Thursday, February 26, 2009

Do violent video games lead to more violence?

On Monday we spent a good portion of the lecture discussing whether violent video games promote a culture of violence within our society. Games like "Call of Duty," "Grand Theft Auto" and "Halo" all center around one's ability to kill the enemy by any means necessary, and now that technology has improved, those video games have the ability to portray shootings and other acts of violence with a chilling likeness to real events. This leads many to believe that children who spend prolonged periods of time playing violent video games to become desensitized to violence and even more likely to commit violent acts.

While I do believe that things people witness on television -- i.e. violence in the news, TV shows or in movies -- can affect a person's views on violence, I do not believe that video games have the same affect.

The main argument the Professor Nicholas gave us during lecture was that violent video games are engrossing, interactive and encourage identification with the video game's shooter or aggressor. And "first-person shooter games" reflect some of those beliefs. In a "first-person shooter game," the game runs from the prospective of the player and it makes it seem like the player literally is shooting people. And people argue that the ability to press a button to kill a video game character lets the person choose to kill in the game, so that separates games from other mediums.

My main problem with those arguments are two-fold. I believe that in video games, there is detachment involved from the creation of fantasy-type atmospheres that prevents a person from truly identifying with the game. And I think that while graphics have improved, there still lacks a true real-world feeling to games. Seeing a person explode in a video game isn't nearly as uncomfortable as in a movie or on the news. When I was a kid -- and sometimes now -- I had to cover my eyes in violent movie scenes, I've never had that problem with a video game.

Studies have also shown that it's hard to connect video game usage to violent acts. In a 2005 study Williams and Skoric found no difference in aggression between violent game players and a control group. And there recently was an AP story about a California appeals court striking down a California law that sought to ban the sale or rental of violent video games to minors.

"None of the research establishes or suggests a causal link between minors playing violent video games and actual psychological or neurological harm, and inferences to that effect would not be reasonable," the court said in the ruling.

So my question for everyone is very simple? What do you think? Do you agree that video games are not sophisticated enough of a medium to promote violence? Do you feel that the fantasy situations in video games diminishes the reality of violent actions? Or do you disagree? Do you feel that video games leave children with a higher propensity to violence?

22 comments:

  1. I think it depends on the age of the kids playing the game as well as the way violence is taught and accepted in the home. If violence is an acceptable means of communicating and the act of playing those games reinforces violence as a norm, then yes i believe that video games leave children with a higher propensity to violence. It's all relative. Children learn what's appropriate from modeling and the actions of others. I think that's why some children have a greater tendency towards violence, they learn that its okay behavior. I don't believe there is a direct correlation between video games and violence from a societal standpoint.

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  2. I don't necessarily agree or disagree with the point that video games cause violence. I think it really depends on the nature of the video game and the person who is playing it. Like Carrie said above, its about the environment at home and who is or is not reinforcing those actions. I think that if a child/teen/adult is going to commit a violent act, then it may have been reinforced by playing video games, but they probably had the tendency before that. I really think it is subjective and based on a case by case situation.

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  3. Having three brothers and being the only girl- I was the only one to which video games did not spark an intrest. My brothers would spend hours a day playing these games and recently are capable of communicating to friends and complete strangers through these systems. I agree with what Carrie says about the limitations and what is being taught in the home. Until my brothers turned a certain age my parents would take into account the parental control ratings and from there it would determine if they would purchase the game or not. Recently, many games have (* contain extreme violence) on there covers. In a way I do believe that to some video games may drive a young person to commit an act because of what they have viewed and made their characters do in games.

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  4. having played first person shooter games, i feel as if attributing violent behavior to these types of games is misleading. In my personal experience I have always felt as if these games are more of a stress release than a fuel for violent behavior. Further, I also agree with Carrie in that children learn directly how to act from situations in the home. However, I would be interested in knowing if there are any studies being done that are able to quantify the violence of children due to violent games

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  5. Firstly, it's hard for me (maybe as a girl) to feel the thrill of killing someone in a virtual world, but I suppose our inherent "survival of the fittest" tendencies are allowed to manifest themselves in these games, but a study by the APA does concern me. "Playing video games like Doom, Wolfstein 3D or Mortal Kombat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in actual life." They foudn that the short term effects regarded "priming aggressive thoughts" but the longer term effects are longer lasting. "One major concern is the active nature of the learning environment of the video game," say the authors. "This medium is potentially more dangerous than exposure to violent television and movies, which are known to have substantial effects on aggression and violence." Maybe there have been more recent studies, but regardless, this raises some concerns in my mind.

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  6. I have a book at home entitled "Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Super Heroes and Make-believe Violence" by Gerard Jones. In the book, Jones proposes the need for make-believe violence for children to cope with neagtive feelings. Doing it through a medium, such a video games, allows children to handle these feelings 'safely'. He also mentions the blurring between virtuality and reality and also encourages parents to continually be part of their child's learning process, even as they engage in such activities. The best is to strike a balance.

    My brother is an avid gamer and some of the gore in his video games can make me cringe and cover my eyes. I know, though, in reality, that he'd never hurt a fly. My mom doesn't totally restrict him from playing video games, but she does keep tabs on him. So perhaps violent video games aren't as bad as some make them out to be?

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  7. I would definitely agree with that video games are sophisticated enough of a medium to promote violence, especially for children. For children, external or environmental stimulus, and surroundings usually have profound and determinant effects on their psychological development. Like kids usually mimic behaviors that they observe from their parents (like Professor Nicholas mentioned in the class, kids play house), they will do the same thing if they are exposed to violent video games. Kids simply mimic these scenes in life. If they are exposed to violence, they just naturally practice these "living skills" without knowing what violence actually is, not to mention how severe damages might cause someday.

    If all these violent behaviors are commonly seen in the video games, kids would viewed violence as a natural and common part of people's lives. Once this kind of concept is rooted in the kids' minds, it will be extremely difficult to remove. Just as hard as it would be for anybody to change one's existing lifestyle, culture, habit or logical thoughts.

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  8. I agree with the statement that video games are sophisticated enough to promote violence, but only to the extent that anything we see affects our view of the world. While it can promote violence, compared to other mediums I think it is a fairly weak medium. When compared to the realistic nature of movies, where realism takes on a whole new meaning, video games are extremely toned down. Another reason that video games are not an effective medium, is because it's harder to relate these games to real life since almost all of them are fictionally based with elements that are impossible. Even in an extremely realistic game such as "Grand Theft Auto" it is relatively easy to see that a lot of the game is impossible. Most people realize that if you get shot a couple times you probably won't be running around as if nothing happened. In regard to this point, I do agree with Carrie when she says that the age of the child makes a difference because young kids are still developing their sense of reality.

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  9. I think that, to a certain extent, video games, movies, and the media encourage individuals to perform violent acts. However, the trouble is that it is impossible to isolate one contributor from another. As an example, one can observe that a violent criminal has murdered somebody and his favorite video game is Grand Theft Auto. There is simply no way that Grand Theft Auto is the only thing that caused the individual to commit murder. Plausibly, the individual could have committed murder because of a combination of Grand Theft Auto, violent movies, violence in the news, and personal life factors. Any study showing that violent criminals also play violent video games only shows correlation, and not causation. The role that video games play in causing violent crimes to be committed is probably one of a plethora of other variables, all which play a small role in causing the individual to commit violence.

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  10. I think that violent games perpetuate violence, and don’t cause violence but increase violent tendencies. I have a younger brother that is now 17, and never let my parents buy games for him that included violence. I know he played these games at his friends’ houses, but since he did not own these games he had limited time playing them. He has never been a violent person, even though, I know that he has played violent video games plenty of times. I doubt the games alone are to blame for violent tendencies of children. There has to be some motivation for the violence other than the games, such as, anger created through their daily lives with their families or at school. An individual who is constantly ridiculed at school or has a bad relationship with his or her parents is more likely to become violent after playing violent video games. A person who is already violent and aggressive might take concepts from the game, where he or she thrives, and use them in their real lives. The video games themselves do not act as mediums that promote violence on their own, but depending on the situation of the individuals playing them, they can result in a higher propensity of violence. Many games have fantasy situations that do in fact diminish the reality of violent actions, such as, Super Smash Brothers, but then there are some games that are, in my opinion, more realistic like Grand Theft Auto. Frequently, children and teens that are supposed to be too young to play these games play them. These kids might see the graphics as more realistic and symbolic of the real world.

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  11. Once again, I have very little experience when it comes to playing video games, particularly violent ones, and I don't even think I've seen a violent video being played by one of my friends (since that it is the only access/interaction I have with them). Thus, my opinion is purely speculative. Generally, I don't think that playing violent video games necessarily causes people to be more violent and produce aggressive behavior. Nor do I think that violent people are the ones that are more attracted to these violent games. I think that it is all very individual-based and case sensitive. It does scare me, however, about the information that (young) people can learn about using weapons, being violent and killing through these games. One can learn many techniques and skills via these video games that can easily be implemented in real life. I doubt that these violent vide games have a large-scale effect on most of the population, especially considering many people in the class have said that they family/friends are avid players and they are completely normal/not violent; however, it only takes that one anomaly/rare individual who gets completely enthralled/warped by these games, which subsequently results in violent behavior, to make me scared that these types of games should not be a part of mass culture.

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  12. When it comes to violent video games, I feel that they may influence violence in those that already have the intentions to be violent or have a violent personality that already exists. I don't think however that they cause one to become violent. This comes from a personal perspective because I have a younger brother and I use to play games such as halo with him and it never once envoked any feelings of wanting to run rampant and reproduce the violence that is perpetuated on the video game. To us and many friends I know, these games are just that...games to play when your stuck in the house bored. In addition, I hate when parents try to blame video games for their children's behavior, majority of the times stronger influences of household violence and violence seen in the media such as on television are going to be the main influences on a child's behavior.

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  13. I think that to a certain extent children are desensitized to violence when they play violent video games a lot. I do not, however, think that people who play video games actually believe that they could do the same things in real life that they do on the virtual, make-believe games. It is about fun, it is about reaching a goal, which could be money, prizes, entrance to a higher level, etc. depending on the game. I rarely play video games of any sort, but when I do I like to play mortal combat type games. I enjoy them a lot and am very competitive. I know that it is just a game for fun, and I honestly would never even be able to use a sword to hurt someone in the way you can in the game.

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  14. I feel that violent games are not really that influential to people. There are those rare cases where people's violent actions were motivated by violent games. But in general I believe it is not that influential. As other people have commented, children are the most prone to violent games. Since children are growing and developing, they can easily be influenced by violent actions in games. But then again people are able to distinguish between reality and video games. Therefore, people would not reenact what they did in the video games.

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  15. This is a great question. I do not think that violent video games lead to more violence. I think that people feel the need to point blame somewhere and use this as a scapegoat, same as Rap Music, and so video games fall victim to this notion. The news shows just as a much violence (ie war) and I rarely see people pointing blame at that. I think that people should take the initiative and take responsibility for their own actions and stop looking for a some viable excuse for their answers. We all have the power to know what is real and not fake, just like our parents, to a certain age, can determine the things we are expose to. I feel like violence is apart of life and should be treated as such.

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  16. Having not grown up around any hardcore video-gaming of any kind really (me nor my friends were really into video games, more of that good old traditional dirty jeans activities), it is hard to pick a side in this argument. Sure, there is the stuff like the Columbine shooting and the major catastrophic human created events that lead us to believe that maybe the horrible things that video games have in them could have played a factor in the lives of these people. However, the other logical explanation is the notion of video games being too unsophisticated to legitimately impersonate real life. I think that ultimately, video games are either good or bad based on an individual basis. If there is a healthy time limit and social aspect to playing games, even some violent ones, there shouldn't be anything inherently wrong with the games. However, (as we often find a much higher volume of kids/adults in this category) video games become addictive and encompassing to the point where people alter their lives in order to play them. This is where the line is crossed and submission to violence in video games becomes dangerous. As people get into games to the point where its all they talk about or all they focus on, violence in games becomes much more salient in these people's lives, thus playing a bigger role in how they respond to the games.

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  17. I agree that violent video games do not cause children to be more violent. As David mentioned, there is a removal from reality when playing these video games, which children realize. I do believe, however, that such games desensitize children to these violent crimes. This desensitization is likely to carry into real-world violence. These kids probably understand right from wrong, but witnessing the wrong would create a less emotional response for them as it would for others who have not been desensitized. For this reason, I believe that there should be some sort of legalized restriction to the violence used in video games. It would be terrifying to live in a world where most people could not feel the shock or pain in the pits of their stomachs when they hear of a murder or other violent crime.

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  18. Having never played any violent video games, I'm not sure what kind of effect they would have on me (or any other people for that matter). However, what troubles me about them is how 'easy' it seems to shoot and kill someone. Yes it's a game, but it seems to take out any kind of moral considerations that should come with shooting a gun. I can see kids becoming desensitized to the violence, and thinking that shooting a gun is really as easy as 1,2,3 pop. I also think it's somewhat perverse that for "fun" kids are spending their time killing people in an alternative universe.

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  19. While I don't necessarily agree that video games directly cause violence, I do believe that they can lead to violent attitudes. The reason I believe this is because I have experienced this myself when playing my brother's Grand Theft Auto game. Grand Theft Auto, as we all know, is very violent and some of the missions involve killing, planting bombs, running over people, etc. Well, after playing this game, I would get in my real vehicle, and I felt a strange invincibility while driving that I do not normally feel. I felt like I could tell the police to come on and try to catch me! Thankfully, I never did anything crazy, and not to say that I would, but these games have an impact on me. This is one reason why I don't play them or allow them in my house.

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  21. Seems like we are talking about a mix of gaming categories. There are games like Grand Theft Auto that have strong elements of "reality violence". We have games with more "fantasy violence" elements based elements like Halo and Smash Brothers. And then a broad array of non violent games. Games of this ilk are similar in that while the visuals and action depicted on screen may be life-like, there is a disconnect at the controller. Shooting a gun in real life is very different from pushing the X button on a controller.

    What about games that have realistic visuals and realistic input? Anybody ever play Manhunt 2 on the Wii? Lots of controversy about that game. Many interest groups against violence in video games expressed concern over about the Wiimote's motion controls; real world action could determine in-game action. A stabbing motion with the Wiimote equals your character doing a stabbing motion.

    A recent study by Dr Patrick Markey at Villanova states that the motion control doesn't make a difference; you get the same change in hostility and aggressive thoughts as a regular controller. But it also said that people predisposed to psychosis and psychotic behavior were "much more affected by violent video games than other participants". I found this interesting, especially since the study is so new. Any thoughts on this?

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  22. Myself, I'm not much of a gamer. From the shootings games I have played, though, I know that an excitement for killing is generated. The obvious question is whether this excitement is transferred to the real world.

    It has already been determined that virtual shooting can simulate real-world shooting, as various military groups train their soldiers virtually. This tells us that these games are realistic enough to have real-world impact.

    There has been suspicion that violent real-world crimes have been attributed to the use of violent video games has been. It is my understanding, for example, that the horrific Columbine High School shootings occurred as a result of violent video game use by the shooters.

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