the game with a pessimistic point of view. By doing this, those people are doing themselves and the creators of games an injustice.…

    • 1476 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Introduction: According to certain people, violent video games should be banned; they feel that they are the reason of today’s violence amongst children. But I strongly disagree with them. Like movies, music and any other form of art, video games are there to entertain people and enjoy, not confine. What most people fail to realize today, is that the video game industry, similar to the film industry, is well controlled with a strict code of parental guidelines already in place. Just because video games show violence does not mean they should be banned. Video games bring many benefits such as: increasing self-esteem, reducing pain, encouraging teamwork and it’s beneficial to the economy.…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Video Games Cause Violence

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Video games have always been a great landmark in the history of the human race and how great and advanced they’ve become since their creation. Video games also have their own timeline and certain points in time in which major controversy has arisen. Newscasters have made full reports on how video games are the major contributor to thoughts and actions of violence in the minds of all who have purchased them, either being adults and all the way down to children of all ages. Even though newscasters and reporters may be seen as respected and credible sources this topic has always pinned video games as the culprit but they were never the ones to blame.…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    After review of the publication, Game On, a Harvard Health Letter, I discovered that the social and cultural ramifications of video games are of high debate upon many parents and adults. Games are played by people of all ages and sexes but the vast majority of “gamers” are teenage boys. This is worry some considering they are attracted to action games with bloodshed, violence and explicit content. In Grand Theft Auto, a best seller, the players sell drugs on the streets while shooting at gangs and buying prostitutes, what we in America consider violent behavior. Thirty years of research prove that media violence promotes aggressive behavior in young people however, due to the amount of additional underlying factors which can be ruled in such as substance abuse, cultural beliefs, abusive parents and innate personalities, it is very hard to establish a direct connection between the violence stemming from these games and other things. Through research of brain scans they have proven that thoughts of aggression and violent shooter games will activate the brain in a similar way however, directly showing a link to the games and violence in the real world has not yet occurred. Although some claim that games have real benefits it seems they are more so to promote aggressive behavior. With more and more people becoming addicted to the games, game “detox” has erupted to help the one in twelve young people affected by…

    • 2257 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The effects video games have on young people. Good or bad? Effects of computerized gaming have a wide range on young people today and like anything else the effects you get out is in the way they are used. If we look at how computer games are made and what they are intended for we can get a better understand for the effects that come out of them.…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A video game is an interactive computer that displays a video signal, allowing you to play thousands of games on your television or handheld video game device. (Wikipedia, Video Game) We have came a very long way since the very first type of video game console was invented by Ralph Baer in 1967. From the very first console, the "Brown Box" to the more interactive video game consoles such as the Wii, Playstation, XBOX or the handheld Nintendo DS. Regardless of which video game is being used, it has made a huge impact in life 's of many children, as well as adults today. In the beginning, the games were user friendly and parents did not have much to worry about if they purchased a video game for their child. Take Pac Man for example, a very simple game where the player "Pac Man" eats dots and tries to avoid getting touched by an enemy. Now in 2012, we have games such as Call of Duty which focuses on killing members of the opposite team.…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Video games around the world have become immensely popular, a multi-billion dollar industry. An industry which revolves around the wants and desires of children and teens. An industry with a creation of unique entertainment like no other. An industry that continues to grow rapidly. Hours and hours are spent each day by youths playing these games, but are they really good for them? Are they educational? Games which educate a child’s mind exist but they wouldn’t be as popular as your top seller shooting game. Nowhere even close. Here I am today to tell, to inform, and to enlighten parents on the dangers of letting your child play these violent games.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Final

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The scientific debate over media violence effect “is basically over”. Researches are now shifting their attention to video games, which have exploded in popularity and are exploding with increasing brutality (Myers). Educational research shows that “video games are excellent teaching tools” (Myers). In 2007 the video-game industry celebrated its 35th birthday. Since the first video game in 1972, we have moved from Ping-Pong to splatter games. By the turn of the twenty-first century, Americans were purchasing some two hundred million games a year, and the average girl was playing six hours a week and the average boy twelve hours (Anderson). In the popular Grand…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Today, children, teenagers, and adults are exposed to violence throughout their lives. They are exposed through television shows, movies, maybe even on the streets, but what researchers and scientists have proved to be an increasing factor of violence in children and adults is their being exposed to violent video games in which “they can produce violence, emotional outbursts, and inappropriate language”. According to Violent Video Games: The Newest Media Violence Hazard, about 85% or more video games include violent content. Violent content includes: blood and gore, killing, inappropriate language, and sexual content. Since then, many people have been saying that these games promote bad behavior and cause people to be more violent.…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1990’s, video games evolve into virtual reality experience for young video game players. Most video games let the player become as a “first person shooter” who have the ability to shoot and kill their opponents in the game (Porter & Starcevic, 2007). According to the Harvard Mental Health (2010), adolescents who play video games for routinely have the potential to develop aggressive personalities. In 2008, Pew Research proves that 97% of young individuals play video games that contain violence that brings a concern to the public (Harvard Mental Health Letter, 2010). Various types of studies prove that adolescents who play video games routinely develop hostile behaviors and generate more crime.…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Do violent video games have “a redeeming social value?” You could get many different answers to this question depending on who you ask. Is there any good that can come from video games? What harm can come to people and society from video games? Is modern culture being affected either negatively or positively by today’s video games and those that play them? Are young, impressionable, people affected by playing video games for hours and hours during their impressionable, developmental years? These are a few of the questions I will attempt to answer as I argue that video games are playing a big role in the downfall of modern society.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Video Games Are Bad

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I believe that video games are bad for the human brain and body. There are many problems that come from violent video games. “Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping, according to a scientific study” (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). In this study, they compared children who play violent video games with children that play none with a cat scan and the violent video game child had more parts of the brain showing aggression. This proves that violent video games can cause aggressive behavior.…

    • 324 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays