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Tennis for Two is said to be the very first video game ever created. It was built on 1958 by William Higinbotham, a physicist (“October 1958,” n.d.). Using a cathode ray tube display, the tennis court was represented by two lines (side view) while the ball was only represented by a dot (“October 1958,” n.d.). Clearly, the design and production of video games have come a long way in the past decades. Tennis for Two was definitely far from the current video games that both children and adults enjoy nowadays. Although there are video games that are as friendly as the theme of Tennis for Two, there are also those that have so much disturbing content, such as the violent video games which anyone can download and play. From a personal perspective, violent video games must be banned because it is addictive, causes negative effect on academic performance, and encourages aggressive behaviors.
First of all, most violent video games are addictive. The number one reason behind this is that many of these games, such as Call of Duty and Battle Field, are played from a first-person point of view. Psychologists claim that by playing from the first-person perspective, the players are given the feeling that they are in control of a situation (Thornhill, 2013). This feeling is extra special for younger people since they are often under the control and supervision of their parents or guardians. Aside from giving a sense of control, playing from a first-person point of view gives the players the opportunity to achieve a rewarding sense of making decisions on their own. After all, video games are all about decision making. According to Lennart Nacke, director of the Games and Media Entertainment Research Laboratory, “ what might be a very simple decision if you have all the time in the world becomes much more attractive and complex when you have to do it split second” (Thornhill, 2013). The more players play violent video games, the more they feel powerful. This is a feeling that many people crave for.
Because of the addicting nature of violent video games, student players are at risk of poor academic performance. Based on an experimental study headed by Robert Weis and Brittany Cerankosky, students who use video games, whether it is violent in nature or not, spend less time doing homework and performs poorly on standardized exams (Dewar, 2013). These results are not surprising because being addictive to violent video games means that players most likely spend most of their time playing. As a result, they develop poor studying habits.
Lastly, playing violent video games encourages aggressive behaviors. According to Narvaez, a psychology expert, the normal human intuition is to condemn violence and be helpful of others as it brings a sense of emotional reward. She adds that players of violent games develop the opposite outlook in life because they tend to believe that being violent is more rewarding (Narvaez, 2010). In other words, violent video games associate aggression or violent behaviors with rewarding experience. In addition, violent video games also serve as the players training ground for practicing the behaviors that they learned. Through practice, aggression and violence become an “automatic response” by the players (Narvaez, 2010). Clearly, violent video games are bad influence to the people who play it regularly.
Overall, playing violent video games causes several negative effects. Because it gives its players a sense of control and the pleasure to decide on exciting situations, it can be addictive. As a result, it negatively affects the academic performance of student players. At the same time, it also associates violence with rewards. Therefore, violent video games must be banned. By doing so, players will be saved from addiction, poor academic performance, and aggressive behaviors.
References
Dewar, G. (n.d.). The effects of video games on school achievement. Parenting Science. Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/Effects-of-video-games-on-school.html
Narvaez, D. (2010). Playing violent video games: Good or bad? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/moral-landscapes/201011/playing-violent-video-games-good-or-bad
Thornhill, T. (2013). Why first-person violent video games are so addictive: Psychologists reveal shoot-em-ups make us feel like we’re ‘playing God.’ Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2515101/Why-person-violent-video-games-addictive-Psychologists-reveal-shoot-em-ups-make-feel-like-playing-God.html
