Video Game Violence Research Paper
Violence in Video Games Video game violence hasn 't been around for very long. For the most part, video games have progressively gotten more violent. It seems that the more violent video games are trying to compete with violent movies, and other things. But the reason for this paper is do violent video games trigger people to be more violent? With the recent out break of mass school shootings, video games has always seemed to be one main reasons for the shootings or other types of violent crimes. The media over the last 5 years has bad mouthed violent video games and video games in general. As an avid video game player I do not feel they cause any sort of anger from me or generate me into doing something criminal, but I can 't speak for everyone. Violent video games have caught this fictional tag that says they are all frowned upon to most people. Violent video games, do not cause people to commit crimes.
There …show more content…
are lots of studies floating around the web trying to link violent video games to violent behaviors but they end up linking it to forms of aggression. Trying to show aggression and violent behaviors will lead to violence as a one to one coloration is a little tough. I 'm of the mind that the aggressive tendency come from the competitive nature of the games or the fact that one is playing against the game rather than the violence actually being shown. Having said that, there is a lot of anxiety that comes with playing video games.
“Children who play violent video games experience an increase in aggressive actions. A 2000 study involving college students yielded interesting results. The study had two components: a session of video-game play, in which half the students played a violent video game and half played a non-violent video game, and then a simple reaction-time test that put two of the students in head-to-head competition. Whoever won the reaction-time test got to punish the loser with an audio blast. Of the students who won the reaction-time test, the ones who 'd been playing a violent video game delivered longer, louder audio bursts to their opponents (Layton).” This an interesting study. Now as the only real aggression was the longer, louder audio bursts it still makes them more aggressive. As one plays a game though, we tend to get aggressive. In sporting events, athletes all the time become aggressive. Watching a baseball game the other day, Zach Greinke threw an accidental wild pitch that hit Carlos Quentin in the arm. Quentin didn 't like that all and charged the mound in full rage. He ended up breaking Greinke 's collarbone. With that being said, anything can cause aggression.
For those who don 't actually play video games, when they look at video games or interact with people who are very involved into playing video games it comes as out as hearing another language that one does not understand. It comes out like a code that someone just doesn 't understand. There 's an anxiety that comes from not understanding things in the world around. The majority of the population does not play video games, and when they see this it causes them a lot of anxiety. “Playing video games is about chasing victory. In Pac-Man, that means eating as many little dots as possible and avoiding ghosts. In Doom, it means shooting demons. In Super Mario Bros., it means stomping on the heads of evil mushrooms. But as hard as we try to win, the experience of playing actually tends to be dominated more often by failure, disappointment, and frustration. As we play, we lose, over and over again. We watch Pac-Man deflate, we get mauled by zombies, we fall off cliffs and die. Then, for some reason, we hit play again (Neyfakh).” For the few people that do try video games for the first time this is what they often feel. Failure, dying, disappointment, frustration are common feelings when playing some games. It takes many hours to become good at something. Video games are one of those things just like anything else that practice makes perfect. The more one plays, then the better that person becomes. When older people try video-games and fail, they are quick to give them up without hesitation.
The video game press seems to be the only people defending video games. The industry itself, the people who actually make the games hide behind the cameras. Explanation, not alienation, would probably be the best road to allow those who don 't know anything about games, or probably have no intention to ever play video games to not look at games as some kind of strange corrupting other.
One of the biggest challenges with violent video games, is a lot of children play violent video games. These types of games are not made for children. One of the biggest misfortunes is calling them games. It gives some parents the impression that this a toy, which it is certainly not. These games cost sixty dollars, they are designed for adults. They have rating system that helps explain this to parents. One of the most popular games out there is called Grand Theft Auto, and for a lot of parents, if a game has the name of felony in it, it 's probably unwise to have ones child engage in it.
“Violent games directly reward violent behavior, such as by awarding points or by allowing players to advance to the next game level. In some games, players are rewarded through verbal praise, such as hearing the words "Nice shot!" after killing an enemy. It is well known that rewarding behavior increases its frequency. Would you go to work tomorrow if your boss said you would no longer be paid? In TV programs, reward is not directly tied to the viewer 's behavior (Bushman).” This argument has many flaws. When playing a violent game, “headshot or nice shot” can be heard throughout the game but when playing one does not really pay attention to that. Sure you get more points for killing people in the game, but really your whole goal is to get more points. Half the time when playing, one forgets that they are actually killing someone. They are simply focused on ranking up and getting more and more XP or points.
“The myth that video games cause violent behavior is undermined by scientific research and common sense. According to FBI statistics, youth violence has declined in recent years as computer and video game popularity soared. We do not claim that the increased popularity of games caused the decline, but the evidence makes a mockery of the suggestion that video games cause violent behavior. Indeed, as the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared: The state has not produced substantial evidence that violent video games cause psychological or neurological harm to minors (Gallagher).” With that being said, there is not any evidence that can back up the claim that violent video games do in fact cause violent behaviors. The media has bad mouthed the video game world with its outrageous claims. It has plagued others into believing that they are all bad. Video games are a way to to relive stress and to put reality on the back burner. My final thought here is why some many games tend to be violent?
There are so many different types of violent games available to consumers. I 've always thought that its not so much that you want to play a game to shoot at someone, ones plays the game because they 're so important in that game, that everyone wants to shoot them. It is that strange moment in the day, where one may actually feel really important. Whether it be in that violent video game, one is simple the focus of attention. With video games become more frequent and violent this does lead some question how far it will go. But video games are the same as any other some other form of entertainment. It 's just the only one being scrutinized for the violent crimes of my generation. Many studies have tried to link video games to violent behaviors but have failed. Nothing conclusive has come from these studies. It 's these countless accusations that haunt the video game community and put a horrible label on
gamers.
Work Cited.
Bushman, Brad. "The effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behavior?." ITHP. N.p.. Web. 14 Apr 2013. .
Gallagher, Michael. "Video Games Don’t Cause Children to be Violent." US News. N.p., 10 May 2010. Web. 20 Apr 2013. .
Layton, Julie. "Do violent video games lead to real violence?." HowStuffWorks. N.p.. Web. 16 Apr 2013. .
Neyfakh, Leon. "Video games mean losing. So why play? ." The Boston Globe. Global Staff, 10 Mar 2013. Web. 19 Apr 2013. .
There …show more content…
are lots of studies floating around the web trying to link violent video games to violent behaviors but they end up linking it to forms of aggression. Trying to show aggression and violent behaviors will lead to violence as a one to one coloration is a little tough. I 'm of the mind that the aggressive tendency come from the competitive nature of the games or the fact that one is playing against the game rather than the violence actually being shown. Having said that, there is a lot of anxiety that comes with playing video games.
“Children who play violent video games experience an increase in aggressive actions. A 2000 study involving college students yielded interesting results. The study had two components: a session of video-game play, in which half the students played a violent video game and half played a non-violent video game, and then a simple reaction-time test that put two of the students in head-to-head competition. Whoever won the reaction-time test got to punish the loser with an audio blast. Of the students who won the reaction-time test, the ones who 'd been playing a violent video game delivered longer, louder audio bursts to their opponents (Layton).” This an interesting study. Now as the only real aggression was the longer, louder audio bursts it still makes them more aggressive. As one plays a game though, we tend to get aggressive. In sporting events, athletes all the time become aggressive. Watching a baseball game the other day, Zach Greinke threw an accidental wild pitch that hit Carlos Quentin in the arm. Quentin didn 't like that all and charged the mound in full rage. He ended up breaking Greinke 's collarbone. With that being said, anything can cause aggression.
For those who don 't actually play video games, when they look at video games or interact with people who are very involved into playing video games it comes as out as hearing another language that one does not understand. It comes out like a code that someone just doesn 't understand. There 's an anxiety that comes from not understanding things in the world around. The majority of the population does not play video games, and when they see this it causes them a lot of anxiety. “Playing video games is about chasing victory. In Pac-Man, that means eating as many little dots as possible and avoiding ghosts. In Doom, it means shooting demons. In Super Mario Bros., it means stomping on the heads of evil mushrooms. But as hard as we try to win, the experience of playing actually tends to be dominated more often by failure, disappointment, and frustration. As we play, we lose, over and over again. We watch Pac-Man deflate, we get mauled by zombies, we fall off cliffs and die. Then, for some reason, we hit play again (Neyfakh).” For the few people that do try video games for the first time this is what they often feel. Failure, dying, disappointment, frustration are common feelings when playing some games. It takes many hours to become good at something. Video games are one of those things just like anything else that practice makes perfect. The more one plays, then the better that person becomes. When older people try video-games and fail, they are quick to give them up without hesitation.
The video game press seems to be the only people defending video games. The industry itself, the people who actually make the games hide behind the cameras. Explanation, not alienation, would probably be the best road to allow those who don 't know anything about games, or probably have no intention to ever play video games to not look at games as some kind of strange corrupting other.
One of the biggest challenges with violent video games, is a lot of children play violent video games. These types of games are not made for children. One of the biggest misfortunes is calling them games. It gives some parents the impression that this a toy, which it is certainly not. These games cost sixty dollars, they are designed for adults. They have rating system that helps explain this to parents. One of the most popular games out there is called Grand Theft Auto, and for a lot of parents, if a game has the name of felony in it, it 's probably unwise to have ones child engage in it.
“Violent games directly reward violent behavior, such as by awarding points or by allowing players to advance to the next game level. In some games, players are rewarded through verbal praise, such as hearing the words "Nice shot!" after killing an enemy. It is well known that rewarding behavior increases its frequency. Would you go to work tomorrow if your boss said you would no longer be paid? In TV programs, reward is not directly tied to the viewer 's behavior (Bushman).” This argument has many flaws. When playing a violent game, “headshot or nice shot” can be heard throughout the game but when playing one does not really pay attention to that. Sure you get more points for killing people in the game, but really your whole goal is to get more points. Half the time when playing, one forgets that they are actually killing someone. They are simply focused on ranking up and getting more and more XP or points.
“The myth that video games cause violent behavior is undermined by scientific research and common sense. According to FBI statistics, youth violence has declined in recent years as computer and video game popularity soared. We do not claim that the increased popularity of games caused the decline, but the evidence makes a mockery of the suggestion that video games cause violent behavior. Indeed, as the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared: The state has not produced substantial evidence that violent video games cause psychological or neurological harm to minors (Gallagher).” With that being said, there is not any evidence that can back up the claim that violent video games do in fact cause violent behaviors. The media has bad mouthed the video game world with its outrageous claims. It has plagued others into believing that they are all bad. Video games are a way to to relive stress and to put reality on the back burner. My final thought here is why some many games tend to be violent?
There are so many different types of violent games available to consumers. I 've always thought that its not so much that you want to play a game to shoot at someone, ones plays the game because they 're so important in that game, that everyone wants to shoot them. It is that strange moment in the day, where one may actually feel really important. Whether it be in that violent video game, one is simple the focus of attention. With video games become more frequent and violent this does lead some question how far it will go. But video games are the same as any other some other form of entertainment. It 's just the only one being scrutinized for the violent crimes of my generation. Many studies have tried to link video games to violent behaviors but have failed. Nothing conclusive has come from these studies. It 's these countless accusations that haunt the video game community and put a horrible label on
gamers.
Work Cited.
Bushman, Brad. "The effects of violent video games. Do they affect our behavior?." ITHP. N.p.. Web. 14 Apr 2013. .
Gallagher, Michael. "Video Games Don’t Cause Children to be Violent." US News. N.p., 10 May 2010. Web. 20 Apr 2013. .
Layton, Julie. "Do violent video games lead to real violence?." HowStuffWorks. N.p.. Web. 16 Apr 2013. .
Neyfakh, Leon. "Video games mean losing. So why play? ." The Boston Globe. Global Staff, 10 Mar 2013. Web. 19 Apr 2013. .