Essays

Cause and Effect: Kids Playing Violent Video Games

The use of violent video games is growing, and rather quickly as well. Teenagers and some younger ones have been playing more and more violent video games like Halo, Assassins Creed, and Call Of Duty. People, mainly grown ups, have become concerned about this and wonder if it is a bad thing that they are becoming addicted to it. Of course, being addicted to a video game isn't a good thing in general, but people fear that violent video games may be worse.

There is a paper written by a man named David Walsh that states, "Exposure to violent games increases aggressive emotions." In one study, "students who were more 'addicted' to video games were significantly more likely to be in a bad mood before, during, and after play than were non-addicted students." The paper also talked about how a study on 8th and 9th graders showed that the kids who preferred to play violent video games would more often get into fights with others and arguments with teachers. So, that caused a lot of worry with parents, teachers, and medical professionals.

According to Walsh, a reason that it can cause them to be more hostile is because it makes them see the world as a hostile place. Playing violent video games can raise your heart rate and blood pressure which is the same thing that happens when you get into a fight. This has led people blaming violent video games for school shootings, increases in bullying, and violence towards women.

California passed a law in 2005 required violent video games to include an "18" label and criminalized the sale of these games to minors. Critics have been arguing that these games desensitize kids and teens to violence, reward them for using violence, and teach them that violence is a good way to fix problems.

Because I feel that there is a lack of statistics in here, let me give you an example. The 2008 study Grand Theft Childhood reported that 60% of middle school boys that played at least one Mature-rated game hit or beat up someone, compared to 39% of boys that did not play Mature-rated games. There is 1% that is not mentioned there, and that would be the tiny ONE PERCENT of kids who play video games and haven't beat up someone. That seems kind of scary. Think about it, how many kids do you know who play violent video games? They probably aren't all going to be in that 1%.

I am against violent video games, but to an extent. I think that playing violent video games too often and getting addicted to them can seriously cause some problems. On the other hand, I think that if you, for example, play a game like Justice League, or a Batman game every once in a while, while they are violent and sometimes bloody, they wouldn't do as much damage as playing Call Of Duty eight hours a week

- 13 May, 2015