With the simple click of a remote control, children can virtually get involved in violent acts of shooting and killing. All of the violence in the media can have a negative effect on children, and impact them in many different ways. An example of violence in the media can be seen in video games. Video games were first introduced to us in the 1970s as a source of entertainment, but have taken a turn for the worse in recent years. "Today, most children play real-time, first-person shooter games in which the player views the world through the eyes of the video game character that they control" (Signorelli 2).
The first negative effect caused by exposure to violent video games is an increase in aggressive behavior of adolescents. “Young adolescents who play violent video games report frequent aggressive behavior, such as arguing with [others], getting involved in physical fights [and even committing crime]” (Gentile). For instance, a 17-year-old male shoots his parents after they take the game Halo 3 away from him. Another negative effect caused by exposure to violent video games is an increase in hostile biases of adolescents (Gentile). Guo 2 Take Call of Duty, a very popular first-person shooter video game in America, as an example.
The critics of video games demanded that stricter controls such as American gun control the media then swept up the story and labelled video games “murder simulators”. But time has shown us that the individuals in this massacre, and in other incidents of shooting sprees, the purpatrators were wither victims of abuse at the hands of adults, were mentally disturbed or were the victims of extensive alienation and abuse at the hands of their peers. I believe that these events could have been avoided with intervention from the school or the family who should have seen the degeneration in the persons attitudes. Critics claim that violence breeds violence. So why is it only video games that take the blame.
Violent Video Game Exposure Violent video games have become risky and harmful to children in today’s society because it increases aggressive behavior, affects their social life and increases laziness. Children today are playing many different kinds of violent video games that seem to have an impact on their behavior and mental abilities. Video games need to be restricted to the more mature age groups that can handle the aggression and entertainment held in games. If parents around the world limited their children’s time playing video games would it have a positive effect on them? Researchers have given that answer in their survey’s and facts that they have found.
The media revealed that the students played a lot of violent video games, including "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom," and "Mortal Kombat." (Howstuffworks.com) In today's ultra-violent media world, it appears there's plenty of blame to go around. There are documented cases on how they were high school shootings and that the teenagers who went on that rampage, played video games before they did the horrible act; But that is all that they said. No background about their physical health, or any physiological things that are in their mind. Those kids could have anger problems, schizophrenia, depression, ect.
Vulgar language is just one of many issues that are vulgar about violent video games. They teach children it’s accepted to swear at people when they get angry, or if they are just trying to help. Dr. Phil McCraw says "But they do use more aggressive language, they do use more aggressive images, they have less ability to control their anger and they externalize things in these violent ways. It's absolutely not good,” Instead of getting yelled at in the game kids from all over world are getting rewarded with trophies in the game for killing another person. “Exposure to violent video games increases the likelihood of aggressive behavior in both short-term and long-term contexts” says Daniel Willens.
Do Video Games Cause Violence? Video games have always had a bad reputation. Most of the bad effects blamed on video games are due to violence. It is thought that people who play violent video games are more likely to show increased aggression. Video games have been blamed for school shootings, bullying, and violence towards women.
Individuals entering the armed forces have to play certain video games to wear down their guard to killing other people. Games such as this are used to develop a person’s “will to kill” by doing the task over and over again until it feels natural to the individual.These types of games are often referred to as “murder simulators” (Grossman). The school shooting at Columbine High School also happened as a result of two boys playing a video game known as, Postal. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris were known gamers and on April 20, 1999, they decided to act out all the terrors they had been playing in their video games. The two boys murdered twelve students, one teacher, and injured 21 other people.
Many people wonder how this type of exposure to violence as an adolescent effects social behavior. The rise in violent shootings by teenagers, many of whom apparently play violent video games, is helping the argument that video game violence translates into real-world situations. But other people aren't convinced and insist that video games are a scapegoat for a shocking social trend that has people scared and looking to place blame. In modern popular game Golden Eye 007 bad guys no longer disappear in a cloud of smoke when killed. Instead they perform an elaborate maneuver when killed.
When children witness acts of violence from the media, they begin to believe that it is normal and so they begin to act upon the instances of violence and anger they witnessed. Videogames also play a large role in the manifestation of violent thoughts and behavior in children and young adults. Just like television, videogames desensitize the player of the game. Thus, violence within the media should be censored and monitored to prevent the decay and desensitization of the human race. To begin, throughout history studies have been conducted on the ability for children to retain information and how this is affected by certain factors.