In the event of the Newtown and Navy Yard shootings, violent
video games have become a hot topic for debate. Murderers of the respective
shootings, Adam Lanza and Aaron Alexis were both reported to have played many
hours of Call of Duty, sometimes up
to 16 hours at a time. Lanza was 20 when he committed his crime and Alexis was 34
when he shot 13 people.
Wonder if they were like this playing violent video games as children......
As a child growing up, I definitely grew up around various violent video games, playing everything from those multiplayer games to first-person shooters. I always felt like they allowed to be whoever I felt like at the time. The games don't have many restrictions to what I wanted to do.
This is how I looked whenever I was playing.
Just kidding.
The average age of a gamer is 30 years and 61% of gamers are below the age of 35. 26% of games bought in 2012 were M, or Mature, rated games. Clearly, people love their violence coming from video games. Most parents wish their children would stop playing these types of games because they're "distracting" and could possibly drive their children to insanity. Those parents probably wish their children did something else more productive than sitting on their ass shooting a bunch of virtual people. I found this video that I feel explains how violent video games do not really cause violence among people. The person defending violent video games makes a great analogy with people and violent video games, saying "Crazy people play violent video games, but that doesn't mean violent video games make people crazy".
Anyways, here's the video on a debate on violent video games.
Wonder if they were like this playing violent video games as children......
As a child growing up, I definitely grew up around various violent video games, playing everything from those multiplayer games to first-person shooters. I always felt like they allowed to be whoever I felt like at the time. The games don't have many restrictions to what I wanted to do.
This is how I looked whenever I was playing.
Just kidding.
The average age of a gamer is 30 years and 61% of gamers are below the age of 35. 26% of games bought in 2012 were M, or Mature, rated games. Clearly, people love their violence coming from video games. Most parents wish their children would stop playing these types of games because they're "distracting" and could possibly drive their children to insanity. Those parents probably wish their children did something else more productive than sitting on their ass shooting a bunch of virtual people. I found this video that I feel explains how violent video games do not really cause violence among people. The person defending violent video games makes a great analogy with people and violent video games, saying "Crazy people play violent video games, but that doesn't mean violent video games make people crazy".
Anyways, here's the video on a debate on violent video games.
Hopefully, people understand where I come from in believing that violent video games aren't as harmful as people make them to be.
The question:
The question:
Do violent video games cause aggression out of people to the
point where they become murderous? Or are violent video games merely an
activity where people can get away from real life?
There are two questions here and I believe the answer to both is “yes”. For 99.99999% of the population, video games are merely an activity where people can get away from real life. Although I think that too much video game playing may cause social impairment due to lack of social interaction, it will not cause most people to become murderers. However, for that 1 in 10 millionth person, I think video game playing can bring out the murderer in that individual. It seems that nowadays we live in a society with a high amount of mental instability. Though I don’t know the cause, it seems there are so many under-medicated, over-medicated or just plain medicated people around. I believe that for these people, violent video games can cause desensitization to violence to the point where murder is possible. These are people who bring the fantasy of the video game into their reality. They are mentally unable to separate the two.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree what you have to say. I believe that people take violent video games too seriously and use it as a scapegoat for shootings. I feel that society in general has this huge paranoia of violent video games since they're so new to society. I think that people need to calm down about this issue.
DeleteI agree with Ed on the "social interaction" part; too many kids spend so much time on video games that they lose the ability to interact with a person face-to-face as well as how to react in social situations. Plus, by devoting too much time to video games, they lose the opportunity to spend time doing things that have a more meaningful impact.
DeleteAnyway, I also don't think video games create a violent person. Rather, they can act as an outlet for stress for people who just want to game. Yes, they can fuel violent desires in sociopaths, but I think the intent has to already be there for that to happen. After all, violent games have existed throughout society, ranging from "cops and robbers" or "cowboys and Indian" games back in the past to "Halo" and "COD" today.
Based on the article, I would say that violent video games help people get away from real life (btw I read the article but I won't write an essay). The reason is because the purpose of playing video games, whether it's violent or not, is to have fun. People who become murderers are just idiots with no brain. That's just my opinion.
ReplyDeleteYou can't necessarily say everyone who is murderer is an idiot. Alexis was a veteran who worked for a government contractor. He clearly isn't one of the "idiots" you say he is. Are you saying people like him are "idiots" purely because he shot a few people?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteBy your logic of an "idiot", I guess people that join Al-Qaeda are "idiots" for joining a group that hates Western countries, like the US. They clearly slaughtered thousands of Americans, but they cleverly did so by hijacking the cockpits of airplanes. North Koreans are clearly "idiots" because they choose to execute anyone or send anyone to prison camps to preserve their Communism. These people are doing murdering others smartly, but you label them as "idiots". Isn't that a little contradictory?
DeleteNo... what I meant was that if someone was to murder a lot of people because he or she wanted to, then that person would be considered an idiot. However, if someone murdered because of too much violent game exposure, then that person has taken fantasy and applied it to reality. Obviously, fantasy and reality cannot combine together unless what goes on in fantasy is something that could happen in reality.
DeleteWell clearly, Al-Qaeda murders people because they hate the Western world, especially the US. They clearly want to murder people. North Korea decides whenever they want to murder a bunch of people who are in concentration camps. They clearly want to murder people. And how does something that is considered "Fantasy" become reality?
DeleteThis is a yes-or-no answer about the role of violence in video games. The mental health of many young adults, whether their murders or engineers, doesn't attribute to the blaming scheme of "violent video games". Their are other factors that contribute to such a mental state in their life, it could disabilities, uncertainty about their body, family problems, school, friends...etc. Video games may be a stress aide for that person, another two dimensional world in which they can let go of all their worries and be care free. Now this suggests the second set of question: does "violent" video games cost people lives? I have to say yes again, the over use of violent video games in the modern century is flabbergasting. Many children, teens, and adults would rather interact with the screen than a human, and I can't blame them. How else would the XBOX and Playstation enterprises make money? However this is an understatement, violent video games can cause severe damage to brain, the shooting, blood, screams, these factors can all instigate to such a horrendous acts in the real life.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have full supremacy over the elements that subsidize to violent behavior, however we can have some restrictions over video games: strenuous ways to make it impossible to acquire the games, laws that prohibit people, especially the younger party, to buy such games. As a society we should do everything in out power to put an end to this sad story, having authority over these games in just one of the many steps to stop the violence.