Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression
Biology 202
2003 Second Web Paper
On Serendip
Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression
Grace Shin
There is a huge hype surrounding the launch of every new game system - Game Cube, XBox, and Sony Playstation 2 being just few of the latest. Affecting children age 4 all the way to 45 year-old adults, these video games have called for concern in our society regarding issues such as addiction, depression, and even aggression related to the playing of video games. A recent study of children in their early teens found that almost a third played video games daily, and that 7% played for at least 30 hours a week. (1) What is more, some of these games being played like Mortal Combat, Marvel Vs. Capcom, and Doom are very interactive in the violence of slaughtering the opponent. The video game industries even put signs like "Real-life violence" and "Violence level - not recommended for children under age of 12" on their box covers, arcade fronts, and even on the game CDs themselves.
In the modern popular game Goldeneye 007 bad guys no longer disappear in a cloud of smoke when killed. Instead they perform an elaborate maneuver when killed. For example, those shot in the neck fall to their knees and then face while clutching at their throats. Other games such as Unreal Tournament and Half-Life are gorier. In these games when characters get shot a large spray of blood covers the walls and floor near the character, and on the occasions when explosives are used, the characters burst into small but recognizable body parts. In spite of the violence, the violent video games are also the more popular games on the market. (2) When video games first came out, indeed they were addictive... however, there seems to be a strong correlation now between the violent nature of games these days and the aggressive tendencies in game players.
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an assault on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves. Although nothing is for certain as to why these boys did what they did, we do know that Harris and Klebold both enjoyed playing the bloody, shoot-'em-up video game Doom, a game licensed by the U.S. military to train soldiers to effectively kill. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which tracks Internet hate groups, found in its archives a copy of Harris' web site with a version of Doom. He had customized it so that there were two shooters, each with extra weapons and unlimited ammunition, and the other people in the game could not fight back. For a class project, Harris and Klebold made a videotape that was similar to their customized version of Doom. In the video, Harris and Klebold were dressed in trench coats, carried guns, and killed school athletes. They acted out their videotaped performance in real life less than a year later... (3)
Everyone deals with stress and frustrations differently. However when action is taken upon the frustration and stress, and the action is taken out in anger and aggression, the results may be very harmful to both the aggressor and the person being aggressed against, mentally, emotionally, and even physically. Aggression is action, i.e. attacking someone or a group with an intent to harm someone. It can be a verbal attack--insults, threats, sarcasm, or attributing nasty motives to them--or a physical punishment or restriction. Direct behavioral signs include being overly critical, fault finding, name-calling, accusing someone of having immoral or despicable traits or motives, nagging, whining, sarcasm, prejudice, and/or flashes of temper. (4) The crime and abuse rate in the United States has soared in the past decade. More and more children suffer from and are being treated for anger management than ever before. Now, one can't help but to wonder if these violent video games are even playing a slight part in the current statistics. I believe they do.
Calvert and Tan (5) compared the effects of playing versus observing violent video games on young adults' arousal levels, hostile feelings, and aggressive thoughts. Results indicated that college students who had played a violent virtual reality game had a higher heart rate, reported more dizziness and nausea, and exhibited more aggressive thoughts in a posttest than those who had played a nonviolent game do. A study by Irwin and Gross (6) sought to identify effects of playing an "aggressive" versus "nonaggressive" video game on second-grade boys identified as impulsive or reflective. Boys who had played the aggressive game, compared to those who had played the nonaggressive game, displayed more verbal and physical aggression to inanimate objects and playmates during a subsequent free play session. Moreover, these differences were not related to the boys' impulsive or reflective traits. Thirdly, Kirsh (7) also investigated the effects of playing a violent versus a nonviolent video game. After playing these games, third- and fourth-graders were asked questions about a hypothetical story. On three of six questions, the children who had played the violent game responded more negatively about the harmful actions of a story character than did the other children. These results suggest that playing violent video games may make children more likely to attribute hostile intentions to others.
In another study by Karen E. Dill, Ph.D. & Craig A. Anderson,
Ph.D., violent video games were considered to be more harmful in
increasing aggression than violent movies or television shows due to
their interactive and engrossing nature. (8)
The two studies showed that aggressive young men were especially
vulnerable to violent games and that even brief exposure to violent
games can temporarily increase aggressive behavior in all types of
participants.
The first study was conducted with 227 college students with aggressive
behavior records in the past and who completed a measure of trait
aggressiveness. They were also reported to have habits of playing video
games. It was found that students, who reported playing more violent
video games in junior and high school, engaged in more aggressive
behavior. In addition, the time spent playing video games in the past
were associated with lower academic grades in college, which is a
source of frustration for many students, a potential cause for anger
and aggression as discussed in the previous paragraph.
In the second study, 210 college students were allowed to play Wolfenstein 3D, an extremely violent game, or Myst, a nonviolent game. After a short time, it was found that the students who played the violent game punished an opponent for a longer period of time compared to the students who played the non violent game. Dr. Anderson concluded by saying, "Violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations. It the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts." Despite the fact that this study was for a short term effect, longer term effects are likely to be possible as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for the real-life conflict that may arise. (9)
The U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop once claimed that arcade and home video games are among the top three causes of family. Although there have been studies that have found video game violence to have little negative effects on their players, there are also many studies that have found a positive correlation between negative behavior, such as aggression, and video and computer game violence. Thus, in order to totally assess the effects of game violence on its users, the limiting conditions under which there are effects must be taken into account, which include age, gender, and class/level of education. (10) However, violent games do affect children, as the studies show, especially early teens, and I feel that there needs to be a stricter regulation regarding the availability of these games to young children.
References
2) Game Research Website, covering the art, the business, and the science of computer games.
3) American Psychological Association, Article on the main study discussed in this paper.
4) Mental Help Net, Psychological Self-Help. This site has a lot of interesting links to mental illnesses and just understanding personalities.
5) Calvert, Sandra L., & Tan, Siu-Lan. (1994). Impact of virtual reality on young adults' physiological arousal and aggressive thoughts: Interaction versus observation. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 15(1), 125-139. PS 527 971.
6) Irwin, A. Roland, & Gross, Alan M. (1995). Cognitive tempo, violent video games, and aggressive behavior in young boys. Journal of Family Violence, 10(3), 337-350.
7) Kirsh, Steven J. (1997, April). Seeing the world through "Mortal Kombat" colored glasses: Violent video games and hostile attribution bias. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, DC.
8) SelfhelpMagazine. Article under teen help. It is a great library of various mental disorders and personal growth topics!
9) American Psychological Association.
10) Internet Impact This paper is a collaborative essay consisting of research and policy recommendations on the impact of the Internet in society.
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Continuing conversation
(to contribute your own observations/thoughts, post in the Video Game Experiences Forum on Serendip) 06/21/2005, from a Reader on the Web According to an article in the New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/06-20-2005/city_life/tech/story/320762p-274211c.html), the latest controversial video game, “25 To Life,” is the most outrageous promotion of violence the game developers have pushed onto the market yet. It’s almost like a training simulator, preparing gamers to join gangs, murder policemen and use innocent civilians as human shields. Let the good times roll, eh? Shockingly enough, I’m a 22-year-old male who considers himself a casual gamer, which probably places me in most game developers’ targeted demographic. Still, I believe this sort of “entertainment” should be banned completely, not just from children. Why should anyone of any age delight in simulating gang activity, murder, theft and the like? Unfortunately Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stands as the only politician attempting to block “25 To Life” from hitting store shelves. If the Patriot Act brands people terrorists just for checking out certain books at the library, why are people who develop, purchase and play these types of games given a free pass? As a gamer, I know how serious games can become to certain individuals - especially young ones – and I believe allowing material such as “25 To Life” onto the market corrupts not only our children, but our society as a whole. Michael Ford Editor-in-Chief The Voice - http://www.uamont.edu/Organizations/TheVoice/
Ignarants is that in which you make of it don't blame Columbine on video games that is stupid they did it because the dudes girl friend broke up with him. Don't read the news they lie. The cop next door knew he was making pipe bombs and did nothing. you might as well blame 9/11 on video games to. come on people play the games if it makes you viloent your right if it doesn't the rest of the world told you so.......
I was reading your article entitled Video Games: A cause of Violence and Agression, I'm doing a research project of my own for a personal Essay but upon reading your article I noticed somthing. In paragraph four you state "THe crime and abuse rate in the United States has soared in the past decade." Well, I'm sorry to say this information is faulty. The case of Violent Crime Rates has dropped significantly. According to the U.S Department of Justice, Bureau of statistics, the crime rate has dropped by more then half from 1995 to 2004. You can see all this for youself at: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/viort.htm . I'm a gamer myself, and a bit tired of seeing these "Video games make you a killer" stories. This isn't a threat against you or yours, it's merely a response asking people to do some research from all angles before stating that something is a certain way. Sincerely,
In the article titled "Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression," the study that was sited left me feeling a little confused. The players that played "Wolfenstein 3D" were said to have "punished an opponent for a longer period of time compared to the students who played the non violent game." What exactly is meant by that? In "Myst" there are no opponents, and it is not a competitive game. Competitive events, in any form, have a tendency to cause a bit of agression between people, as that is the nature of competetion.
This article is very wrong in alot of places. First off, I would like to say that I am an avid "gamer," devoting a sizeable amount of my life to playing them. But, more importantly, I will be getting into the video game industry, hopefully starting my own company eventually, and succeeding in this million-dollar industry. But more than I play games, I edit them. The sequel to Half-Life (in which all humans retain their body parts), Half-Life 2, comes with a program called "Source SDK," which allows gamers like me to open up and edit the engine that they slaved over for moths to bring us, allowing us to make maps (or levels), characters, objects, even editing the game itself. I spend easily three times the time I play the actual game editing it and making things happen, which is the beauty of it. On your statement about how crime and violence has soared in numbers in the U.S. as of late, this is not a true statement, be it purposefully or a fault of poor research. Violent crimes, carjackings, and others have drastically DROPPED since 1975. I suggest you read the letter Steven Johnston sent to Sen. Hilary Clinton about her attack on violent games. But, as I doubt you will read it, I'll tell you the main points: First off, isn't it possible that kids that would normally be out commiting violent crimes or joyriding are getting their fill from argueably the most violent and inappropriate game of our time, the Grand Theft Auto series? Recent studies have shown that games work as a stress-reliever, allowing you to let out your anger or stress in a realistic but harmless way. Second, when people say that our generation of people (I'm 16 years old) is being raised to be unintelligent, violent, untrusting people, they need to look up on the recent statistics: SAT scores have never been higher, especially now. I'm not saying that there aren't a handful of kids out there who take a little too much from violent games and other forms of entertainment (my brother happens to have an anger disorder), but I am saying that if you even think that your kid may take the game a little too seriously, start smaller and work your way up. Taking violent games off the market completely is not the answer. After all, why should the sane, intelligent, or sound kids have to pay for a parent not saying "No" in the first place?
Dear Grace Shin, As a result of reading over my previous e-mail, i'd like to appologize for my use of unnecesary comments. But that doesnt mean that my original views have changed. The original response that was written, was done so in the heat of reading a "finger pointing" article such as the one you wrote. The most blatantly offensive comment that you made, was the tie between the video game 'Doom' and the Columbine trajedy. It is comments like these that are extremely offensive to anyone who is a fan of gaming in general. I am a teenager, who attends a public high school. I enjoy playing video games, and i must admit that most of them are violent. I play these games on a weekly basis, but to this day i haven't commited a single act of violence in a school building. The same holds true with my friends, and many people like my friends across the country. This means that the children who have commited acts of violence and blamed their actions on video games, have other mental illnesses that stir these thoughts. Depression, anger issues and a myriad of other problems would be enough to distort a child's view of the difference between reality and video games. A popular arguement used to counter the arguement i just made, is the scanning of the brain during game play. In tests conducted by various medical institutes across the nation, brain scan images have been captured during game-play. The images are conclusive, and show red blips in the frontal lobes of the brain (areas that control emotions, such as anger). These results shouldnt be shocking, but very obvious. Video games are stimulating. Their purpose and intent is to involve you. If a person is involved in a game, he/she will begin to react to events inside the game, as if they were real life events. Fairly simple, but not enough to prove that video games cause children to become more violent. The way to answer this question would be to observe children's behavior after playing games. The results would aslo be conclusive. Video games DO NOT cause children to commit acts of violence. Columbines' dont happen every day, and thank god they don't. They are rare occurances in our country, despite all of the media hype over the situations. If video games had a negatice affect on children, horrible examples of school-yard violence would appear on our television screens every night, considering that msot youth in america play video games. As a final note, if you search any major database sites, looking for information on this same subject, chances are that you will find line graphs that have been compiled by different government associasions, fcc, etc. etc. The information shows a very steady and gradual dive in violence across the nation, even after the release of video games such as Grand Theft Auto.
You cannot generalize the few finds you have to "empirical facts". First of all, video games are not all violent. Second, there are researches that prove otherwise. Third, there are so many fallacies, I do not even bother to list them (appeal to authority, emotion, etc.) Overall argument is incoherent. Fails to even mention the possibility of being wrong.
I think its ridiculous that so many people are going around and pointing the finger at things that are violent and negative towards kids. Its only a way of having fun. Only those few individuals take it to far and commite acts of violence toward people, and society, and they ruin it for the rest of us. Not everyone that plays video games is a violent person they merely enjoy those types of games like my self for example. I personally am not a voilent person and take offense to the fact that if u play video games you are labeled violent. Sincerly, RB
As a gamer I know that certain people take there video games too seriously. However, video games themselves are not to blame for violence. The highest population of gamers is younger people, and younger people are usually living at home. This is where parenting comes in. A parent should watch there children, monitor there game play, and note any variances in there childrens actions. Some people cannot decipher fantasy from reality, and these should people not play games that involve violence. I have played video games for many, many years. I have not yet comitted a violent crime, nor have I attacked anyone. Why? Simply because I know that these things are wrong in real life. My parents monitored me, and did not let me play overly-violent games at a young age. Good parenting is the key.
I was reading your article and I'm sorry, but I disagree with you on some things. I'm 17 years old and a gamer myself. I own some gory games like the Silent Hill games, Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater, God of War, HALO, HALO 2, and so on. I'm currently writing a paper myself about teens and violent games and I firmmly believe it isn't the video game that triggers teen violence, it depends on the individual. I've played these violent games since I was 11 or 12 years old and I'm not affected by them. I have a strong sense between fantasy and reality and some other teens do too. Don't judge us all because a portion of us have minds like sponges and suck everything they see. Not only video games, MTV and the media along with rap songs also corrupt our young generation. Look at those too, because they're the ones that cause the most damage. By encouraging pre-marital sex, abortion, drug use, and corruption in a person's being by being "cool". But no, not a lot of people look at those. It is true that games can be addicting but not every single teenager has the same brain. Study those who aren't affected, then you'll see it too. Adults can stop teen violence other ways like better parenting. Because this corrupted society needs it.
I am writing a paper concerning violence in video games and how easy kids are able to get there hands on them. It is unbelievable what games that kids at the age of tweleve can get there hands on. once when i was babing sitting the kids had a friend over and there friend had Grand theft Auto: San Andras with him. i was shocked for the first part that his parents would allow him to play such game. he had saved game file on which he had played for many 20 hours. That was kid that was under 10. I thought why in the world would you allow your kids to play a such game. one problem with it is that game like GTA and others never really so some of the peprecuctions of murdering someone of killing them. If look that most gamers that are over the age of 18. under 50% of them play games that are rated M. That says that most of people playing games that are rated M are below age 18 not even legal to buy them. The government need to come out with laws simlar to laws they have with Alcohol or Cigerettes. The giving to minors is illegal.
Interesting analysis on the societal impact of violent games. I do, however, take issue with the statement regarding the military using Doom to train soldiers how to "effectively kill". According to the official MCMSMO document 1500.55, the use of Marine Doom and other first-person shooter video games is to "implement military thinking and decision making excercises throughout the marine corps." The assertion that the military uses a video game to train soldiers how to kill is misleading in that it may lead readers to believe that these games are so real that the best fighting force on the planet is using it to train. You don't learn how to kill from a keyboard and mouse. You either are someone who has the ability to kill, or you're not. Lack of parenting and a lack of understading of what is right and wrong is to blame, not video games.
Your idealalidgy on the violence in video games affeting people is flawed. I am a violent video game player and yet my family has told me themselves that have noticed a change in my temper or personality. I've played violent video game for half my life. And the Columbine shootings I belive that they were provoced to do to extrem bullying.
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i'm a more than average gamer.. i probably play about 10+ hours a day. and about 100% of the games i play are violent, and i used to live in an area that was really rough and there were fights and arguments all the time. except i never shot anyone or drove my truck over people. cause violent cideo games dont make people into pyscho's... people 'choose' to hurt other people... videogames dont force people to pull the trigger. and since i was raised by a single parent, tv and games helped raise me.
actually i think video games kept me outta trouble... if i didnt have a video-game to play i'd probably be getting stoned or smoking crack right now.. or in jail. i think the government needs to crack down on illegal drugs and on finding cure's for diseases... why the hell would you spend 90 million dollars to start research on the effect of media on children ... Reader on the web, 14 March 2006
i believe that although you present a good argument about how games MIGHT affect a child's brain and personality, but, you must realize this. if you TRULY believe that video games cause violence, then how would you be able to explain Hitler? how about Napoleaon? Or even the terrorists that many of our youth's games depict today? i highly doubt that any of the insurgents are playing any violent games right now. nor, i doubt, even the Children of iraq and afghanistan, yet studies show that 1 out of 3 children in those countries know how to shoot and kill U.S soldiers. thank you for your time and please take this to heart before writing any thing that might be untrue ... Reader on the web, 20 April 2006
I play violent video games and my family has yet to say I am more aggresive in personality. But you still have a point since i'm me and the people who are influenced to kill by video games are them. The point is that all you have to do is to not become obsessed with games that have lots of gore ... Decoy, 20 August 2006
I love playing video games on my game console, and spend plenty of hours perched in front of the tv. Yet even i have to acknowledge that games can, and do cause violence. When you have games that are so graphic, that had they been put in a movie sequence their rating would be "x", then i think that you have gone to far. Life like graphics are cool, and i myself love to play "life like" games were the enemies and characters could almost be standing beside you. However, when you go around in a game killing these life like people, you enevitably desensitize yourself. There is a mark where you have gone too far, and i believe that we are crossing it over and over again ... Rae, 18 December 2006
Well. I ccame here looking for statistics but instead found a lot of interesting comments.
Playing video games doesn't make you violent. Human nature and suceptibility does. Violence is a "learned" behavior not substantialy (as of yet but to be determined) an inherent behavior.
If thats not in the report or whatever up there, then it needs to be acknoledged. The point a LOT of people gloss over is that its not a matter of \"being\" violent so much as being impressionable. Although gaming related violence research HAS shown there to be a strong coorelation between agressive behaviour and post-gaming violent behavior, there is a distinct lack of longitudinal research.
Also there are two main aspects to clinical study Arousel, and then the actual comission of the act. Arousel has been shown to have almost no bearing on the actual act due to the fact that observe violent behavior has not occured directly after the moment of arousel.
In other words, just because you enjoy the violent activity of a game, doesn't mean you ARE violent at all OR because of the game. What is being studied is that statistical occurance of agressive behavior in people with prolonged exposure to violent games.
If you've played video games you know that 1. Some games are violent. 2. Some aren't.
I noticed some of you have acknowledged the "competative" nature of video games. This learned sense of competition is fine but is not to be associated with "agressive behavior" there is a distinct line between number of goals and number of frags. The issue is the Violence, not the the rules.
In summary I say to all who worry about being accused of being "violent": Don't sweat it and don't get your hackles raised. The debate is over the usual badd apples, or kids who didn't and thus still do't, have the right behavioral reinforcement. Ideal preventive measures start from birth, but practicly are documented to be administered from age 8 and continue through adolescence.
To put it in a lay manner: Its because of the tools, that our favorite games are being attacked. And as an afterthought. The group who were studied playing the game "Myst"(if that was the case) was most likely a control group or a "backlight" group to help identify the differences between violent games and games in general, OR violence free games ... W. Caudill, 16 February 2007
I, for one, am one of the many teens that play violent video games. And, i do beleive that cause aggrivation to sprout betweent to people versing each other. Also that MMORPG's cause people to have a sense of connection to their character, making them rather play, for instance, World of Warcraft than doing academic work. Plus when parents are trying to get their teen children off a game they tend to be rather aggresive torwards the parents and are moody for ahwile. Thus i do beleive that video games are a cause of violence but it's not entirely the kids fault, the parents are the one that beleive there kids are able to handle it and don't think there "Little Angels" can handle it. Well i have news for those parents, " Watch the violence in the games you get your children and i can gaurentee you will change you mind about letting them play rated M games!" ... Reader on the Web, 18 March 2007
First of all I believe that your study is incredibly flawed, and the only conclusion that can be made from it (Myst has less opponents than Wolfenstein)has NOTHING to do with the original arguement. The arguments concerning the "Doom used as a training tool" and Wolfstein vs. Myst are completely misleading and efected in all ways by your bias opinion. Also, your connection with the shootings to videogames is only a coincedence, in that it may have nothing to do with the shootings ... Joey, 1 May 2007
On Your paper Video Games: A Cause of Violence and Aggression, i have to say this. I'm an avid gamer myself, and, though I cannot speak for everyone,I,nor anyone I play with has any problems with agression. sure games can be addicting, as well as extremely violent but in many cases I feel much less agressive after playing games like HALO and DOOM. As for Cases like Cho and the colombine shooters, if you know that you or someone close to you could be a sociopath or homicidal, they shouldn't be near games like these anyway. However, Ms. Shin, i do agree that some games are too violent. games like the GTA series and 25 to Life strongly suggest that killing innocent people and Authority figures are perfectly ok. This is completely and totally wrong, and needs more backing. My final coment to everyone, game-manufacturers especially, WATCH WHAT IS IN THESE GAMES, if we con tinue this way, our worst fears may be realized ... Tyler Hale, 3 December 2007
You Fail! Some video games are violent by nature. If you were to tell the story of World War II without violence and death, it becomes totally uninteresting. Much of the violence in games comes from the story, like Halo puts the player into the shoes of a soldier in the Marines! Also, the armed forces of the United States developed their own training game. It was then repackaged and TONED DOWN for the public, but does that train people to kill? NO. Why does propaganda seem to always be excluded? ... Greg, 4 December 2007
Video games
I'm an avid 16 year old gamer. Sure you can 'cop' out and blame every violent act you witness and hear on video games, But you're just making yourself blind to real matter. Kids who end up shooting up a school or killing someone have serious pyschologicl issues that can't even begin to be blamed on something as minuite as video games. You have to take into consideration thier home life and social interaction.
I won't say though that violence in video games won't desentisize you, because I personally believe it does. But anything you witness that is considered violence will desentisize, not just video games.
I believe video games can be used as a very good learning tool also.
This is not the case with
This is not the case with every video game user, i think on the moral front the responsibility has to be taken by the parents to check the timings when children's are sticking to the video game or else also to check the types of games they are playing,like war games and fighting games among the kids are very popular.but also there are some strategy games which helps their mental development.
violent video games do not caused violence
i am a 17 and i have been playing violent video games since i was 2 and i am not violent. First of all in the beginning, the main reason why (probably) they killed many people and then themselves is probably so they can become famous. In order to be violent and act out something in a video game, they first must have that idea in their head. Then they go out, buy a violent video game, play it, study it, then act it out. Then video game it self did not cause them to become violent! Also i know several investigators (5 to be exact) that play HALO a video game that involves shooting other players and is under the catagory as violent and they are not violent at all. They have never killed any body in their whole life and i should know b/c i asked. Also if you have researched anything in ur whole life you would see that since the first violent video games came out, violent crimes have gone down. People that go out and act out a video games in real life just want fame. People are just blaming video games b/c deep down inside they were already violent, even before they got the game!
Video Games and Violence
I work at a well known video game store and I can tell you straight up that your generalization of video gamers being violent is wrong. I've yet to meet single person who is violent in that store. I am a gamer myself and I play Halo, Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead, No More Heroes, and other such "violent" games. These people that go crazy and kill others, steal things, and even decide to burn down buildings cannot be blamed on video game violence. If you cannot tell the difference between a video game and reality then you have a mental illness that needs to be solved. These people point their fingers towards video games yet more than 72% of Americans play video games and you don't see them out on the street killing and maiming people. Parents and the media are just blaming video games for the violence that might occur in children because parents are lacking these days in parenting skills. Kids can't be spanked because that is abuse, if they are put in timeout it is neglect, and if they go to bed without supper you better bet that the parent is going to get in trouble. Society puts unfair restrictions on parenting and then expects the children to be perfect. And when it all goes downhill who is to blame? The video games that the parent's couldn't refuse their children because their kids would throw a fit and there was nothing they could do to stop them. People need to see that violence isn't caused by video games. After all people didn't play video games in WWII, and when was the last time you saw a mob boss play a video game? I'm sure as hell Hitler never played! But these are some of the most violent people the world has ever seen...how did they get this way? One thing is for sure...it wasn't video games.
Come on
Don't be biased. Don't have any pre-conceived opinion before you read my comment. You are undecided right now on this topic. Those people killed a lot of innocent kids in Columbine. Hitler killed 6,000,000 innocent jews. Some people are insane. Video games have no effect of that. The shooter from Columbine played video games. I play video games. He shot people. I won't. Done.
video games a cause of violence and agresion
I am a 18 year old girl and I have ben playing video games since I was a little kid around 5 or 6. my mental stability is just fine, infact i am going to coledge to be a "shrink", and what i have found is that if a person allredy has a mental illness then a violent video game could be the thing that pushes them over the edge or helps them plan out their violent act. BUT if the video game didnt push them that last mile it would be somthing elce. trust me i know a lot of crazy people. violent video games dont turn a normal kid into pysco killers you have to look at all the contributing factors. i.e. do they have a good home life, wer they abused, are they prone to violence, wer they tought good values, ect. you get the point, i just wish "educated" people (being sarcastic there guys) would stop pointing theyr fingers a video games for the dumb things stupid pysco people do. its not just the game industrys that get the bable its us gamers too. some people are saying things like "oh she plays video game, dont let jimmy hang out with her he could get hert". i don't know about you guys but that just rubs me the wrong way. but i'll sut up now thanks.
p.s most of the spelling and gramer wazz on purpose.(big Smiles)
i agree with this
i agree that video games do cause violence but i also agree that bad parenting is also a worse case of violence. i have played video games before and that last couple of times i have played i got into trouble after playing. the times i didn't get into trouble then i regretted playing the video game cuz to me it felt like i just wasted all that time playing a video game and that i could have done something more productive with my time. i know playing video games is fun because i've played them before. i am also doing a research paper on video games. not necessarily the violence video games cause but also some other things that video games cause. the few things that i found that video games cause are seizures, headaches, and brain damage were the most common causes from playing video games. when you read this you might think whatever but my own cousin has gotten a seizure from playing video games. even if playing video games doesn't effect you enough for you to notice doesn't mean its not effecting you. video games can effect you in more ways then just violence. the most common effect from video games especially the newer ones are headaches. so all you video gamers out there that read this just think and i'll bet that when you play video games then around atleast half the time you get a head ache and for alot of you probably even more then half.
i hope you keep this in mind and it makes you at least not play video games as much.
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES MY SCHOOL PROJECT
WELL I THINK
THAT SINCE VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES HAVE SUCH AN EFFECT
ON MINORS AND TEENAGERS
HOW BOUT THE PARENTS DONT BUY THEM TYPE OF GAMES FOR THEIR CHILDREN
DONT PEOPLE THINK THAT
THE REASON PEOPLE MAKE VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES
BECAUSE THEY WERE INFLUENCED BY WHAT IS ALREADY HAPPENING OUT IN THE WORLD
THEY HAD TO GET THE IDEA FROM SOMEWHERE
SO I BLAME IT ON THE PARENTS
wrong
im sorry but video games never cause violence, ever! columbine had nothing to do with video games. just because they acted it out in a short film about doom does not mean video games are the cause of their actions. they amde that video because they liked violence, killing had an appeal to them, and doom had that violence, so naturally they were drawn to it. you may be thinking this is a bad thing, but it is not. doom was completely unrelated in the killings. first off they were pretending to be part of the matrix, and secondly they were killing the people that had tormented them their entire lives. they were killing the people that had put them down, the people that had picked on them, and the people that had hurt them. you want to know the cause of violence? it is people like you. people that are scared of things they dont understand. people that blame these things for all their problems. how do you think wars are started? people being afraid of other cultures, being uncomfortable with them, and misunderstanding their actions. how do you think the holocaust happened? people misunderstood the jews, they blamed the jews for their social problems, using singular examples to portray all jews as evil and corrupt. dont say that this is differant because it isnt. it is exactly the same thing. this is whats happening to gays right now. people dont understand them and are thus afraid of them, denying them the same rights as ordinary people in EXACTLY the same way as rights were denied to black people, even right down to marriage. to me, when people say video games cause violence it is like they are saying jews are evil or blacks shouldnt be allowed to marry whites, and i have feelings no less strong about it.
I think that these video
I think that these video games are up to the consumer and that there are some cases where people will become attached to video games because they have a mental issue or problem and will then use video games as a way to vent their anxiety around them. I am personally someone that plays a lot of video games and my personal favorite is Counterstrike, where your objective is to kill terrorists or counterterorists. In the end education will allow someone to make a better descision and it may not be the best one all the time but it will make things a lot better for everyone.
Blame game?
It seems that people always need to put the blame on something for violence.
Sure, there are statistics proving that there are increased levels of agression in gamers, but there are also statistics proving that violence has dropped since the 90's and other statistics against the links of violence and games. In my opinion, it all depends on the people. I'm a gamer and i do like playing violent games (the first game i go to play in an arcade after DDR is House of the Dead or Time Crisis). I play games such as Halo, Call of Duty, Persona, and No More Heroes. But that doesn't make me a violent person. It depends on if the person knows the limits of reality and the game and if they decide to act negatively upon the violence they've witnessed. And for the people that blame the industry...thats why they make ratings. If kids choose to buy games they shouldnt play, then fine. Don't start attacking the industry. The parents should stop their children from buying or playing these games if they feel so strongly.
As an avid gamer and someone who wants to get into the industry, i'd have to say that video games dont cause violence because they're stress relief for people. They help as a release for some anger. Heck, if I have a bad day, I'll turn on my PS2 and play Koei's Dynasty Warriors for a couple hours to release any stress i have.
I have read through both sides of the story, don't take me wrong. I'm doing a report on this subject for my theology class. These are just my views as stated on facts from my life and from the different facts i've read through.
the unbiased truth
im not going to say that video games are completely responsible for the large scale and often horrendous violence seen in society.BUT to be fair, one must notice that it has to take some of the blame, firstly behaviour is not inherited but can only be learned, this is why children are susceptible to any and everything. It is beyond me why anyone would want to recreate violence on such a scale and be condoned by the general public but when these acts happen in the "real world" are appalled and disgusted and wondering how something so gruesome could be carried out?
Humans are flawed beings and subject to creating flawed inventions (however well intentioned they are), is it enough to sit back and say there's not enough conclusive evidence to prove that they are somewhat responsible so i will wait until something horrible does happen to do something? how many more children do you wish to see in prison before proper legislatives are put in place to correct the issue.
do some of you know that some of these games aren't just created but are engineered to trigger endorphins in the brain to make them more addictive, and the more addicted one gets to something,the more one idolizes it (and protect it if it is threatened,like the teenaged boy who killed his parents because they took away his Xbox).Many of you would say that there are plenty of non-violent games out there but they aren't the ones that receive the huge amounts of media coverage or the money fueled by million dollar corporations.
again i must reiterate that im not saying that video games are the completely and utterly responsible, i'm saying that many of us need to wake up and realise that this invention isn't so innocent either.
all games
The games DO NOT CAUSE VIOLENCE.It is complete boredom that these kids cause trouble and their PARENTS have not given them the time of day to show them things that they could do positively---like video games.All of my children have pretty good grades in school-AB students.And all of them play the video games.It does not create them to do violence, it lets them get the aggression out in a positive way.And most of all it is fun to them.And best of all I know where they are.At home safe and sound.Millions of people are playing these games,but you dont see millions out there killing and hurting others--unless theyre in the military.Condoned by our government.If my 7 yr old wants to play violent video games Im going to let him.Its not shame on the parents for condoning violence-it should be shameful to the government to promote and cause violence.And lets not forget the gun makers shame on them too.
Violence caused by the GAME? Really?
I find it very disheartening that people still have failed to realize that a game by itself cannot cause someone to go out and attack or even kill someone. Furthermore, most of the cases involving adolescents or children in violent activities have on been linked to video games because those who are responsible for that child cannot comprehend that either they have made a mistake in raising their child or the child had some pre-existing mental condition. This entire controversy requires people to sit down and analytically process it.
Here is a scenario:
You have just finished playing DOOM. Yes the game was gory you killed many many zombies. Blood went everywhere and it was so fun! Then you come to the conclusion hey this would be fun to do in real life! Maybe I'll go try killing someone tomorrow at school.
Now think about this logically. You are a normal person, you have no mental conditions and play video games for entertainment or to escape from your boring everyday routine. After playing a violent game or watching a violent movie, do you ever get the urge to go kill or violent attack someone? No, This is because you are normal and have no pre-existing conditions you understand that the game if fictional and nothing in the game can happen in real life. You understand the law and know that if you violate it you will be punished and you are HUMAN meaning you cannot just kill someone unless you are in a very desprate or life threatening situation. If it was true that video games cause people to become more violent then why don't we have millions of people running around attack and killing for fun? because normal people don't have the pre-existing conditions the neccessary components to trigger this type of reaction. Simply put, Games are tools for entertainment, we buy them, we use them. Games do NOT have enough influence on the human mind to cause them to lose touch with reality unless they already had a condition that was agrevated by gaming.
First off, this is why
First off, this is why we have rating on games. If it is rated M, it is not supposed to be played by kids under the age of 17. SO why the fuck are we testing second graders. Fuck, I didn't even know how to play video games that young. Also, the case of the students in Columbine is just a bad case. They had a mental issue, which caused their attack. It wasn't Doom, or anything else. Should we look at all the shit they did and ban that too? They brushed their teeth? Hmm... maybe that's a sign of a killer then, right? Don't be stupid. Movies have ratings, and you wouldn't let a second grader watch a porno, now would you? Be REALISTIC.
I agree
about 75% of my games are first-person shooter, yet i kept my gpa a range of 3.9
Not true..... I have like 50
Not true.....
I have like 50 violent games and im a straight a student and im no violent....
its bad kno one deserves to
its bad kno one deserves to die over a 17 month old girl knocking over a controller.. and than killing your 17 month old daughter... i think they should abanned it.. the violence in video games.
?
what are you talking about?
I'm doing a research paper
I'm doing a research paper on video games and i'v found that it depends on what game your playing and how mature you are.
Video games do not promote violence...
I do not agree that video games cause violence because for one, if your old enough and are playing games like halo 3, killzone 2, or world of warcraft then you should know better that what takes place in games like these do not happen in real life, sure some people may think they do but in my opinion there is something wrong with that person, maybe a sickness. I am aware that kids under the age of the recommended age play these games; I meet them on xbox live all the time, but I blame the parents who buy these games for kids under the age. Sure the parents are not in control of the child's actions but still, read the rating before you buy the game. As far as the one guy who thought he was playing halo during laser tag and thought he was hitting the "B" button for bashed and bashed his friend, that guy needs to take a long long break from halo cause that is way too much halo play.
yall crazy
yall is crazy now i thoink that video games is sumtimes the reason why kidds are badd
Video games dont promote violence
they dont they are stress releivers!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i have yet to go on a killing spree and i play Halo 3 Grand Theft Auto 4 have i killed anyone no....
sooo true
hahahaha this is oo true. my friend had been playing halo 3 every day for a month straight. later when he went to laser quest with a group of friends he somehow bashed one them because he was so used to it. also there was this thing i read in the news about 2 kids who were playing a racing game and then went outside to streetrace and hit a taxi and killed the driver.
I have read many journals
I have read many journals and internet sites, etc. on this argument and not that the argument itself isn't important-I'm doing my research paper on it-but what is with all the terrible grammar? That just drives me insane. I know people are busy but just take the extra second and check your spelling and grammar. By the way I am fifteen and no one I know has become violent after playing violent games but my argument is that they do. Constant day after day playing will eventually desensitize you to all the blood and gore, leading you (by you I mean the player) to believe that such actions are A. The games fault, B. Acceptable, or C. Not Inappropriate. So my generalized theory in all of this is "It makes crazy people crazier." That is totally my quote and if you (the reader) want to use it in your revolutionary paper that proves that video games have an effect of unstable people then be my guest, just reference me. (Kleszewski)
I do not believe that video
I do not believe that video games cause violence. Although it does cause frustration i would never want to harm anyone. Plus, if i throw the remote on the floor(which i almost never do anyway) i would be angry with myself and not with someone else. Video games are there so that you can learn how to control your anger and learn from your mistakes. Maybe parents should not leave their children with games such as GTA, thats true. However, whats important is that the child is aware of where their limits reach in the real world.
I Hope it occurs to everyone that video games are only there to entertain us and not for anything else. Acts of violence are commited by his or her own will and not by the daily interactions with video games.
P.S written by a 14 year old.
Bart
It like this im a naturally
It like this im a naturally violent person so i play video games to avoid getting in trouble in real life and it works. just like as how i teenager am also a horny person i do not just go out and rape chicks despite the fact i could i just masturbate. being a human means thinking about your situation then coming for ways to get around it hence we develop.
i agree with u im doing a
i agree with u im doing a project on it and i know a lot of close bffl's of mine slowly becoming monsters i really miss how they were before i just wish that people never invented video games..........im not a gamer and my parents dont allow me to play much even though their nonviolent i know there just doing it for my health and yeah....well i love your website well TTFN bye!!!!!
This is for all the people
This is for all the people who think GTA is nothing but violence and evil and may hasten the end of the world . lol
1. I'm almost certain that most of you have never even been in a room while another person plays it ( much less play it yourselves ).
2. I'm also almost certain that 90% of what people say about it is just repetitions of what others have said.
3. I AM certain that I have never saw anyone mention the fact that possible sources of income in that extremely evil video game world includes : being a paramedic (getting people to hospital before they bleed to death) putting out fires before people burn to death . You can also drive people around in a taxi and be a vigilante. I know the vigilante part would actually be illegal but maybe its less evil to kill fake criminals than it is to kill fake civilians ...who knows??
First,I must say that I love
First,I must say that I love to play video games both violent and nonviolent.
Now on to the fun part. Let's pretend for a second that all the people that have blamed music, movies, and games for violent acts were actually telling the truth." The game made me do it!!!" etc.
Well ok then lets ban all of it..... or we could just burn it all ( I've heard that works really well on books also)
Okay, all the bad things are gone , right??? No!
Give it time and there will be another kid going to school and killing other kids. So, what is it going to be this time?? " The toaster made me do it.." Hey why not a microwave.
No, it was the neighbor's dog..( For those of you who remember the Son of Sam)
Back to reality.... The stuff about Doom being a form of training for Marines made me laugh a bit. I am not sure about the PC version but the one i have for playstation has auto-aim always turned on..I Really hope it does train Marines so well that they don't have to aim at all .
I have to wonder.....
I have to wonder, sometimes, if the people who write papers such as this have ever even picked up a controller. I used to have major anger management issues. When I started playing video games, they helped me vent this anger in a positive way, rather than invoking violent acts on living beings. I am now a more stable person, calmer and less snippy than I used to be- because when I get angry, I simply sit down and play a fighting game, or something similar. In a way, playing violent video games is not so different from taking martial arts to calm your mind- yet another thing I practice.
For those of you who worry for the innocent minds of children, as many have stated before me, it is up to a parent to decide if their child is mature enough to handle a violent game- that is why games have a rating system. If you don't let your child watch an R rated film, don't let them pick up an M rated game. It is that simple. In all honesty, most of the cartoons children are raised on- especially these days- are worse than many of the games they play. Maybe parents should monitor the shows their children watch on Saturday mornings before they judge video games. And perhaps those who have never played before should stop their senseless, harsh judgement, and pick up a controller- then watch as their stress melts away.
Come on it's true!
yah know what who cares about what you haters say. I believe that it causes violence and since when is it okay to watch people die, or kill people electronically or not it still sends the message that violent acts are okay and that It's fun and a game to kill. So you guys who say "yeah I'm not violent, but I've played this since .... years" you guys have issues.
you are the one who cant
you are the one who cant dechipher the video from the game you need to stop being he "hater" and stop pointing fingers at something that is taking the blame for bad parenting get over it
-sigh-
Look, just because you can be easily influenced to go kill people by playing them, doesn't mean I can.
I'm only 14 and I have more sense than some of these people..I have been playing violent games for a while, but that did't make me more violent. I have anger management issues, but not because of video games.
Maybe you should be a good parent and NOT buy violent games for your children instead of complaining about them.
video games truely are a disaster waiting to happen
wanting to say that i am a former player of video games but i don't play them anymore because i realize that they are terrible for you not to mention when i was playin them no one could bother me cause i was so addicted to them and i just never ever stoppped playing them, i always had a really bad attitude towards other people when i played them and even when i wasn't in the middle of a game i always had such a bad attitude no one can imagine just how bad it was. if anyone out there belives me then that right there tells you how bad video games truely are!!!!!!!
Correlation does not equal causation!!!
It seems like every time there is violence and aggression linked to video games, the studies always have low significance. Again, correlation does equal causation. So if there is increased aggression detected by fMRI after playing/watching a violent video game, it doesn't mean that the person was innately violent. It just means that the aggression/violence areas are activated. The same effect of brain activation would occur if the person watched a violent movie and is a pacifist. Another example of this would be seeing people playing an aggressive sport like hockey or football.
Are violent games really harmful to society?
Any argument about violence in video games causing violent behavior in children is purely a faulty causality. There are many people (including myself) who play violent video games and have not had nor shown any violent tendencies in public or at home. One question I would like to know is: are violent games making kids violent, or are kids whom already show violent behavior drawn to violent video games? You want to research something? Research that.
In addition, there are also many other people who play violent games for sheer, mindless entertainment. There are others who would prefer to use violent video games as a way of expressing anger or releasing their frustration (like my brother for example).
And linking such a horrid event like Columbine to being caused by a video game is absolutely absurd and fallacious. Those two were "mentally unbalanced" before they went around shooting their classmates. There were also many other contributing factors, like bullying and such.
Understand that I am not saying that violent games are necessarily "good" for society, I am merely pointing out there is no cold hard evidence that suggests that violent games cause violent behavior and are harmful to society, no matter how many researches are conducted. I do not believe that 8 year-olds should go around playing games like Call of Duty, Halo, and Half-Life, but I highly doubt that playing such games will turn them into psychopathic serial killers.
Another truth about this topic however, is that all arguments and comments made about such a controversial topic are all biased in some way or another. For example, a mother of two young children will have a very different argument to present than mine; one of the reasons being she wouldn't want her children playing such games.
In short, any argument being made to directly link a violent game to causing younger kids in society to act violently is undeniably fallacious. I encourage the next person who makes an argument on this topic to look at both sides and try to be as unbiased as possible, and to avoid turning their case into a big fallacy.
although video games do
although video games do teach kids some form of violence, ive been playing video games for years and ive turned out alright. if the parents buy their 6 yr old kid GTA4 he'll know violence and probanly commit crimes, not because of video games but because his parents are F@**K&%# idiots!!
im addicted
ok i play a lot of video games like runescape.com halo 3 call of duty4 and stuff like that are parshally violent but yet i've never like got into a huge fight or punched someone in the face or freaked out into a tantrum and im like 12 so video games dont cause violence realy at all, if u dont believe me then u can try for yourself....!
im guessing that this is probly jsut a way to get out of work
the news just blames video games for violence did they even check to see if the members of there famly where the same way or if they even had a godd family?
they might have jsut blamed video games so they dident have to do that much of reaserch and dig around for information on their family
I usto be a little violent as a child b4 i played video games and now i am not violent or hardly at all i never punch anyone unless i am starving because i have a very shord tem per when im hungry so i can be ticked off easy but hardly ever got to the point when i wanted to punch anyone.
So I have a theory
So I have a theory, and it is just a theory, that the parents that will allow their children to be more "rambunctious" therefore leading to a more violent life style also allow their children to have more violent games. I know when I was growing up the game Rampage was too violent for me to be playing according to my mother and I am not a violent person at all. So those people who are more violent may have violent video games but that is not the reason for the violence.
Just a reiteration
I won't say I'm an avid gamer, but I play quite a lot. I'm 18 now and just heading into college. I'm going to agree with MANY of the arguements put forth by my fellow gamers. When I grew up, all I heard on t.v. was music made this kid go steal a car, or go kill someone, etc. Now it's video games, in the 80's it was t.v. People just blame their problems on something else to feel better. Just look at the world today. Parents are slaves to their kids. My boyfriend's parents are whiped by their 11 yr old and buy him throwing stars and kunai because he watched Naruto and cried for them. They got him Assassin's Creed because he cried for it. Instead of buying your little kid GTA: Whatever, you should be getting him/her Spyro, or Crash Bandicoot. I started out on those games and I've never gotten in trouble in my life. No fights. No drugs. I am a very big supporter of parents need to do some REAL parenting. So you may have to spank the kid when he does something wrong, or you may have to tell him "NO," and have to deal with his crying. Just THINK. It's my child cries or my child is going to see material their not ready to see yet.
I'm not going to form any new arguements, because they are all there if you just look and think about this issue. I like "I've done a bit" a little bit up the page by Anonymous. I believe this arguement along with the one by WTH should help spark some brain activity.
I think that a person should
I think that a person should be able to tell the difference between a game and thier real life. But there are people out there who play violent video games all day every day. You can become influenced by what you see and play, not really by doing massive drivebys but through how your attitude changes, I know I get so mad if I lose a game, even when I know I have other lives or I can just restart from the last saved point, and normally I get a lil crazy and flip out on any victim near me, maybe by yelling at them and throwing the controller across the room which I'm sure you all have done before. But whatever, the effects you get depend on the person, and for all you people out there who are going crazy mad over this article. Shut up, and take out your anger on the video games, because your being aggressive and proving this article true.
video games
if u want to banned video games ur dumb cuz for one many other things cause violence and not everything circles around video games what about movies music and stuff like that but instead u point ur fingers that everybody loves to do no matter who u are uve played a video game. so whatever. maybe u should knock off the crap and point ur fingers at something else cuz u wont find it in video games.
... METAL GEAR SOLID RULES!!!!!!!!!
Maybe some i guess,but not
Maybe some i guess,but not all.Probably those games that has action scene,i agree that they should be filtered and have a rating in order to know the right game for a kids certain age.
A scientific research
I came across a scientific research in Turkey. Actually, it's a recent master thesis. I hope you may find it interesting. Here it is:
Abstract
Used Ict On Adolesence And Relatıon Of Aggressıon
This research has been done to investigate the relationship between the ICT usage and agression.
The Universe of the research has been formed with high-school students of 9th ,10th and 11th classes in Seyhan in Adana in 2007 � 2008 Academic year.Since the high-school education has been increased to 4 years in 2006 � 2007, the 12th year students haven�t been taken into the extention of this research.The High-Schools in Seyhan have been classified according to their socioeconomic condition of their neighbourhoods and the information taken from the Town�s Administration of National Education.Among these schools according to the way of choosing test subject easily,totally 6 high-schools whose socioeconomic conditions are different have been determined.
The test subject of the research is formed of totally 526 students.249 boys and 270 girls who are still students of 9th , 10th and 11th classes in these 6 high-schools.
To collect data in the research,"Aggression Scala" and "Knowing Individual Form"techniques have been used.
Frequency Seperation and Kay-Kare Techniques have been used to analyze the datas which are collected with scala and questionare.In the analyzes the level of meaningfullness has been taken as p/05.
The resarch solutions showed that the aggression rate of computer and net using teenagers is higher than the teenagers who don't.Noteworthy difference has been found between the aggression avarage of teenagers who play computer games and who don't. Aggression points of teenagers who prefer war and strategy games have been found out high.According to usage of ICT no meaningful difference has been found out about the rate of agression.Due to the increase of computer and net usage period, noteworthy difference has been found out about the rate of aggression.
Video Games in general
I've been playing video games for six years now. I started with Mario Bros. and moved on to Mechassault a few Star Wars games and now I'm on the Halo series. In my expirence, the only link (notice that this isn't plural) between violent video games and violent people, is that violent people are DRAWN to violent video games. The people don't have to be openly violent to be considered violent (I consider myself to be violent even though I'm sixteen and have been in only two fist fights in my whole life. Which was in defense of a friend who was being throtled by a person who very RARELY played video games. Consider that when you think about violent video games and how they are "the cause of the 'Epidemic' of youth violence).
Think about it this way:
If you wanted to go out and kill someone, you wouldn't spend your time playing a video game trying to learn how to do it. You would get a gun, knife or even yout own car, and shoot stab or run-down the person you wanted to kill.
Almost all of my friends are avid gamers, and only one of them has ever been in serious trouble (he was cound holding a can of spraypaint in a public restroom that had just been tagged).
Video games are not a cause of violence and aggression. Being male, angery, fom a broken home, living in the hood, from an abusive background, intocication, and about twenty-seven other things are the causes of violence.
I don't deny that video games are at times questionable (simulating a murder, rape, hit and run) or that children (depending on age) should be regulated on what they have access to (a five year old has no buisness playing Gears of War of Grand Thieft Auto V).
Yes they can be addictive, but no more so than tabaco but most of you are fine with the sales of cigaretts and chewing tabaco. Video games are gust another medium of expression. Remember when Rock 'n' Roll came along? How about movies? Or when the gutenburgh press was invented? The social elite had a fit because the peasents could read books and afford to pay for them. Go even further back and you will fing the same objections when the (do NOT think that I'm comparing video games to the Bible) Bible was translated in from Latin to plain english.
Think about it.
violent video games
I am a 15 year old kid who plays video games often and more than half of my games i own are violent and i play sports year round and im not the least bit violent and i would be happy to take tests for some scientist and prove once and for all that its just a game and the kids need to learn this fact and not take them seriously and im doing a paper on this and their and Thompson has no idea what hes talking about when he tries to blame video games the children and kids make thier own decision and when they make it they stick with it and its obvious kids are strong headed now and are going to keep fighting about it so stop with blaming everything on video games take a good look in the mirror and try to convince yourself that they are the problem talk to your kids about it and see what they tell you and if u dont listen then shame on you and if they dont help you see what they want from you play one violent game and see if it gets your blood running and when it does and youve played for about two hours go to the mirror and tell yourself and see if its easier or harder
Not all video games are violent, let that idea sink in first...
It all boils down to the person not the game. If they can't differenciate the difference between fantasy and reality, their parents shouldn't be buying the games for them. Majority of gamers, like myself, started at an early age, and turned out into very civil adults. Yet nobody ever checks the kid bullying the child in question, its the one playing the video games thats getting bullied that is studied for violent behavior. I remember playing games like Splatterhouse, Mortal Kombat, Eternal Champions, and mutant league football back in the 90's when I was a child. And most of my aggression nowadays stems from work... I play the videogames as an outlet for my aggression. The largest age group of gamers now is 20-35, and you never hear about adults acting out because of violent, Mature rated, games. (that can only be purchased if you're 18 or older) Its these forms of "evidence" that minors are being affected that keep coming up, and it's always from someone who rarely experiences them. The argument about the columbine students is spun many times in favor of the topic. But there were other more obvious preventative signs about those two students that were looked over. Sorry for the rant.
...Hitler never played video games.
Video games and violence
Video games and violence correlate in the same sense as ducks and bananas. Yes they're both foods, but when the hell do you really have them at the same meal. Maybe you people should get outside once in a while and see real problems in the world. You know that whole genocide in Africa thing. Wait you're right, this video game issue is more important. What was I thinking?
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