Violence in Video Games

Violence in Video Games The concern over how much of a child’s actions, if any, are influenced by the violence contained in the video games they choose to play, has been become a topic of debate in recent times. Certain heartbreaking events, such as the Columbine High School shooting in April of 1999 where two students open fired on their fellow classmates killing in total 13 victims followed by their own suicides, sparked a renewed interest in researching if video games could cause acts of violence in adolescents. (Baertlein, 2007) This apprehension is mostly due in part, because children are in theory, more inclined to behavioral influences when they actively participate, as opposed to when they are merely observing. The belief has been that, a child playing violent video games can have more of a tendency to commit violent acts. On the contrary, there has been no clear-cut substantiation to show these violent video games are to blame for youth violence. The fact remains; it is actually not an easy task to prove a real world connection between violence and video gaming. Youth violence reports show crimes rates have decreased while video game playing has become trendier. (Baertlein, 2007) In January of 2001, the Surgeon General David Satcher released his report findings concluding that, youth crime rate was not rising, and that the increase youth crime rate was merely a myth. â€Å"Since 1993, when the epidemic peaked, youth violence has declined significantly nationwide, as signaled by downward trends in arrest records, victimization data, and hospital emergency room records† (Satcher, 2001). Moreover, the study showed the amount of lethal violence has declined. This was primarily attributable to the decline in use of firearms among youth. (Snyder, 2006) This goes contrary to the claims of those who say that violent video games are teaching youth to use guns. The study performed by Surgeon General Satcher, along with other research performed on the topic, further substantiates the argument that violent content found within video games is not the cause for violent acts committed by the youth. According to the Surgeon General, the strongest risk factors for scho ol shootings centered on mental stability and the quality of home life, not media exposure. (Satcher, 2001) The reality is recent reporting has shown a decrease regarding violence in teens since games have become more graphic. The violent crime rate has decreased from a rate of 51 victimizations per 1,000 members of the population age 12 and over in 1994, down to 21 per 1,000 members in 2005. (Bureau of Statistics, 2006) In addition, the Juvenile Violent Crime Index has also shown a declining rate since 1994. Crimes of murder committed by juvenile offenders have actually fallen 65% from 1994 to 2002. (Snyder Sickmund, 2006) Although the crime rate has declined, concern regarding violent acts by juveniles is still an issue; the public continues to hold fast on its views that children participating in playing violent video games are being led to commit violent acts. Theorists such as Bruce Barthalow, Mark Sestir and Edward Davis have based their opinions according to a large quantity of research performed by many esteemed scholars. They state that a connection has been made known between real life violent crimes and violent content in video games. (Barthalow, Sestir Davis, 2005) The main positions in the argument for these theorists are derived from results of several types of studies, lab experiments, field studies as well as correlation studies. Correlations are a measure of how strongly associated two events are. However, co relational studies and other studies such as those cannot account for whether or not violent video games can cause aggression. Furthermore, some co relational studies find no sign ificant relationship with aggression. Even still, those studies cannot prove violence contained in video games is the cause of true-life violence. After all, what is lacking from the studies used video game research? Crucial factors are missing in research studies conducted on violent video games. The players in these particular studies are not in control. Their free will and freedom of choice are not included when researches test their theories. They are selected to play a video game not of their choosing, when the action of play is in essence, a self directed and voluntary activity. The element of forced exposure to a video game can alter the player’s reaction to the experience. Play is not an action that can be recreated in an experiment held in a laboratory. There are other questionable factors regarding the testing video games as well. For example, â€Å"the duration of play is too short, typically 5-15 minutes, for anything like the play experience to be duplicated† (Calvert Tan, 1994). In these laboratory studies, no individual really â€Å"plays†. A video game is played by individuals for entertain ment and therefore, being instructed to â€Å"play† a video game defeats the purpose of electing to play for amusement. The studies performed do not take in to consideration why individuals play video games at all. (Calvert Tan, 1994) Research on video games also fail to recognize that a player of video games participates freely and ceases to play when they so desire. (Calvert Tan, 1994) Players are free to enter the world they create for themselves in these games, and this freedom remains missing from the laboratory studies conducted on violent video games. Studies completed have concluded that there has been no definitive link between violent acts and violent content found in video games, and that some fashion; violent video games may actually provide a venue for children to vent their aggressions, rather than taking physically taking action. (OBrien, 2007) In studies performed by the U.S. Department of Justice’s, Office of Justice Programs, it is reported that the largest influential factor in adolescent delinquency is the family dynamics within the children’s homes. (Snyder, 2006) Parents have a certain obligation to their children. They play an important role in the child’s life and are responsible to provide them with guidance as to what is wrong or right. If children cannot clearly determine the differences between fantasy life in video games and reality, they cannot be blamed for committed violent acts such as those contained within video games. Without parental guidance, children are susceptible to misinterpret scenarios they come across in real life. (Anderson, et al., 2003) Violence from video games will not make submissive adolescents violent when they have been made aware of the limits within a fictional world. Many factors can cause a child’s incapacity to make a distinction regarding right from wrong, reality from fiction. An adolescent or teenager may be lacking the maturity level necessary to understand the impact of their actions, or perhaps can suffer from mental instability limiting their perception of reality. However, is it the violent content found within video games to blame? The studies suggest that when parents actively participate in a child’s life, discuss real life conflicts, the inappropriateness violent solutions, and help the child generate alternative solutions to violent actions, it can help reduce the actual impact of media violence on the youth. (Anderson, et al., 2003) Psychologists have also concluded that, children whose parents have regulated the length of time video games are played are less likely to show aggressive behavior. (Anderson, et al., 2003) It is the parent’s responsibility to monitor their children and to educate them. It is a par ent’s role to discipline their children and to teach them social norms and values. After all, it would be impossible maintain a child from the outside world. There will always be negative influences out there. It is the parent’s duty to their children, to ensure they are taught the consequences of their behavior, as well as right from wrong. Parents should be the ultimate decision makers of what they allow their child to watch, play or do. Parents have the responsibility to be aware of the content involved in the games their child plays. Video games are labeled to describe the content within them, as well as specify when they include strong language, violence, mature sexual themes, as well as other subject matter that may be unsuitable for a child. In 1994, the video game industry established the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), a self-regulating labeling body. (Entertainment Software Association, 2006) The ESRB ratings method is astonishingly all-inclusive. According to the ESRB, it rates over 1,000 games per year. Practically every title produced by major game developers for retail sale today carries an ESRB rating and content descriptors. â€Å"The ESRB rating system helps parents and other consumers choose the games that are right for their families. ESRB ratings have two parts: rating symbols that suggest what age group the game is best for, and content descriptors that indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern† (Entertainment Software Association, 2006). These ratings provide the parents with information they need to determine whether the video games is suitable for their child to play. Even with the ratings and the violent content, some parents still purchase these games for their young children without screening the video games. According to the Entertainment Software Association, 89% of the time parents are present at the time games are purchased or rented, 61% of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives, and 87% of the time children receive their parents’ permission before purchasing or renting a game. (Entertainment Software Association, 2006) Parents, teachers, guardians, mentors or anyone else a child may look to for guidance, should be able to provide them with proper direction, lessons about choice and consequences in life that could affect them and those they hold close as well. â€Å"When the fantasy world is brought into the picture, these lessons should let the child know that certain actions in a fantasy world are not appropriate in the real world, thus the separation† (Goldstein, 2001). Video game violence contains simulated acts of aggression. Video games cannot actually emphasize acts of aggression if there is none to begin with. (Delamere, 2005) The same features that hold back the audience from rushing the stage during a murder scene in a play are present in video games. When and adolescent plays a video game that is labeled as violent, it is actually containing simulated acts of violence. (Goldstein, 2001) There is not an actual physically performed action taken, since the child is in an imaginary wor ld. They cannot abuse, damage or violate because there is nothing to abuse, damage or violate. (Goldstein, 2001) The child has ultimate control what occurs which is a major deciding point in separating reality from video games. In the real world, consequences are certain. When a child commits and act, either good or bad, something will happen. In video games, the player can suspend the game play and even bypass consequences. These factors provide cues that the game play is not real, and that they child is merely doing something for amusement. (Goldstein, 2001) Video games can actually be beneficial to children.They provide cognitive benefits such as system thinking, pattern recognition, strategy, decision making, and even patience. A book written by author Steven Johnson makes another point in favor of viewing video games from a new perspective. Johnson argues that video games are growing progressively more refined, they present players a mental exercise that is far more invigorating, satisfying, and even more educational than much of the media content they were force fed in the past. (Johnson, 2005) Particularly, Johnson states, modern games, including those filled with violent material demand children to mange resources, evaluate multifaceted social networks, and recognize long-term patterns. (Johnson, 2005) A common video game presents a predicament to be solved and diverse means to accomplish the resolution. Children playing video games are driven to play video games because they can achieve the impossible. (Simpson, 2005) Distribution of resources, trial and error and completing tasks are all part of the learning experience. (Simpson, 2005) The software embedded in these video games clearly establishes roles, powers, and limitations. Video game players have the ability decide their course of actions and recognize that they must take accountability for their own actions. The children playing these games are aware that there are both harmful and helpful consequences during game play. Games can mimic real-life consequences, and playing them teaches children that patience and perseverance lead to successful results. (Simpson, 2005) Violence in video games is not cause of violence in adolescents; this is a rumor or myth made by people looking for an excuse or a solution to why things happen. With the level of violence in video games increasing, adults have been linking the acts of violence contained in video games with violent acts that have been committed by children. Rather than look in to all the determining factors that can be reasons for children to act aggressively, they would rather lay blame on something new. The public has not even taken a moment to reflect on the past and realize that video games are just another source of media added to the list excuses justifying a child’s actions. Films, radio, novels, television programming, have all had been faulted for leading young people off course and stirring up aggressive or unsociable behavior. Video games violence is a handy scapegoat for individuals who do not care to explore deeper into the quandary of where the desire to murder comes from. The myth that video games reveal a new, excessive collective fixation with violent entertainment is untrue. Harold Schechter, in the manuscript Savage Pastimes: A Cultural History of Violent Entertainment, painstakingly documents the incidence of violent media all the way through the history of art and entertainment. Schechter remarks that even the purportedly quiet days of the 1950s were complete with violent media, most of it aimed at children. (Schechter, 2005) â€Å"The fact is that, contrary to popular belief, there was a shockingly high level of sadistic violence and gore in some of the most popular commercial entertainments of the 1950s† (Schechter, 2005). Violence and aggressive media and behavior have always been a part of civilization, so why it is receiving so much attention these days? Perhaps the degree of youth violence has not changed at all, but the factors mentioned above have simply created a heightened awareness of violence amongst youth. Perhaps a heightene d awareness and a lower tolerance for such acts have simply caused an increase in reporting violence, creating an illusion of an increase in youth violent behavior. There are extreme cases of youth violence in recent years that stand out, and were covered extensively by the media. The Columbine incident is an example. This type of incident is rare, but the media attention it received contributed to the perception of an increase in youth violence. Youth violence did not increase during this time; it just became more of social issue. Many factors contributed to those crimes, leaving the public many ways of laying blame. Youth violence is not caused by content found within a video game; it is more of an issue with the individual committing the violent acts. The underlying problem deals with the individual having a firm grip on reality and knowing the difference between those actions and the ones found within a video game. The adolescents are less apt to see violent video games in an unconstructive way if the individual is there not already a predisposition to violent acts. (Zarozinski, 2001) â€Å"Media in all forms can move people to consider things they had not considered before. But media cannot take over a mind and make anyone do something hes not predisposed to do† (Zarozinski, 2001). Stating, in essence, violent video games do not create violent children, however they may add to the troubles of an already violent youth. (Zarozinski, 2001) The public is quick to fault violence in the planet on video games, movies, television and music for the reason that they are effortless plausible targ ets. Although these media sources can influence and individual to a certain degree, the public has to look further than this particular focal point and start searching for the real cause for the violent behavior in civilization. A game cannot and will not make a human being kill another. Numerous individuals view violent images on a regular basis, yet only a small percentage of those actually commit crimes of violence. As studies by respected academics show, people that are already predisposed to violence are those that tend to gravitate towards playing video games. (Delamere, 2005) â€Å"The violence present in these media sources may help instigate a violent act; it is never the only cause† (Delamere, 2005). However, the groups of alarmed individuals that plead for the government to take action to against video games will not openly admit that the source for their civilizations problems may be due to their own actions. The people want a scapegoat that will appease their conscience and at the same token, avert the fingers of blame from pointing in their direction. This day and age, humankind is a world where real violence is everywhere, from neighborhood shootings to the war in Iraq. People are mostly helpless to stop it, and just have to live through it, but when a juvenile turns on a violent video game and spends endless hours playing, the question remains, does it change their perception of the real world and cause them to become delinquent? Violence in video games has been at the forefront of a lot of controversy recently. Incidents, like the Columbine High School shooting has come and gone, reopening old wounds and revisiting unanswered questions. What could have caused two seemingly average kids to go on such a rampage? Some of the blame has fallen on violent video games. Are these games actually part of the problem, or just an easy target? Fueled by myths of increased youth violence, and tragedies such as school shootings, youth violence is an increasing concern in for the public. Nevertheless, there is a lack of hard evidence to suppor t the supposed increase in youth violence, much less, that violence in video game plays a part in it. Violence in Video Games Violence in Video Games RQ: Should any restrictions be applied to violence in future video games to prevent any negative changes in childrens behavior? Abstract: Introduction: People, nowadays, are always arguing about the problem of violence in video games; and violence, in this case, includes use of drugs, blood, gore, offensive language, and many other things, that exist in modern video games. According to the statistics, over a billion people play video games, and the majority of these people are children or young teenagers. Of course, there are games, which are perfectly fit for children, games, which do not contain any type of violence, and they are usually designed specifically for kids to play. But many children prefer playing violent video games, because they think it is more enjoyable. Even though, it is usually up to their parents or guardians to decide whether these children are allowed to play violent video games or not, in most cases, parents do not want to restrict their kids from playing games, they like, so they just allow children to play almost any games, they want to play. The problem here is, that psychologically underage people might be more vulnerable to impact, coming from video games, than adults are; so violent video games might have a negative impact on shaping childrens behaviour (Publications, Harvard). Even though, millions of children play violent video games, only a few actually become violent (John Bingham). And this controversy leads me to a question: Should any restrictions be applied to violence in future video games to prevent any negative changes in childrens behaviour? I conducted the research, which provided me with the information about the ways, in which video games might affect childrens behaviour and the consequences of video game influence for children. That information will help me understand which restrictions should be applied to violence in video games, if any. Body: Even though, there is evidence of the link between violence in video games and the increase of childrens aggressive behaviour during the past two decades, there are still a lot of facts, which prove that there are many other factors, which could have caused negative effects on childrens behaviour. A lot of various psychological and media institutions, such as Oxford University, have conducted the research on the influence of violence in video games and other types of media. There are about 350 research papers conducted from 2005 to 2013, and non of them really explore every aspect of the effects of media violence on kids behaviour. For example, the combinations of effects of different risk factors, such as depression or stress with this kind of violence, or the differences between the effects on different genders. Such factors as the gender and living in poverty have greater impact on the outcomes (Bavelier, Green and Dye 692-701). In the majority of the studies kids younger than 10 years of age werent even included. The importance of these factors is certainly undeniable, especially considering the fact that there are not too many cases of chilren aggressive and violent behaviour, proved to happen due to violent video games. There was one of the high-profile incidents in the USA, which was caused by 17 year-old Dylan Klebold, and 18 year-old Harris Eric. It is called the Columbine High School Massacre. The shooting happened on the 20th of April, 1999, at Columbine High School, in Jefferson County. Two pupils killed twelve other pupils and a teacher (Library, CNN). The two shooters in the massacre were regularly playing weapon-based combat games. Specifically, the two shooters used to play Doom, which is a violent video game (The Columbine Shooters: Video Game Addicts?) Since the moment when violence was introduced to media, hundreds of studies have focused their research on viewing these acts of violence and aggression, such as Columbine High School shooting. When violent video games emerged, researchers started analyzing these acts much more closely. Many of the studies were focused on persons sex and studying male versus female aggression after viewing and playing violent video games. Some of them researched viewing violent video games against playing these games to find out if there was any link between the two ways of experiencing video game violence (Polman, de Castro and van Aken 256-264). Very little of these studies have researched the positive effects, which video games might have on chldren. For example, watching video games   improves hand eye coordination, and increases some of the persons abilities, for example some kids become better at solving puzzles (Ferguson 309-316). Ferguson found no connection between violent video games and negative behaviour. He concluded, that research made up of current studies, which have been analyzed, cannot link watching or playing violent video games to aggressive behavior afterwards (Ferguson 309-316). Each study, which has been reviewed, usually shows that there is some link between viewing violent video games and aggression. However, it doesnt completely prove the existence of this connection. Some evidence suggest that there is a link between exposure to violent video games and violent behavior (Porter and Starcevic 422-426). Can aggressive behavior with a good level of certainty be linked to watching video games? Or are there other circumstances that influence this kind of behaviour? Studies suggest a link between video watching and aggression, but researchers have not yet been able to find a direct relationship between the two. As in most behaviours, there are still loads of other factors that may contribute to the persons behaviour. Concluding, that experiencing violence in video games is linked to aggressive behaviour, is only possible if other factors, which influence a persons behaviour can be controlled. Those factors can include family history, sex, cases of aggressive behavior before watching video games, and many other potential factors that might influence childrens behavior (Persky and Blascovich 57-72). Not all studies have found a relationship (Ferguson et al. 109-122) between exposure to violent video games and aggression in children. However, the   most part of all the work actually shows a relationship. In a meta-analysis of 98 studies, which involved 36,965 participants, violent video games were convincingly shown to influence social behaviour (Greitemeyer and Mà ¼gge 578-589). The fact, that studies have taken many different forms, increases the certainty of the relationship. Jim Blascovich, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, in the study, he conducted, he concluded that the more realistic the graphics are the more of a possibility there is to display aggressive behavior right after viewing violent video games. Explicit viewing material usually looked more realistic, though letting aggressive behavior in the real world.   For example, Pacmans graphics were very simple in their content, and as graphics have become more realistic, the violence and death scenes have become a lot more realistic in modern video games (Persky Blascovich 57-72). Some of the work looks at the causal effect of game play. Some individuals have been asked to play violent games in the lab, while others were asked to play non-violent games. Then the behaviour of each group was measured in social tasks after the experiment. These studies have shown that playing violent games results in instantaneous changes to behaviour (Anderson, Carnagey and Flanagan 199-249). Young adults have shown physiological desensitisation to scenes of real life violence (Carnagey, Anderson and Bushman 489-49). Individuals who had played violent, in comparison with non-violent, games were less likely to report hearing a fight staged outside the laboratory, considered the fight more common and were slower to respond when some of them decided to help (Bushman and Anderson 273-27). Desensitisation to violence is considered to link violent game play with later aggressive behaviour (Engelhardt et al. 1033-1036). Other studies have included longitudinal effects, where individuals have been followed over a period of time; and video game play at one point in time has been related to aggression later, both in lab and in real life. The more violent play individuals took part in, the steeper the increase was in aggressive behaviour (Willoughby, Adachi and Good 1044-1057). The size of the effects found in most studies is either small or medium, but its quite consistent. This pretty much indicates that violent games do influence violent behaviour, rather than that violent children engage in video games. The most part of the negative effects, as a result of playing violent video games among children, can be blamed on the violent scenes included in these games. If a kid spends a big amount of time playing violent videogames, he or she becomes socially isolated. This basically means that this child doesnt have enough time to interact with his or her peers (Anderson and Bushman 353-359). The child who spends lots of hours per day playing videogames will have almost no time to make new friends. Such children may become more depressed and lonely in their homes. They are also very likely to stop spending time on other activities such as sports, reading, and studying.   Children stop being socially active, since they dont get involved in real-life events anymore. A child, who ends up spending most of his or her time playing videogames, does not get a chance to think creatively and independently, due to the fact that videogames reduce a childs imaginative thinking. This kind of thinking is crucial in developing a childs creativity. By encouraging isolation, videogames may also put a childs health at a serious risk. Since such kids do not lead a healthy lifestyle, due to the lack of sports and social activities, children, who are used to spending the majority of their time playing videogames, are very likely to suffer from obesity, and muscular and postural disorders. Quite a large number of videogames are addictive. Rather than studying or completing homework, a child spends time playing videogames, because the addiction wins over this child. When a child spends an large amount of time playing such videogames, he or she becomes socially isolated. Some of the negative effects as a result of playing these kind of videogames among children can be blamed on the addictiveness of these games. Due to the lack of time, which a child has while not playing games, he or she does not have an opportunity for rich social life (Anderson and Bushman 353-359). The child who spends almost the whole day playing videogames will have little time to meet and make new friends. They may very easily become more depressed and lonely in their homes. Children will also spend little time on other activities such as sports, reading, and doing homework. These children become socially inactive since they do not get involved in almost any social activities. Such video games redu ce a childs imagination as well. This basically means that children who spend most of their time playing videogames do not get a chance to think creatively or independently. Imaginative thinking is essential in developing a childs creativity. By promoting isolation, videogames may have some effects on a childs health. Quite some videogames may teach children wrong values (Gunter). Videogames encourage children to associate positive emotions such as happiness and pleasure with the ability to cause pain to others. They develop the feeling that they have to hurt other people in order to be happy themselves. Children who play videogames usually tend to develop selfish behavior (Anderson and Bushman 353-359). Videogames make the players depend on them. As a child is very often left alone, while playing a videogame, he or she can develop this dependent behavior. A study, which was done at a Minneapolis-based national institute for media, found out that kids can get addicted to videogames and exhibit social phobias. Video games are quite different from other visual types of media, because of their interactivity. The games allow players to be active participants in the storyline. In games the players, who benefit from acts of violence, are able to proceed to the next level. Violence in children behaviour has increased, as a negative result of playing videogames. There are a lot of incidents of violent and aggressive behaviour among children, who play violent videogames worldwide (Gunter).   Right after these incidents, the most of newspaper articles claimed that the key cause of that incident was violent videogames. The effects of violent games arent equal for everyone. Short-term effects in the lab are discovered to be bigger for undergraduate men than women (Bartholow and Anderson 283-290), and younger children are at a bigger risk of being affected by violent games if theyve got a high level on a personality trait, called neuroticism, and a low level on the traits agreeableness and conscientiousness (Markey and Markey 82-91). In terms of the game, playing with a customised avatar was found to cause more aggressive and violent behaviour, than when playing with a generic character (Fischer, Kastenmà ¼ller and Greitemeyer 192-195). Conclusion: Although the link between real-life violence and video game violence is still debated, and certainly other factors have a more significant influence on aggression. The impact of video games violence on the behavioural development of children is quite obvious both in the short-term and the long-term. The effectiveness of video games is a very important issue for society, and at the same time a benefit, because their effects can be both negative and positive; indeed it would be extremely hard to argue for one of these positions without the other. What is crucial is that we understand what aspects of game play behaviour have an influence, and on whom they have it. So whats the final answer to my question: Should any restrictions be applied to violence in future video games to prevent any negative changes in childrens behavior? Its quite simple. No new restrictions should be applied to violent video games in the future. Partly, its because the effects of this kind of violence are differe nt from one person to another, so they can also be positive; and partly because other factors usually affect childrens behaviour more, than video game violence. Althogh, parents can take some action to prevent possible negative impact of video games. For example, limit the number of ours, their children spend playing, or simply not allow kids to play games, which they consider too violent. Bibliography: Greitemeyer, Tobias and Dirk O. Mà ¼gge. Video Games Do Affect Social Outcomes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 40.5 (2014): 578-589. Web. 22 Dec. 2016 Library, CNN. Columbine High School Shootings Fast Facts CNN.Com. CNN. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 Dec. 2016 The Columbine Shooters: Video Game Addicts?. NY Daily News. N.p., 2017. Web. 16 Dec. 2016 Bavelier, Daphne, C. Shawn Green, and Matthew W.G. Dye. Children, Wired: For Better And For Worse. Neuron 67.5 (2010): 692-701. 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