Suraj Patel Health Care & Human Values Essay 1 March 5, 2013
Shooting in the Dark Recently there was an article in the New York Times called Shooting in the Dark by Benedict Carey. The article starts off reminding us of some tragic and violent shootings such as the Aurora, CO movie theater, Newton, CT elementary school, and Columbine High School. It goes on to say that the one thing these and other massacres had in common was that “they were video gamers who seemed to be acting out some dark digital fantasy.” Since the late 50s there have been a lot of studies and debates on whether video games have a negative effect. The debate grows even more relevant today due to the games being more realistic and violent. The article goes on to say that video games in the short term stir hostile urges and aggressive behavior. Christopher Bartlett, a psychologist at Iowa State University, carried out a study which concluded that a dose of violent video gaming makes the players act more “rudely” than usual though only for a few minutes. However, as one plays the game longer, they develop a habit and start exhibiting more aggressive behavior over time. The article tried to directly link video games to violence, but also stated that while video game sales have more than doubled, the number of violent crimes by youth have fallen by more than half. Craig A. Anderson, also a psychologist at ISU, believes that “none of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on.” Instead of focusing solely on video games, more emphasis needs to be given to the individuals who play them This article was worth reading because as a fellow gamer, I had to see what the media was now accusing video games of doing. Video games are currently under America’s spot light due to the recent tragedies of Aurora, CO and Newtown, CT. Due to the violent nature of these crimes, many investigators have tagged video games as the cause. There have been many states that have tried to either ban certain video games or make them hard to obtain. Video games are currently the media’s scapegoat because the young men who carried out these heinous crimes also played violent video games, but millions of other Americans do as well and most are not committing crimes. One needs to look beyond video games to find the real cause of the violence. For many people, video games serve simply as an outlet. They play violent games so that they may release their stress without causing harm. As the article stated, the number of youth offenders fell by more than half between 1994 and 2010 to 224 per 100,000, according to government statistics, while sales of video games have more than doubled since 1996. The statistics show that video games are actually reducing violence by serving as a substitute and providing a safe outlet for all the aggression and anger. This allows for the relief of violent urges instead of incubating them which can lead to harm to others or one’s self down the road. The video games also keep violent people occupied, as every minute spent playing a video game is a minute not spent committing real violence. If video games were to be taken away from people experiencing anger and aggression, then they would have to substitute video game violence with real violence. Video games can also serve as a positive socialization and bonding experience for many young gamers. Many of the games require team cooperation to succeed and studies have shown when they play games like these, they continue to be more cooperative throughout the experiment. People who are unsocial in school can socialize and work as a team through video games, though there could be reason why they’re being unsocial in school.
In many of the recent
Violence and Video Games Trina Heyrman Eng/225 April Rivers June 14, 2014 Violence and Video Games When discussing all of the violent crimes that have happened in the United States over the past few years, there are several topics that keep getting thrown into the ring of discussion. One of the main topics, is the idea that playing violent video games will lead to children and adults being violent themselves, and make them more likely to commit acts of violence against themselves and others…
Stephen Herbermann Criminology 100 Violence in Video Games Violence in video games is an issue that has been increasing in severity over the past several years and is having a negative impact on those who play them, and on society as a whole. With new developments in technology, video games are becoming more and more realistic, making the gamer feel like they are actually in the game itself. However, this increase in realism is beginning to blur the lines between what is…
Video Game Violence “ Guns require a finger to pull the trigger.” Rick Perry. For some people like Adam Lanza and SeungHui Cho it was just a mixture of things such as mental illness, fictional video games, and most likely family issues. Video games are not always the main source of the problem, it’s a combination of fantasy and the real world. To begin with is the fact that Adam Lanza is mentally ill with and has violent masculinity. Here the Huffington Post says this statement about Adam and many more “Adam…
11-4-13 Professor Lynch Video games in modern society “Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-n-roll.” (Miyamoto) The future of entertainment completely relies on the evolution of technology. Video games are becoming more and more realistic leaving little for the imagination to decipher which is most likely a reason that video games are being blamed for youth violence. For most video game players, the violence portrayed in video games is ineffectual so the isolated…
Video Games and Violence Video games vary in the type of entertainment they provide, from educational purposes to extremely violent. Inevitably, with the large variety of games available, parents are facing the task of protecting their children from the more violent games that could have a negative impact on them. The debate over the evidence supporting the connection between video games violence and real world violence among experts is ongoing, however; both sides agree the parents play a pivotal…
Psych 101 Showalter Video Game Violence To begin, I have a strong belief against video games that include violence in them. I believe that if children become accustomed to seeing murders, crime, and death almost every day during a video game then it will numb the effect of real murders, crime and death in real life. It becomes a routine for many to go home and sit and play violent video games like murdering innocent victims is not a big deal. In my experiences I have seen my friends and family…
with both negative and positive effects. Heated debates of whether video games have positive or harmful effects to those who play it more so young children and male adults have ensued. These debates have not been conclusive of whether video games have negative or positive effects on the gamers. Video games played from Playstation 3's, Xbox 360, laptops, and computers have made access to video games possible to the lovers of the game. Critiques, however, hold divergent views over the subject with those…
Effects of Violence in Video Games Video games are popular amongst people of all ages, gender, and cultural upbringing. As time moves on, video games become more realistic. The realism in these games make it seem as though the player is actually in the game committing violent acts, such as, fighting and killing. There have been many arguments throughout the media and people on whether or not violent video games will increase violent behavior in the player. Even though the video game industry is…
Part 1: Introduction I have enjoyed playing video games, and competing with my brothers and friends since I was a little kid. Back then, my parents were never worried that the violence in video games such as Battlefield and Hitman had any negative impacts on my mental health, or caused any problems for me at school. I don’t consider myself a violent person, but I am expected to be aggressive when playing football. When I think of where my aggression comes from when playing football, I do…
Rosie Caporaso Period 4 1/28/13 VIDEO GAME VIOLENCE BANG BANG BANG, 3 shots are fired at my video game character. I ducked and avoided the third shot by a hair. I crawl to the trench to reload my M2 browning machine gun and check my surroundings. At the last second I see a grenade heading my way. I break away and jump into the tank beside me. BOOM a huge explosion rattles my ear drums. One of my comrades is about to get shot by the zombie. I raise the gun up, but its too late, he's blasted…