Free Essays on Video Game Violence

In the game Carmageddon, players run down pedestrians, including elderly women with walkers. If a player completes all levels of this game, he or she will have killed a maximum of 33,000 people† (Mediascope Press 2). Violence in video games has been a topic of debate in recent years, with concerns on whether violence in video games has an aggressive effect on children. Violence in video games makes children more aggressive and hostile; in addition, â€Å"video game violence makes children desensitized to violence, which can lead to violence at school and home† (Barnes 1). Video games that incorporate violence shouldn’t be played by young children. Young children don’t fully understand the difference between fantasy and reality. On the other hand, older kids know the difference between fantasy and reality, and right and wrong. Therefore older children should be allowed to play video games that contain violence. Some people say that kids are attracted to video games not so much by the violence, but because the games present puzzles or problems to solve (Sherry 1). If this is true, then why in a 1998 survey â€Å"80% of the video games preferred by young people contain violent or aggressive content; of these, 21% depict violence against women† (Mediascope Press 1). Also â€Å"in a survey of 900 fourth graders disclosed similar results: 50% of the respondents chose games with fantasy or human violence as their favorites† (Mediascope Press 1). Finally, â€Å"Two studies at the Psychology Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia concluded that men have a more hostile view of the world than women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both short term and the long term†(Anderson 1). Other people argue that virtually every new video and computer game released today carries a rating... Free Essays on Video Game Violence Free Essays on Video Game Violence â€Å"Frank, Betty, you’re right on time. Please come in,† Glenna asked as she and her husband Chris greeted their long time friends at the door. â€Å"Dinner is about ready, please have a seat,† Glenna invited as she hustled to the kitchen. â€Å"Can I help at all?† Betty hollered as Glenna scurried along. â€Å"Nah, thanks for the offer, but I’m just finishing up,† she responded from across the room. As Glenna set down the last bowl of food she bellowed for everyone to come and eat. â€Å"Where is Mark,† Betty asked, referring to Glenna and Chris’ 13 year-old son, as she sat down. â€Å"He is playing those God-forsaken video games,† Chris replied with disgust in his tone. â€Å"Yeah, he hardly ever wants to do anything with us anymore, much less eat dinner,† Glenna added with the same tone. I’ll bring him a plate in a bit; let’s pray.† Video games are a very popular means of entertainment among adolescents today. They offer a much needed, long sought after, cure for Boredom. However, there are many concerns surrounding video games. The frontrunner among these concerns is video game violence. This is a very real and pertinent issue because the teens that are being saturated with this violence on an everyday basis are the only hope for a better tomorrow. Moreover, if this violence is influencing them to treat life as meaningless, then there must be some kind of action taken to stop this desensitization. The problem of violence in video games has been pushed off and ignored for long enough. It is about time that we confront this problem in a hard-nosed manner to see if there is a cause for concern about our youth. First of all, we will discuss what video game violence is. From there we will examine the effects it has on the user’s family life, his social life, him physically, and finally, psychologically. In order to draw accurate conclusions on this issue, we must first define and explain what video game viol... Free Essays on Video Game Violence In the game Carmageddon, players run down pedestrians, including elderly women with walkers. If a player completes all levels of this game, he or she will have killed a maximum of 33,000 people† (Mediascope Press 2). Violence in video games has been a topic of debate in recent years, with concerns on whether violence in video games has an aggressive effect on children. Violence in video games makes children more aggressive and hostile; in addition, â€Å"video game violence makes children desensitized to violence, which can lead to violence at school and home† (Barnes 1). Video games that incorporate violence shouldn’t be played by young children. Young children don’t fully understand the difference between fantasy and reality. On the other hand, older kids know the difference between fantasy and reality, and right and wrong. Therefore older children should be allowed to play video games that contain violence. Some people say that kids are attracted to video games not so much by the violence, but because the games present puzzles or problems to solve (Sherry 1). If this is true, then why in a 1998 survey â€Å"80% of the video games preferred by young people contain violent or aggressive content; of these, 21% depict violence against women† (Mediascope Press 1). Also â€Å"in a survey of 900 fourth graders disclosed similar results: 50% of the respondents chose games with fantasy or human violence as their favorites† (Mediascope Press 1). Finally, â€Å"Two studies at the Psychology Department at the University of Missouri-Columbia concluded that men have a more hostile view of the world than women. The results from both studies are consistent with the General Aggression Model, which predicts that exposure to violent video games will increase aggressive behavior in both short term and the long term†(Anderson 1). Other people argue that virtually every new video and computer game released today carries a rating...