Killings Inspired by Video Games??

Examples of violence and aggressive behaviours due to video games.

Video Games Teaching the Wrong Values?

It’s said that a lot of video games can teach kids the wrong values as vengeance, aggression and violence is often rewarded and negotiating or nonviolent solutions are often not options. Female characters in games are usually portrayed as helpless, weaker or sexually provocative influencing wrong values about gender and just about violence in general. This is because in games if you get a kill or get vengeance on a story character you will be rewarded whether it be with in-game money or special items. Because it's rewarding it just continues to get the player to continuously be violent. In some games abusing women, prostitution and sometimes female characters have lower stats or don't have the same skills a male character does as they are seen as weaker, teaching children wrong values.      (The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games, n.d.)

Academic Decline in Video Gamers

It's been told that children who play games in mass moderation may notice their academic achievements may be declining. Many studies display that the more time spent on participating in video games the poorer their performance in school.

 A study conducted by Argosy University’s Minnesota School on Professional Psychology discovered that children that are addicted to video games tend to argue with their teachers, score lower grades and fight with their friends a lot more than those who play games less often. In some other studies young people have admitted that their video game addiction was their cause for low school grades and that sometimes players skip homework just to play games. Academic scores are declining because children aren't spending enough time completing homework or maybe because they aren't paying attention in class because they are fixated on defeating the next boss or completing the next dungeon raid or even teaming up with friends to go shoot other players down.(The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games, n.d.)

Violent behaviour

There is a scientific study conducted by Anderson & Bushman in 2001 illustrating that young people who play violent video games are more likely to have contentious thoughts, behaviours and feelings. A survey of 1,102 found that 97% of them had played video games in the past day. 50% of boys and 15% of girls said that they favoured video games with a rating of M (mature) or AO (adults only). According to a researcher from Seattle Children’s Research Institute, those who are exposed to simulated violence are more inclined to act violently themselves and less thought to act emphatically.  (The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games, n.d.)

Interactive Nature

A games interactive nature can effect on how young people respond to them. In many games nowadays, children are rewarded for their act of violence. The player is in control of the character and what they do, so the player is also in control of the violence. Depending on the games perspective whether it’s a first person shooter or a third person, the player is experiencing violence in their own eyes. In a first-person shooter the player can see everything and experience violence as if it's actually their view, unlike a third-person shooter the player plays from a more distant view but able to control a little more than what they may of when playing a first-person shooter. Players can develop a violent behaviour as repetition, participation and rewards are all effective ways of influencing it. 

There have been many studies conducted to demonstrate that video game violence influences violent behaviour such the study conducted by Gentile Lynch & Walsh in 2004 to display this. They discovered that children who were exposed to violent video games were more aggressive towards their peers, teachers and displayed that academic achievements were declining. (The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games, n.d.)

How are Video Games Effecting Young People?

Children, teens and adults today are flooded with electronic media. From iPads to iPhones and Xbox to PlayStation, we all have some sort of electronic media with us at some point during the day. Either it be a smartphone or taking time to play some video games on the Xbox. But are violent video games influencing violent behaviour? 

Over time violent video games have been accused of influencing violent behaviour on young people and that they are linked to aggressive behaviour, but are they really the cause? Multiple studies have been conducted most discussing that yes, violent video games influence violent behaviour. Reasons ranging from the fact that video games reward violent behaviour, studies showing that children who play violent games can display aggressive behaviour and thoughts and that video games are known for their interactive nature so game visuals can also affect game play and its effects.  (The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games, n.d.)