Premium Essay

Video Game Violence Arguments

Submitted By
Words 221
Pages 1
Although the arguments given were fundamental as to proving the claim, there are some arguments that support the idea that violence within video games causes violence within people. One of the arguments that goes against the claim is that violence in video games desensitizes players from real-life violence. This argument relates to the American Psychological Association's (APA) research, demonstrating a link "between violent video game use and both increases in aggressive behavior ... and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy, and moral engagement." (Scutti). The other argument is that violent video games causes people to commit crimes, something talked about previously, which also relates to the American Psychological Association's (APA)

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Video Games

...1100 Do Video Games Lead To Violence? What am I being asked to believe or accept? In this article, Do Video Games Lead to Violence, the argument being made is that video games either leads to violence or does not lead to violence. There have been arguments that video games cause psychological and physiological problems in children that result to violence. An opposing argument believes that video games do no cause violence and more research is needed to ensure that video games cause violent activities. What evidence is available to support each side of the argument? The evidence available to support each side of the argument is that researches found that playing video games increases aggression in young adolescents. In addition, more realistic video games increase physiological arousal. Video games also make children adapt to the interaction in the game rapidly. Evidence available to support that video games does not influence violent behavior is the little evidence between the contacts to violent video games to violence in real life. Olson, one of the researchers, believes that violent video games is not connected to how the media says it is. There is no legit evidence that playing video games causes aggressive behaviors. What further evidence or information would help me to evaluate the two sides to the argument? Further evidence that supports video games leading to violence are the experiments researches have done. The experiments demonstrated that playing video games...

Words: 626 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Critical Argument

...Critical Argument Analysis Rhoderick H. Mejares ENG/215 February 01, 2014 Suzann Connell Critical Argument Analysis Fear takes control of a person when place on certain circumstances that they are not ready to face. The three essays that I will analyze has their own identity of fear about something. The author of “Do We Fear the Right Things” talks about different fears that people have. On the “Bang, You’re Dead" article, the author’s argument is that the fear of what people see is what people do is not always true, and fantasy is just what it is. The third essay “Parents Need Help”, talks about how parents are the only ones responsible for their own children when it comes to violence on video gaming. The question is do the authors supported their arguments and how clearly they proved their essays. On the essay, "Do We Fear the Right Things" the author used facts, statistics and other fears in life in general to prove his argument. I think the author discussed his thesis well by using his own opinion and theories of people's fear in general. The facts and statistics that he used got my attention and made the essay an interesting one. There are really other threats that we should worry about, because no matter what we do risk will be there. He also said that it is normal for people to fear other things than fear itself. The author on the essay “Bang, You’re Dead” talked about how fantasy violence is good for a child rather than bad. He argued that...

Words: 767 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Video Game Industry

...the article is "Video Games: An Overview”. In this article I learned about the general analysis of the video game business and the growth acceptance. It tracks down the roots of video gaming along with the depiction of improvements in the industry of gaming and computer information science, which significantly aided in the development approval of the gaming industry. However, along with the improvements of the video game industry came the negative effects such as violence, behavioral problems, and addiction in children and adults; causing a huge impact in our society. According to the authors of the article, there are a big controversy surrounding the game world; associating violence and behavioral problems with video game usage. There have been many studies showing the positive association between games and violence. Video games that feature violent actions may lead addictive players to be insensitive to violence; therefore, initiating actions such as aggressive thoughts and aggressive behaviors. However, the game industry also directed its own studies; showing that video games do not have a positive relationship between violence and aggression. Another issue cited by the authors is the addiction caused by video games. This problem has even forced United States and other countries to open health clinics that are able to help and support these types of patients. When it comes to such controversial issues like the association between video games and violence, a lot of facts...

Words: 609 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Ethics and Entertainment

...------------------------------------------------- Introduction ------------------------------------------------- The video game industry is powerful and incredibly profitable. Its $18 billion in annual sales, large workforce, and even larger consumer base makes it a lobby one would not want to attempt to regulate unduly. Yet, violence in America, especially among young people, is a known problem. Some research indicates that video games are a part of that problem. Indeed, playing video games may be linked to antisocial behavior and permissiveness about violent behavior. For this paper I highlight the importance of that issue - that violence and video gaming may be linked, and censoring gaming to reduce that link is politically problematic - but turn to a lesser know issue. Educational gaming, a form of gaming assumed to be without controversial content, can also be the subject of public censorship. ------------------------------------------------- Video Game Industry ------------------------------------------------- With over $18 billion in total sales and a workforce of more than 213,000 the video game industry has grown from a somewhat small portion of American entertainment to an industry that influences the leisure and livelihood of many people (O’Holleran, 2010). There is power in having that standing, an any attempt to curtail that power would likely encounter a great deal of resistance. That means censorship of the video game industry would pit the real and perceived First Amendment rights of commercial...

Words: 1913 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Media

...Some believe that violence in the media is to blame for violence in people, but that argument is undermined by the realization that violence existed long before video games and television. In fact, violence has actually been steadily decreasing since these things have been growing in popularity. Critics of violent media seem to long for the “good old days”; a time before there was violence in the media. These critics fail to acknowledge that those “good old days” were actually far more violent than today. Some believe that violence in the media is to blame for violence in people, but that argument is undermined by the realization that violence existed long before video games and television. In fact, violence has actually been steadily decreasing since these things have been growing in popularity. Critics of violent media seem to long for the “good old days”; a time before there was violence in the media. These critics fail to acknowledge that those “good old days” were actually far more violent than today. Some believe that violence in the media is to blame for violence in people, but that argument is undermined by the realization that violence existed long before video games and television. In fact, violence has actually been steadily decreasing since these things have been growing in popularity. Critics of violent media seem to long for the “good old days”; a time before there was violence in the media. These critics fail to acknowledge that those “good old days” were actually...

Words: 341 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Com 156 Final Paper

...Violence in video games and the effects on youth Bilton Lands Com 156 5/26/13 Violence in video games continues to get worse, but what does this mean for the youth of today? As the violence in video games gets more graphic people continue to wonder if the youth of today can understand the difference between fantasy violence and real violence. Some experts believe it is up to the parents to teach the difference between fantasy violence and real violence (Cullotta, 2012). With more and more video games coming out, this is getting harder and harder for parents to be able to shield youth from. But does this mean that the violence is really an issue? There are studies out there that show, as video game sales go up, violent crimes continue to go down (ProCon.org, 2013). “Exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, represents a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents. (ProCon.org, 2013). Does this help prove that it is just video games that causes the violence in youth? ProCon.org continues to go on and say, extensive research evidence shows that media exposure to video games, can contribute to aggressive behavior and violence, along with nightmares and the fears of being harmed. Craig Anderson PhD. the director of the center for the study of violence, states through ProCon.org that there is a significant link between violence in video games, and the behavior which causes violence in youth (ProCon...

Words: 1463 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Do Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior

...Issue #5: Do Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior? One of the biggest controversial issues in today’s society is whether or not video games encourage violent behavior. Two sides of the argument are from Craig A. Anderson (an expert on the effect of violence in television and film) and Henry Jenkins (from PBS kids). One side says exposing children and adolescents (or “youth”) to violent visual media increases the likelihood that they will engage in physical aggression against another person. (2003). Now the other side says, the primary audience is not children, that the violence is not increasing in society and that concerns about isolation, desensitization, and violence are overblown. Now starting with the people who say yes, that video games encourage violent behavior have really good facts to back up their argument. Some facts are violent games require you to be one with the character you’re playing. That’s a very good fact, because games like Call of Duty for instance, requires you to play as a soldier in first person, the only thing you see is the gun you decide to pick up. Another game I can think of is the Grand Theft Auto series of games, you play as once individual and you do missions with him where you have to kill. The story modes are really lengthy and you tend to gain a kind of personal relationship with the character even though it is just a video game. You start getting mad when the character gets mad and from personal experience (I play Grand Theft Auto...

Words: 1286 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Violence in American Culture and How It Effects Adolescents

...Violence in American Culture and How it Effects Adolescents Parents are starting to believe that violence in video games, television, and music are having effects on their children. With all the violence that is out there in the media today, should parents be worried that it may be having a harmful effect on their children? This is the question that parents are asking themselves today. Some people today are noticing that their children are acting more aggressively today. Teachers are also reporting that children at school are also acting out with a bit more aggression than normal. Could this be one of the effects that violence could be having on children today? Today parents will finally learn about some of the harmful effects that may or may not be affecting their children. There are two sides almost every story, and we will explore both sides to the question, “is the violence in the media having a harmful effect on my child?” It has been said that violent video games have a harmful effect on children, according to David Bickham (2009) of the Center on Media and Child Health, “there is a strong and consistent relationship between viewing violent media and increased levels of anxiety, desensitization, and aggressive thoughts and behaviors among young people.” Bickham (2009) also found that children exposed to violent video games in laboratories behave more aggressively than children who played non –violent video games. There have also been studies done that show the long...

Words: 1417 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Video Games Negative or Positive?

...Video Games Negative or Positive? Do video games have a direct correlation with the aggression and violence in the people who play them? This is the controversy discussed in the following articles. Jack Hollingdale of the University of Sussex, UK and Tobias Greitemeyer of the University of Innsbruck, Austria have collaborated in writing The changing face of aggression: the effect of personalized avatars in a violent video game on levels of aggressive behaviors. Hollingdale and Greitemeyer argue that “Studies have found that exposure to violent video games correlates negatively with helping behaviors in the real world and, as a result, exposure to violent video games poses a public health threat to children and youth” (Hollingdale and Greitemeyer 1). However, Christopher J Ferguson from Texas A&M International University, the department of behavioral applied science and criminal justice, sees the more positive side of the violent video games. In his article Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be a Force for Good he disputes that “the negative effects of violent games have been exaggerated by some elements of the scientific community, fitting with past cycles of media-forced moral panics” (Ferguson 1). Both articles use statistics and specific examples to prove their thesis. Ferguson uses the claim of value more than claims of fact which seem to discredit his argument. Hollingdale and Greitmeyer support their thesis with psychological studies...

Words: 1409 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Video Games

...Violent Video Games There are two sides of the argument of what violent video games have on the youth of America. Some believe that violent video games have negative affects and produce social violence. At the same time there are those who believe that violent video games have positive effects. From my experience with violent video games I take no side in this argument. I would like to present a neutral view on this topic by showing you the positive and negative effects of violent video games. For years, psychologists have been arguing which is more important in a child’s life: genetics or how the child is raised. By looking at what the child is allowed to view and do gives insight into this question. Violent video games do influence a child. Whether or not this influence is good or bad is a point that will be expressed in this paper. Advocates believe that playing violent video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive behavior. Violent juvenile crime has been declining as violent video games popularity has been increasing. The link between violent video games and violent behavior has not been proven. Players should understand the game they are playing is not real despite how realistic violent video games have become. Advocates for video games claim that they can promote an outlet for children and teens to release their aggression and stress. This aggression and stress is usually collected throughout their daily lives and interactions with others. Violent video games provide...

Words: 760 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Video Game Essay

...------------------------------------------------- Video Games and Children Video games was introduce goes far back in the early 1940s-1950s when researchers, scholars and entrepreneur began producing and designing simple games, simulation and artificial intelligence (AI) as part of computer research programs and had become child hood leisure activities and even for adults. (Totilo, 2010) Video gaming didn’t reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s. Adults and parents become concern on the possible ill effects on children but early research found out the results unclear. Back then in the 1980s video games sales boost up when the Nintendo system was first release and with its better and more colorful graphics. When Sega, Nintendo, Sony and other videogame console release bigger and better consoles in the early 2000 followed by Microsoft Xbox in 2001, video game skyrocket even more and there start what gamers called “console wars”. (Rice, 2013) As of today there are two consoles leading up the video game market; Sony Playstaion 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One. Many of the fan boys(loyal to their console ownership) had a lot of arguments and debate which one is better with each consoles unique and fancy features it is still undecided which one is the best and it is all about the matter of taste of the people. (Rice, 2013) A lot of American children...

Words: 1263 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Bloody Pixels

...Bloody Pixels: Video Game Violence There are many speculations on video game violence and its harmful effects on the kids who have come addicted to playing them. Many people believe that video games are the ultimate cause of why we see aggression and violence from our youth today. In reality video games are not the main cause of this violence that is being seen. There are many factors that are not being accounted for when determining the cause of a child's violence. Factors such as abuse, depression, and environmental influences have more of an effect on children then actual video games. Violence in video games is not the reason children become violent. Said violence comes from the abuse, depression, and other environmental factors. My support for this claim is for many of reasons, but the big one being that I myself have played many violent video games as a child yet I have grown to be caring and refrain from violence towards other people. I have not committed a violent crime or acted aggressively towards another in any way. A major argument that comes up is that children act based on what they see. With today's advanced technology video games have become so clear and graphic that one could get lost into the "gaming world". Albert Bandura, a famous psychologist, did a study on children and aggression. The study showed that children who witnessed a bobo doll being abused by an adult also committed those same actions, sometimes worse and sometimes less when encountered with...

Words: 1627 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Article Review

...Article 1 Do video games cause violence, or do more aggressive youths play video games? This is the argument being discussed in this first article. Bringing forth evidence to support his statements are following studies that have yet to find ground as this topic is difficult to prove either way. The thought process being that certain violent instances in the recent past are the direct result of “Video gamers who seemed to be acting out some dark fantasy” (Carey, 2013, p.1). To support his argument, Carey discusses several studies, though most at this point are inconclusive. From statements made by research psychologists, to studies done to show the effects of violent video games and how youths exposed to the effects said they are to have on aggression levels in these youths. The possibility also exists that aggressive youths can also be a direct result of family life and the exposure to aggressive behavior. In essence these youths are acting out habitual aggression. Carey makes mention of the three categories research falls into which consist of short-term laboratory experiments; longer-term studies, and correlation studies (2013, p. 6). Discussion of how playing these violent video games and how it “stirs the blood” (Carey, 2013, p. 7) was one study conducted. The results were that the youths that played a violent video game for 15 minutes were more likely to give fellow classmates large helpings of hot sauce, knowing these classmates didn’t like hot sauce,...

Words: 479 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Media

...Media  Topic 1: Explanations of Media Influences on Antisocial Behaviour  Observational Learning  Where individuals observe and imitate the behaviour of others. Many argue that watching television  can teach viewers violent behaviour/draw their attention to behaviours they wouldn’t have  previously considered.  Bandura (1983) used his Social Learning Theory to explain this. Watching violent role models may  increase violent behaviour in those who are already motivated to behave aggressively. TV may also  teach viewers the positive and negative consequences of behaving aggressively.   Research on the role of observational learning from media in antisocial behaviour has shown:  ‐ Bandura et al (1986):  Children aged 3‐5 were shown films of a model behaving aggressively towards a “bobo doll”. The  doll was hit, thrown, sat on and punched in the nose 3 times during the film. The children were then  lead to laboratory containing toys (including the bobo doll), and were observed during free play. 88%  of the children imitated the behaviour seen in the film‐ significantly more than a control group of  children who did not see the film.  ‐ Bobo dolls do not retaliate when hit. This raises questions as to how much this study tells us about  the effect of media influences on antisocial behaviour towards other human beings.   ‐ Smith et al (2004): The children’s behave would be better defined as “rough and tumble play”  rather than aggression.  ‐ Some have labelled Bandura’s study as artificial...

Words: 8378 - Pages: 34

Premium Essay

Reduce the Marketing of Violent Toys, Games and Entertainment to Children

...Running head: Reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children. Position paper : Reduce the marketing of violent toys, games and entertainment to children. DeVry University Engl-112-61206: Composition Professor: Jamie Pacton Student: Valeriya Zakreski Violence is a physical action to injure people or property. We can read a lot of information and watch news about violence. We can say that violence is a part of our life and he human condition. But the worst fact that today, our children are involved to this part of human condition. From child abuse to murder, to school-yard bullying, violence takes its toll, often with children being the innocent. But what can cause the violence between the children? Today we can hear a lot of information about it, as: toy guns and video games affect on the children’s health and behavior, violent homes lead children to the crime. “More than 1,000 studies on the effects of television and film violence have been done over the past 40 years. The majority of these studies reach the same conclusion: television and film violence leads to real-world violence. By age 18 an American child will have seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence.” Senator Orrin G. Hatch, Utah, Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary. September 14,1999. Children, Violence, And the Media. A report for Parents and Policy...

Words: 2041 - Pages: 9