The Effects of Violent Games

“There are those who say that violent video games are catalysts in bringing about more violent behavior in individuals, young or old and there are those who say that there is actually no correlation between violent behavior and watching or playing violent video games.” (Pratt, 2008)

Today’s games are termed ‘high-tech’ since those games use the newest technology available. Virtual graphics are very impressive and realistic, thus, such setting depict a seemingly real-life situation like age of empire.

The predominance of violent games in the ‘90s, where extreme blood and gore characterized the scenarios, greatly affected today’s paradigm of a violent game.

Many of today’s video games do include visualization of life-like violence. With many games requiring the users to immerse themselves in the lives of the characters, it is conceived that, after an extended period of time, a child’s view on right and wrong may begin to skew towards negative direction, according to Guerra (Guerra, 2003). This happen because, ‘bad’ acts like killing is rewarded when committed during game play.

References

Guerra, G. (2003, July 30). Violence in video games. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from <http://students.uta.edu/gc/gcg5223/rogers.html>

Hartlaub, P. (2006, January 1). Parents: do you know what video games your kids are playing? Retrieved September 28, 2008, from the Deseret News database: <http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,635172864,00.html>.

Learn the Pros and cons of playing Computer Games. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2008, from Niche EBook Galore database: <http://www.website-affiliate.com/computer-video-games-p-445.html>.

PC- & Videospiele. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28, 2008, from <http://avideogames.com/age-of-empires>.

Pratt, B. (2008, April 10). Violence in video games. Retrieved September 28, 2008, from <http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Violence-in-Video-Games&id=1090925>.

Video games. (2008). Retrieved September 28, 2008, from <http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/parents/video_games/index.cfm>.

As advancement on video game reached unprecedented heights, increase of aggressive tendencies among adolescents became prevalent as claimed by many researchers. It is argued that today’s violent games greed tomorrow’s violent child.

To counter argue such premise, interviews with same of the graders in the community show that they simply play violent games for fun. The video game for them is a form of play or recreation with little difference to normal play where ‘challenges’ are meant to display one’s critical thinking, strength and superiority.

According to the graders, they haven’t experienced cutting the head of their teacher. The boys, even at their tender age clearly know the boundaries and limits of virtual game and real-life situations. For them, it is not their aggressive behavior that is affected; it is their study, instead, and ‘cutting-classes’ habits that are being affected.

“Many young people more than likely you have some video games in the house. In recent years these games have come under criticism because of their violent content.” (Learn the pros and cons, n.d.).
“As Parents we do want to make our kids happy but we must also exercise responsibility and set limitations as to what our children can or cannot do. Not all video games are violent in nature, so it doesn't mean you shouldn't allow your kids to play video games. It just means you need to exercise some good judgment.” (Learn the pros and cons, 2008)

“Parents' concerns about video games include the time their kids spend playing them, the physical effects of an inactive lifestyle, and the violent or sexist content of many games. Playing video games can be a positive family experience if you understand the issues involved, choose games wisely and control the amount of time your children spend in front of the screen.” (Video games, 2008)

“There have been a lot of studies conducted on the true effects that these violent video games have on children and it has been found out that they can actually help children in their physical ad mental development as long as their parents are able to provide them with enough guidance and teach them with moral values.” (Pratt, 2008)