videogame violence

Violent Video Game:
Effect of Violent video games on Children and Teenagers

28 June 1993
The Effect of Violent Videogames on Gamers
Videogames have been around for 30 years, with space battle being the first video game in which the user had to kill the enemy spaceships in order to advance to the next level. Although experts and activists have tried to ban the production of violent video games, due to the lack of solid evidence that these types of games are what stimulate teenagers to commit crimes, their attempts have been futile. They argue that gamers tend to be more aggressive, exhibit low academic performance and are more than likely to engage in gun fights with their peers. Although many do not need more evidence to agree with this, there are some scholars that disagree and have strong evidence to support their theory. They experiment with young gamers to show that violent videogames do not stimulate any hunger for getting involved in gun fights and violent actions without care for the negative effect it might have on the youngsters. In fact, they suggest that videogames has positive effects such as helping the children to socialize and develop strategies to solve problems.
Although it is suggested that video games cause aggression in individual, the reality is that there is no connection. After a limited amount of time playing a violent video game, is is said that a player can “automatically prime aggressive thoughts” (Bushman & Anderson, 2002, p. 1680). According to Clinton in an interview with Golden “Violent video games cause increases in aggressive thoughts and behaviors” (Cuni, 2005). The researchers concluded that players who had prior experience playing violent video games responded with an increased level of aggression when they encountered confrontation. Research that opposes these theories doesn’t deny that there is no connection between violent games and violent people, but it’s correlative instead of causative. Individuals with personalities that lead to homicide are likely more drawn than others to media that feed their fantasies, but it’s not a cause so it shouldn’t be banned. Shooters, sports games and fighting games do not bring out aggressive behavior. Similar to real-life sports, they present aggressive behaviors but parents and activists aren 't fighting to ban school football or basketball because of the inherently brutal nature of contact sports. Experiments have been done and results proved that a decline in school achievements is seen in consumers because today 's sophisticated video games require players to pay constant attention to the game, rather than passively watching a movie (Gentile et al, 2004).
Playing violent video games doesn’t turn people into the killing machine and stimulate them into a blood thirsty rampage. Video games are about conflict, and a struggle of ballistic and physical superiority, but the truth of matter is that all kids learn the difference between fantasy and reality earlier than they can talk and if everyone did not learn that right away, all art from bed time stories to Shakespeare would be banned. In the early days the fantasy and reality difference was wacked home by the three stogies, they laid fake violence on top of real love in a way that moves spectators into tears of joy and laughter but there is no connection between aggression and the three stogies.
Moreover, the connection between video games and violence is erroneous because the numbers do not match up. Nearly 80 percent of Americans in the ages of 10 - 18 play video games, and many of those games are violent (Robbins, M. Brandon). If there were a true, solid, consistent link with the playing of violent video games and aggressive criminal behavior, then 80 percent of American males should be committing murder right now but the reality is that the cases in which gamers commit crime are rare and only seem coincidental.
Videogame violence is the new theme for almost every popular game out there in the market and is now bigger than ever and depicts more fantasy violence than before Although it is claimed by Clinton that “these violent games train children’s brain to react aggressively almost automatically”, it is a false thought (Cuni, 2005). A videogame stimulator cannot teach a child to use a real gun effectively. An experiment to prove this was done with an 8 year old kid, he is a real gamer and likes playing first person shooting games. He was given a real gun and asked to shoot to an object to see if all those hours of playing videogames will awake the inner beast in him. After shooting a bullet the kid was traumatized and was crying in tears saying he will never try a real gun again. Violent videogames to do cause teenagers to commit crimes in fact it has been recorded that when shooting videogames started to get popular the crime committed by youths was reduced by half. The videogames have positive effects, it helps the children to interact with other players around the world and learn new strategizes on how to figure how to overcome problems.
There are some people that are so sure that violent videogames are bad for kids that they are unwilling to pick evidence and not look at it to closely to say “here is the proof”. One of the difficulties in linking school shooting to violent videogames is that playing videogames is a normal activity nowadays. People will research some awful violent crime and say that they found a crime that resembles a videogame, but besides things they find other similarities with other stuff that can be related to videogames but aren’t. There is clearly not an association between playing violent videogames and engaging in serious violent behavior. Kids can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Although kids might show a decline in school achievements a limit in the hours they play can be the solution to that problem.

Works Cited
Bushman, B. & Anderson, C. (2002). Violent Video Games and Hostile Expectations: A Test of the General Aggression Model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1679-1686.
Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P., Linder, J. & Walsh, D. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 5-22.
Norcia, Andrea. "The Impact of Video Games on Children." Doctors, Patient Care, Health Education, Medical Research | PAMF. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2013.
Robbins, M. Brandon. "Games And Violence." Library Journal 138.5 (2013): 88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 June 2013.
Cuni, Chris. "Videogame." Golden, Peter Adam . Penn & Teller Bullshit. Showtime. 21 May 2005. Television.

Cited: Bushman, B. & Anderson, C. (2002). Violent Video Games and Hostile Expectations: A Test of the General Aggression Model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1679-1686. Gentile, D. A., Lynch, P., Linder, J. & Walsh, D. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 5-22. Norcia, Andrea. "The Impact of Video Games on Children." Doctors, Patient Care, Health Education, Medical Research | PAMF. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 June 2013. Robbins, M. Brandon. "Games And Violence." Library Journal 138.5 (2013): 88. Academic Search Complete. Web. 27 June 2013. Cuni, Chris. "Videogame." Golden, Peter Adam . Penn & Teller Bullshit. Showtime. 21 May 2005. Television.