Is it true that violent video games turn people into mindless mass murderers? In recent years there have been a number of mass shootings in the United States which the mass media has blamed mostly on violent video games. Since these types of games have only been out for less than 25 years there is a slight issue with trying to answer that question at the moment. The problem is that experts and researchers agree to the fact that at this moment in time it is impossible to tell due to the lack of significant research on the topic. There needs to be more research conducted, analyzed, and published for anyone to make such claims.
Anthony Gross Durden Rough Draft Feb. 23rd 2012 For decades it has been argued whether or not video game violence has any link to adolescent anger and behavior problems. More than half the world’s adolescents reported having at least one video game console in their bedrooms. (2010) This has nearly tripled since 1992 when only 18 percent of teens had access to a gaming console in their homes. It’s believed that with the introduction to violent video games the aggression levels in teens has risen. This is because video games are much more interactive then movies and television which gives teens a more real control of a character that is committing these violent and crime based acts.
Many would say and some may agree that the reason is that video games these days are too close to reality. Victor Strasburger, a professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, submitted his expert opinion stating “By any objective standard, video games have become more violent.” Congress has never allocated any funds for research on the influence of these games on children who spend seven to 12 hours a day playing them. One opinion is that games make violent actions normal for the player, therefore making the player desensitized and unremorseful. In this case the realistic video game appears to be the cause of violence. Consequently, realistic violence exists in the reality of a violent video game.
Seventy-nine percent of children play video games, and at least sixty percent of middle school boys have played one or more mature rated game. Some psychologists suggest that video games are positive- they are creating an alternate reality for adolescents to release their anger. However, studies have consistently proven that violent video games cause more aggressive behavior and, overall, are negatively affecting America’s youth. The debate whether or not video games are positive or negative has been a major controversy in the U.S. ever since Columbine, a tragic school shooting in 1999. News spread that one of the gunmen, Dylan Klebold, spent much of his time playing violent video games.
The boys told the investigators that they decided to go on a shooting spree after playing the video game Grand Theft Auto III. That particular game is one of the most popular games in which players can play missions that involve killing people or just play at random and go on shooting sprees. Although this game is far less violent and gory than other games, it does have enough influence to make two teens’ fire shots at their own family. The biggest factor to the video game violence is the fact that parents go out and buy these games without knowing that their child may be addicted to the game. If the chid is abusing the game it can become very addictive.
Aside from the extreme amount of time wasted, video games teach players questionable life lessons. They have the power to mold children into violent criminals and thieves. They have been shown to cause a player’s physical and mental health to deteriorate. Underneath the pixilated fun that video games attempt to portray, is a great underlying malevolence that harms society. Video games have a strong addictive power.
Teen Violence and Video Games As a teen, I would spend hours sitting in front of the television playing Space Invaders on the original Atari Game System and that was over thirty years ago. The games and graphics from the mid-eighties don’t compare to the high definition graphics and realistic game play of today’s game systems. However, because of their realistic graphics and game play, video games are being accused of distorting teen’s minds into not being able to distinguish reality from fantasy. This distortion of the mind is said to cause aggressive and violent behaviors in teens. In some cases, it was alleged to be the cause for the teen to kill.
Excessive playing of video game can cause violence, addiction, and poor academic performance in children. During the past years, the playing of video games was investigated to observe and analyze its negative impact on children. Violence, addiction and poor academic performance were determined as some of the negative effect of video games on children. Video games over the last 30 years have made an impact on the way children spend their leisure time, by keeping them from being bored, but also have caused children to develop violent skills the use to hurts the society. Many of today's video games, especially the ones that are suitable for young boys, focus their attention on
Many studies and statistics will back up both sides to this debate leaving the controversy still being debated. This paper will cover three articles that cover both sides to this debate as well as some statistics that will still not prove which side is correct. Video games such as shooting games that demonstrate violent behavior have been linked to many violent acts that teens and children have done. The Columbine high school shooting that took place in 1999 the victim’s families blamed video games for the acts of the shooters (Cate, 2013). Every bad experience or violent act that has been seen in the public somehow will get linked to violent video games causing the violent acts of the people that do the crimes.
According to Annalee Newitz, author of an article “Blame Game” in San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, dated 14th February 2002, there is a huge debate about whether or not video game violence is responsible for an increase in crime rate. Ms Newitz points out that the rate of violence in video games is very high in Japan yet the rate of crime is low. Why then are violent games are held responsible for increases in the crime rate in America? (Newitz, para 1). Henry