Violent video game Essay Example for Free

Violent video game Essay Violent video games are successfully marketed to youth and are easily obtained regardless of age and easily obtained by children and adolescents. Violent video games become top best sellers because violent video games are popular with male and female children, adolescent, and adults. Even the U. S. government sees through this point; they have created and distribute the violent game like America’s Army to youth without checking the ages of which whom can download this game from the internet or can be obtained from recruiting offices. The main factor studies of violent video games that conclude with a general discussion of several key issues, including: developmental issues, game effect on children, average time child spend playing video game, beneficial environmental effects, and bias towards violent video games. Video games have become a ubiquitous form of entertainment in the United Stated; they are behind only television in popularity. Video game first emerged in the 1970s, but it was during the 1990s, that violent games truly came of age. Starting in the late 1980s, video game producers experimented with what the public would accept in video games. Gradually it became clear that games sold better if the contained more violence, such as: a fighting game one-on-one like Double Dragon, Mortal Combat, or Street Fighter games became all time best sellers (Anderson 6). The second most popular from entertainment after television, video games have rapidly became the largest segment of the entertainment industry, taking in 6. 3 dollars to 8. 8 billion dollars in 1998, compared with 5. 2 billion dollars in Hollywood box office receipts. For now, video game can be played at home on a computer or a television, which more option choice to become top market in America (Espejo 9). For that reason, the violence in video games is cause for concern. Numerous studies have found a correlation between violent video games and increased aggression in children. In addition, several popular video games may be teaching children how to kill by simulating the techniques used to train soldiers for combat. The skills acquired from these games are tragically evident in recent school shootings perpetrated by teens who were heavy users of video games (Espejo 9). Therefore, the Federal Court of Appeals decided to ban the sell or rental the violent video games to minors. According to Kenny Knudson, twelve years old boy, said even the government or his parent did not allow him to rent or buy violent video games, but he would properly find it at his friend’s house (â€Å"Violent Video Games and Kids Ruling. ). To protect children from violence, parents should carefully consider a suitable rating game for their children. If parents and rating systems do not prevent these games from falling into the wrong hands then banning them is a step that needs to be taken. Video games can have both positive and negative impacts on children. According to Douglas A. Centie, the video games have both positive and negative effect on children and that parents need to be aware of each. The positive effect from games on children is highly motivating. Video games are natural teachers, and they provide repeated practice for skillful play. Video games have been shown to teach children the attitudes, skills, and behaviors that they were designed to teach. They also can have negative effect. According research by Centie, time spent playing video games has negative correlation with academic performance. Playing violent games has a positive correlation with antisocial and aggressive behavior. Content analyses show that a majority of games contain some violence. A majority of fourth to eighth-grade children prefer violent games (Hamilton 24-25). Parents need to set limits on the time their children spend playing games and make sure the content of games is suitable for the child. The average time children spend playing video games has been increasing since 1980. In the mid-1980s, children averaged about four hours a week playing video games, and in early 1990s, the average amount was still fairly low. In result, girls spent time about two hours of home play per week, and about four hours of home play per week for boys. By the mid 1990s, home use had increased for fourth-grade girls to 4. 5 hours per week, and to 7. 1 hours per week for fourth-grade boys. This same sample of fourth-graders reported that most of their favorite video games were violent. According to recent national surveys of parents, school-age children devote about seven hours per week playing video games. In a recent survey of over six-hundred eighth and ninth- grade students, children averaged nine hours per week of playing video game by averaging thirteen hours for boys and five hours per week for girls, and it seems to be increasing every year (Anderson 7). It became clear that both boys and girls are spending more time with video games. Video games are highly beneficial because they give children a unique interactive learning environment and far from harmful. The interactive element of video games benefits children because it imparts the fundamental thinking skills needed for creativity and problem solving. Playing video games is inherently similar to interactive activities such as chess or playing the piano except that video games are stigmatization of video games ultimately discourages children from learning (Espejo 53). David Deutsch believes games are far from harmful, he asked, â€Å"Why do so many adults hate them? What evidence is there that there is anything bad about them? (Espejo 54)† Violent video games have the correlations between video games and violent behavior can be explained by being attracted from violent entertainment. According to Ron Wilburn, he believes video game violence is harmless fantasy, and it is not a main factor in youth violence. Children raised in households where they are treated with respect are able to differentiate between fantasy and reality (Biscontini). In the following, Christopher J. Ferguson argues that violent video games do not cause people to be violent. According to his research, there is no good evidence linking violent video games with aggression, violent behavior or any other key word of â€Å"harm. † He consistently found that violent games are not related to violent criminal behaviors or aggression. Frequent players of violent video games are no more likely to commit violent crimes that non-gamers (Hamilton). In addition, if video games do cause juvenile to be violent, then violent crime should be more increased as youth play violent video games, but the rate for juvenile violent crimes has fallen 49. 3 percent between 1995 and 2008, while video game sales have became top in the same period(Video Games ProCon. org. ). Parents need to be involved with their children; it is good for he or she to think and learn to understand and teach his or her children to avoid and not to follow evil side that come with the game’s story. Violent video games have been blamed for school shootings, increases in bullying, and violence towards women. There are two example incidents in Japan that people put the blame on games when it came to violent action. Reported by BBC news in June 2008, Tomohiro Kato, a twenty-five years old guy, drove a large white van on the side of the road at a busy intersection in the Akihabara district of Tokyo, and he went after the crowd and tried to kill them. The second incident, at the same year in January, a sixteen years old boy attacked five people with kitchen knives. Two people injured from the attacking in a Tokyo shopping street. Reports say it is still a little early to say what provoked the attack, but the police point these incidents might be caused from imitation to action games because both of them like playing video game (Hogg). Does game really become a conclusion for violent action status? There is some limited evidence that explicit discussions with children and adolescents about the harmful effects of media violence and the inappropriateness of aggressive and violent solutions to interpersonal conflicts, and practice at thinking about potential nonviolent solutions to conflict, all guided by parents or other adult authority figures, might reduce the harmful effects of exposure to media violence. Furthermore, parents who merely play violent video game with their children are likely to make matter worse, rather than better. Additionally, suppose children are for some reason unhappy with their daily’s life. Playing video games is something they never get from real life. It is not the video game that is doing them harm, it is that they have been funneled down a blind alley and not let out. The thing to do is to let them out by not stealing his last remaining source of joy and learning. Parents should offer them something which they might prefer, try conversation, try anything; if that does not work, do not blame the video game. Be thankful that there is still something good in the children’s life, to tide them over. However, parents or guardians are responsible for knowing if their children are able to handle violent video games without resorting to violence in reality. Parents should use the right power to lead their children play the right rating video game because video game play can and does have effects of both positive and negative attitudes and behaviors. Works Cited Anderson, Craig Alan, Douglas A. Gentile, and Katherine E. Buckley. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print. Biscontini, Tracey Vasil. Youth Violence. Greenhaven Press: Detroit, 2007. Print. Haugen, David M. Video Games. Detroit: Greenhaven/Thomson Gale, 2008. Print. Espejo, Roman. Video Games. Greenhaven Press: San Diego, 2003. Print. Hamilton, Jill. Video Games. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2011. Print. Video Games ProCon. org. Video Games ProCon. org. ProCon. org. 13 Mar. 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2012. . â€Å"Violent Video Games and Kids Ruling. Consumer Watch. KSBW. 9 Feb. 2009. Television. Hogg, Chris. Bewilderment in Tokyo after Attack. BBC News. 6 Aug. 2008. Web. 5 Apr. 2012.