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RDJustin Bruce

Miss, Sharred

English 111

25 April 2010

Exposure to Violent Video Games

Over the past twelve years modern video games have chosen a different road; hey

have turned to violence to get recognized. And, of course, this has its price. The video

games of this day and age have been under major scrutiny from the media. There has

been a lot of speculation whether the new game industry actually de-sensitizes children to

violence and raises their levels of aggression. This is what the media is trying to prove;

all the new and violent games are destroying or altering the youths’ lives. But is it true?

Do these games actually have this large of an impact on their lives? Do these games have

the capability to raise a child’s aggression and de-sensitize them to real world violence?

And if so what is it that attracts these children to the major amounts of violence present in

these games?

As a gamer, the main interest I find in these games is the strategy. How you are

going to plan your next move, not necessarily the mindless killing and excessive violence

that accompanies them. The gaming industry on the other hand have struck gold, because

they have found that violence sells and it does add to the playing experience, but the

amounts of gore and blood that the developers choose to put in the game, can be quite

exaggerated. In games like Grand Theft Auto, your objective is to, basically, kill people

to progress farther in the game. It’s games like these that the media is constantly

harassing, saying how bad of an influence they are on the children who play them. But
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the fact is, games like these are given a rating, Grand Theft Auto in this case is rated “M”

meaning 17 years of age or older. Therefore, the age group it is directed to should have

enough common sense to not re-create any scenes in the game, or let the excessive

amounts of violence corrupt there mind.

Does the violence present in the games actually de-sensitize us to violence we

find in the real world? Being someone who plays these violent games I have the feeling

that they can de-sensitize the players to violence present in the real world. Being exposed

to blood and gore even on a television screen does have an effect on how you view

violence in the world. A study was conducted by Nicholas Carnagey and he asked 257

volunteers to play either a violent video game for twenty minutes; then watch a ten

minute movie of real world violence. While the volunteers were playing the game, their

heart rate was measured then the two groups’ results were compared. As was expected

the gamers who played the violent game had a faster heart rate than those who played the

non-violent games; but the surprising results was when they were showed the ten minute

film. The men and women who played the non-violent games had a significantly higher

heart rate then those who played the violent game. Therefore, the violent video game did

have an affect on how the volunteers viewed aggressive and violent behavior in the real

world.

Another issue that has been raised by the media is how violent games have a

negative affect on the behavior of children. They accuse the games of causing more

aggressive actions and cause the gamer to get irritated easier. This, I find is true. As one

who plays these violent games over the internet with other players from all over the

world I can attest that men and women to get frustrated extremely easily while playing
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these games. While playing Modern Warfare, quite frequently someone will get killed

and you can hear them scream in rage over their headset.

A study was conducted by Craig Anderson, a distinguished professor at the Iowa

State University. He has determined that, “Exposure to violent video games directly

causes increased aggressive thoughts and behavior, and decreased empathy and prosocial

behavior in the youths exposed to them.” This statement rings true in over 130,00

subjects tested world wide.

Another study was conducted and it composed of a gamer playing a violent game

and another with a non-violent game. Then the two men or women had to compete

against each other; they both wore a part of headphones and had a button in their hand. A

small ring would sound and the person to press the button first was told that they would

win, and the loser’s ears were blasted by an annoying noise. The truth is that both

subjects would receive the sound; disregarding if one won or not. In almost every test

they held; the gamer playing the violent video game would get irritated much sooner and

frequently and react more aggressively than the non-violent gamer.

There has been a lot of speculation and controversy regarding these studies.

Angry gamers have responded to them and say how playing these violent games actually

reduce there levels of stress and aggression targeted to the world. Therefore, I would have

to say that it would most likely depend on the player; and that aggression is not exactly a

result of violent games. Aggression is more likely to be caused by bad parenting along

with younger children exposed to these excessively violent games too soon. They then

grow up around violence and since they would also live in a bad household, they would

know no better than what they see on the television.

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As a final statement I believe that video games do have the ability to de-

sensitize the players to real world violence, but there is no relation to them raising the

levels of aggression in youth. It would have to be multiple factors that meld together to

create the raised aggression and irritation. The media targeting the negative affects of

video games also a large misunderstanding of these two words, frustration and

aggression. Gamers who play games like Call of Duty typically get frustrated, possibly

by dying a lot or not completing a specific objective but no aggression is caused. If the

media is to blame violent games on the raising levels of aggression in children they first

must get there facts straight and that the reaction the person obtains from these games

truly depends on there age and the life they had growing up.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-10462519-247.html

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1723

http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/study-video-games-increase-aggressive-

behavior/

http://www.physorg.com/news8756.html