A lot has been said about violent computer games and its effects. This issue is one of much debated issues in the American society and there is a difference of opinion among different sections of the society. Some find that violent computer games affect teenagers in a negative manner and cause violent tendencies in teenagers. On the other side, there are many people who do not buy this argument and say that violent computer games do not cause violent tendencies in teens and they are merely a tool of entertainment. This paper intends to discuss effects of violent computer games along with analyzing how violent computer games cause violent tendencies in teenagers.
People, who oppose violent computer games, say that violent computer games cause violent behavior in teenagers. It has been observed that teenagers who spend their time in playing violent computer games are interested in violence and consequently their behavior is influenced by violence. Teenagers who play violent computer games are incited by violent behavior and knowingly or unknowingly violence becomes an inseparable part of their life. Violent computer games affect the psyche of teenagers and the real problem starts when they start practicing such violent behavior in their real life (Anderson et al.).
Conflict with teachers, classmates, siblings and other students of school become a routine of their life. Teenagers even start arguing their parents on various issues. Teenagers who spend substantial time in playing violent computer games become intolerant and start indulging in violence on trivial issues. Usually a huge amount of violent activities are portrayed in violent computer games. Fighting, shooting and whacking heads and other parts of human body are very common things that are enormously portrayed in violent computer games (Saleem et al.).
There is a simple rule of playing violent computer games and that is ‘the more aggressive player, the more fun in the game’. There is no reason why teenagers’ behavior will not get affected if they are so keenly interested in these games and spend enormous amount of time in playing these violent games (Anderson et al.). It is very obvious that would be curious to apply things in their real life that they see and do while playing their favorite violent computer games.
The idea of violent computer games is based upon the reward system. Players of violent computer games are rewarded during playing these games with various achievements that encourage them to play these games more passionately. Players of these games also cross various hurdles and shoot several powerful and invincible monsters during playing violent computer games. All these things are based on violence and give a clear message that being violent can solve various problems that are otherwise not possible to solve.
It is an established fact that repetition causes learning. When teenagers sped a considerable amount of time in playing violent computer games, they learn various things from these violent games. It has also been observed in various instances that teenagers are addicted of playing violent computers games. These games are addicting on nature and when teenagers start plying these games, it becomes difficult for teenagers to skip playing these games. All these factors affect them in various negative ways and violent behavior among teenagers is merely one of these negative effects (Greitemeyer & Mugge).
An extensive study was done by the researchers of the University of Innsbruck on this issue. Researchers conducted a thorough research on almost thirty seven thousand participants regarding the issue and presented their report in the ‘Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin’. The report suggests that violent computer games affect teenagers’ behavior in various negative ways and make them violent. Reduced social activities and other creative activities were found to be various other negative aspects of this report (Greitemeyer & Mugge). Iowa state University professor Craig Anderson says, “high exposure to media violence is a major contributing cause of the high rate of violence in modern U.S. society” (Demaria, p 19-20).
This issue becomes much intensive and hotly debated issues once incidents of school shootings or other similar mishaps take place in the United States of America. Incidents of school shootings and various other crimes by teenagers have abruptly increased in recent times. These incidents claim hundreds of precious lives and a majority of these victims are innocent children. In a huge number of cases shooters were teenagers who used to play violent computer games. These teenagers were unable to control their aggressive behavior and reacted in the most heinous manner (Demaria).
There are many people who do not believe that violent computer games cause violent behavior in teenagers and they discard abovementioned arguments. They argue that crime and violence has nothing to do with violent computer games. They blame parenting and other factors for violent behavior of teenagers instead of blaming violent computer games. Researchers, from Villanova University along researchers from Rutgers University, conducted an extensive research on the issue and published a report, “Violent Video Games and Real-World Violence: Rhetoric Versus Data” in ‘The Psychology of Popular Media Culture’. They present an entirely different picture of the issue (Markey & Markey).
People who do not support violence theory of violent computer games say that video games teach a number of things to teenagers. Teenagers do not only learn violent behavior from these games but at the same time, they learn good reasoning and analytical skills from these games. It has also been observed that teenagers who spend substantial time on playing these games are proved to be smart drivers that teenagers who do not play these games. They also learn problem solving skills and other skills that help them in studies, as well as, at various stages of their life.
Having observed an overview and succinct analysis of the abovementioned subject, the paper concludes that violent video games may affect behavior of teenagers however these games are not solely responsible for violent behavior of teenagers. On examining this issue in a neutral manner, it becomes clear that there are various negative effects of violent computer games and these games affect players in different ways. It cannot be overlooked that shooters of various incidents of school shootings have been found to be passionate players of violent computer games. A number of teenagers who play violent video games have been found indulged in various violent activities.
Bibliography
Anderson, CA, Shibuya, A, Ihori, N, Swing, EL, Bushman, BJ, Sakamoto, A, Rothstein, HR, and Saleem, M. "Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review." Psychology Bulletin, 136(2) (2010): 151-73. Print.
Demaria, Rusel. Reset: Changing the Way We Look at Video Games. California: ReadHowYouWant.com, 2007. Print.
Greitemeyer, T., & Mugge, Dirk O. . "Video Games Do Affect Social Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review of the Effects of Violent and Prosocial Video Game Play." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(5) (2014): 578-589 . Print.
Markey, Patrick M., & Markey, Charlotte N. "Vulnerability to Violent Video Games: A Review and Integration of Personality Research." Review of General Psychology, 14(2) (2010): 82-91. Print.
Saleem, M, Anderson, CA, and Gentile, DA. "Effects of Prosocial, Neutral, and Violent Video Games on Children's Helpful and Hurtful Behaviors." Aggressive Behavior, 38(4) (2012): 281-7. Print.
