“Do violent video games contribute to gun violence?

“Do violent video games contribute to gun violence?

Introduction

Children have always been playing games related to violence ever since it introduced. An example of games they have been playing is cowboys vs. Indians, war games, superheroes vs. villains; police vs. criminals, star wars games, and the list is endless. All these games involve, shooting, and fighting. Nevertheless, through children playing violence, during their playing time, a whole new level was brought up, especially after the invention of video games got into the picture. The small boys no longer want a new plastic gun as birthday gifts, they actually want, video games that mostly involve the killing of virtual characters. They want their new video games to be rougher, and they seem to be enjoying it more. This has brought many researchers to try and understand the dilemma’s solutions.

Therefore, do violent games encourage these children to be more violent? According to John Riccitiello, the CEO of Electronic Arts, through the high amount of research done, has dominated over the purpose of link findings between the entertainment content, and actual violence but an ultimate proof has not yet been found. However, on the other hand, a research done from a video gaming has developments that lead to positive effects from the brain development of the brain through the improved eye-hand coordination, skills that assist in multitasking, directions that give one focus, and decision-making process (Copenhaver, pg.177).

A study published in 2007 by the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, violent video games that awaken an irritation state. The gamers, however, are definitely more positioned through verbal aggression, and through brutal behaviour. The study further indicated, the participants who give about 20 minutes, became less aroused physically, but through situations that led to real violence, the participants got physically aroused. The gamers aggressively got used to the behaviour, and they considered the behaviour healthy through video game playing. Most of these participants almost became numb after they saw the physical fights. The violence desensitization became a concern, especially through violence (Copenhaver, pg.177). However, this experiments, did not measure, a behavior brought about by participants who engaged in violent video games. Therefore, the assumptions further resulted from the study indicated prevailing arguments.

Although through violent games, associated with the real-life violence indicated an association given from the researchers that they hadn’t proved that they were actual cause of violence (Copenhaver, pg.177). Therefore, the participants became prone to aggressive behavior such as playing video games. But there was an inclination to these games after there was a result that caused the prevailing arguments. The findings of the published study indicate the actions on the video games that improve the player’s learning capacity. Therefore, in the given experiment, the non-action gamers had a lower perceptual learning performance that was compared to actions of the gamers. The research, found the action video games boosted faster through a better performance through perceptual learning tasks. Experienced players are very effective in the multitasking, since they can pay attention to several details, at the same time. The events do not lead the participants into confusion. Gaming scenarios contribute towards the development of such capacity of the brain.

Although there isn’t authority’s proof that video gaming causes violence, it would be irresponsible for people to claim that violent games have no effect on people’s behavior (DeCamp, pg.296). The addictive games make us enjoy seeing blood on screen, and they make virtual violence a constant part of our lives. We are all affected by the environment that surrounds us, and children’s minds that take impressions for granted. Therefore, to support the culture that enables the treatment of violence like a perfectly normal thing is simply wrong. Blissful childhood should not be associated to games that allow the support of violence. However, parents, and teachers should not paranoid about all video games, because there is clear evidence that these activities can boost children’s learning capacity improve their focus (DeCamp, pg.296).

The positive effects of video gaming, and the lack of proof that violent games are thee actual cause of behavior problems should not be taken for granted. Excessive gaming leads to unhealthy lifestyle, so parents should do their best to control this habit, and choose the games for their children very carefully (Dillon, pg. 1057). There are many video games that can help develop different functions of the brain without making the player dependent upon virtual violence. Violent video games have more negative effects that the positive effects. The effects of the violent video games, mostly affect the audience, regardless of the age. Violent games are highly watched by adolescent, and even children watch them from the influence of adults who give them a video to watch, or the ones who encourage them to watch together with them. It’s apparent that players of violent video games do not target at a specific audience, but they get sold to all potential customers (Ferguson, pg. 56).

Although most research have shown how video games from violent videos are negative to the children, they are still positive effects of violent video games. This includes allowing children to improve their computer literacy, and player’s manual dexterity. It is however clear those violent video games may not be seen as part of violent by children, especially with the aim of entertainment watching, and gaining of computer literacy (Matthews, pg. 225). A child is able to understand how the computer and other gadgets are connected to the enabling power of watching of video games. Violent video games also allow teens to be more aggressive, especially with the time taken from the long video games. They allow the participation of improvement on the aggressive behavior, as well as aggressive thoughts. Violent video games, like any other video games, allow the games increase through the eye-hand coordination to the player (Matthews, pg. 225).

Conclusion

Violent video games have more of negative effects from the comparisons to positive effects to the participants. The large numbers of people who play video games actually get addicted, and spend much of their time on games. They enable players to gain computer literacy whereby they use computers, and for them they actually get paid after they play well. Violent video games make many people to develop violence to other people. Violent video games make the players internalize anxiety through their issues, whereby they do not feel comfortable sharing with other people to get help. Majority of children who watch, and play video games spend much of their time on video games. It is apparent that people who play violent video games may turn to be murders as they practice what they learn from the games. Violent video games make the players become aggressive, and apply anger around them.

References

Copenhaver, Allen. “Violent video game legislation as pseudo-agenda.” Criminal justice studies 28.2 (2015): 170-185.

DeCamp, Whitney. “Impersonal agencies of communication: Comparing the effects of video games and other risk factors on violence.” Psychology of Popular Media Culture 4.4 (2015): 296.

Dillon, Kelly P., and Brad J. Bushman. “Effects of exposure to gun violence in movies on children’s interest in real guns.” JAMA pediatrics 171.11 (2017): 1057-1062.

Ferguson, Christopher J., et al. “Violent video games don’t increase hostility in teens, but they do stress girls out.” Psychiatric quarterly 87.1 (2016): 49-56.

Matthews, Nicholas L. “Too good to care: The effect of skill on hostility and aggression following violent video game play.” Computers in Human Behavior 48 (2015): 219-225.

McGloin, Rory, et al. “Modeling outcomes of violent video game play: Applying mental models and model matching to explain the relationship between user differences, game characteristics, enjoyment, and aggressive intentions.” Computers in Human Behavior 62 (2016): 442-451.

Santos, Maria Fernanda, et al. “Hands up! Atypical defensive reactions in heavy players of violent video games when exposed to gun-attack pictures.” Frontiers in psychology 10 (2019): 191.

Scharrer, Erica, et al. “Violent video games do contribute to aggression.” Video game influences on aggression, cognition, and attention. Springer, Cham, 2018. 5-21.