Violence in Video Games



Violence in Video Games

Thesis Statement

Violent video games pose a danger to society because they can cause users to behave violently in the real world. I believe that repeated violence exposure in video games increases aggression across the lifespan. Violent video games' playing leads individuals for hostile feelings or aggressive thinking and may offer a medium for simulating and reinforcement of aggressive behavior.

Introduction

Video games are being increasingly used by adolescents, kids, and young adults mainly around the world. Violence has always been a key theme in video games, and as the games became more and more realistic, it has given increasing emphasis (Porter and Starcevic, 2007). The content of video games has come under greater scrutiny of media in the past 15 years, as a number of the top- selling games have become more graphically violent and intense. Mortal Kombat, Doom, Grand Theft Auto are some of the most popular relevant games. Concerns have been raised regarding violent video games, particularly from the media, mental health professionals and certain regulatory bodies (Ferguson et. al., 2008). A lot of controversy has emerged as to whether people are taught by video games with violent content to be more aggressive or not. Otherwise stated, do individuals learn from and imitate the violence in the real world experienced by them as players in video games? An association between the usage of video games with violent content and subsequent antisocial or aggressive behavior is put forward by a number of case reports and studies. The objective of this paper is to analyze the controversial issue of adverse impact of these games on behavior of users in real world. It is anticipated that understanding the impact of violent video games on gamer's behavior better might provide a contribution to efforts for reduction of potentially detrimental impacts of the violent video games.

Discussion

Evolution of Violent Video Games

In the 1970s, shortly after the beginning of availability of commercial product, concerns were raised that video games promote violent behavior in players. In 1976, with the “Death Race” (Exidy) release, the first major controversy took place (Kent, 2001). Player was featured in the game as a driver of an automobile, whose aim was to crush screaming “gremlins,” transforming them into tombstones. The “gremlins” appeared as stick-figure humans with the use of primitive graphics; thus, the game appeared to overlook the mass murder of innocent civilians with a car. The working title of game- “Pedestrian” fueled the uproar and reportedly protestors took out some machines from arcades and put them into fire. The uprising protest waves ensued the cancellation of “Death Race” production. In the early 1990s, renewed consideration to potential impacts of violent video games happened with the releases of Wolfenstein 3D, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter; each of them featured repetitive violence on person-to-person basis (Carnagey & Anderson, 2004). Since this time, with the development of the internet simultaneously, players in 'first person shooters' are now able to exterminate virtual opponents online or one another with advanced levels ...