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Elijah L. Lockwood
Aughenbaugh
English 12
13 March, 2015
Video Game Violence Exists
In order to protect society from aggressive, desensitized, and violent behavior, the
amount of time spent playing and game content must be controlled ...what the studies say, quite
simply, is that the boundary line between fantasy and reality violence, which is a clear line for
most adults, can be blurred for vulnerable children. Kids steeped in the culture of violence do
become desensitized to it and more capable committing it themselves (Grossman and
DeGaetano) Video game violence has been a huge, hot controversial topic for decades. Former
President Clintons speech mentions how children are vulnerable, still in the processes of
emotional, moral, intellectual, and physical development, and can be corrupted without
conditioning. (Child Development Info) Video games are considered a huge influencer,
especially, of today's youth. How are video games influential The content of the video games
(how violent and realistic they are) and how much time is spent on these games are major
factors. All of these factors or theories correlate with each other. So what am I trying to
convince you? What concept am I addressing? Video games do instill violence in our society.
Now before we begin talking about video game content, one question should be asked:
Are video games bad for our youth? In many cases, no; the answer is there are on the market
that are considered well-designed and an excellent teaching tool. These types of games help
people in their education or jobs, such as games that are made to explain physics to students or
how to work with all the buttons, gizmos, gadgets as a commercial airplane pilot. Douglas A.

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Gentile, Ph. D, studies media effects on children and adults at Iowa University; he investigates
the effects of video games, and whether or not playing games affect or influence behavior. He
argues in his article, The Effects of Video Game on Children, that games are beneficial in
education and health if kept in their proper content. It is mentioned in the in the article that, the
initial response to video games in the schools was positive, concern increased as game playing
permeated the home, children played the for increasing amounts of time, and games became
more violent. (Video Games)
However, studies show that the more realistic games appear, the connection of video
game violent content and increases violent behavior. If players are constantly playing games that
involve nothing but shooting guns, killing people, and hijacking cars, then it would affect the
players personality. The article states, Some peoples responses are naturally more hostile,
making them predisposed to respond more aggressively to violent video games. (Video Game
Addiction) Some studies discovered short-term and long-term effects cause by video games
and how it can influence youth. In the short-term effect, gamers tend to have an increase in
aggressive thoughts, emotion, creates a dominant behavior, and influences youth to re-enact what
they have seen in these violent games (Anderson). Aggressive solutions or actions are more
likely to occur, aggressive development, decrease in cognitive accessibility, and emotional
desensitization to aggressive and violence are symptoms of long-term effects. Stated in the
article, Anderson and Bushman theorized that excessive exposure to violent video games causes
the formation of aggressive beliefs and attitudes, while also desensitizing gamers to violent
behavior. Many would question how this could be true. Parents may think that their sons
and/or daughters that play violent video games and he/she is the kindest and most considerate kid
they know. The one thing people tend to misunderstand is that these conditions do not appear

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instantly; this is something that happens over time and through an amount of time a person is
exposed to violence.
Realistically, video games will not turn a person into an assassin in just a one night of
playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. This is something that is developed over a period of time
being exposed to video game violence. From the article, playing a lot of violent games is
unlikely to turn a normal youth with a zero or one or even two other risk factors into a killer. But
regardless of how many other risks factor are present in a youths life, playing a lot of violent
games is likely to increase the frequency and the seriousness of his or her physical aggression,
both in the short term and over time as the youth grows up. These are psychological factors
made in Craig A. Andersons research in the connection between violent video games and teen
aggression. (Violence and Video Games) Im talking about years at a time and this is
something directed more towards our youth. Everyday, kids are constantly spending time
playing video games that, generally, are violent. There are actually studies that show a valid
relationship between the amount of time playing video games and the content. In 2002,
Anderson & Bushman developed the General Aggression Model (GAM), which acknowledges
the gamers personality and how he is affected by violence over the time amount of time being
exposed. (Violence and Video Games) Their analysis: video games play into the gamers
thoughts, feelings, physiological responses. Generally speaking, video games do change a
persons action and reaction in different situations During this experiment, they were able to
discover reward with actual evidence. The GAM also identified two types of effects short-term
and long-term. With short-term effects, it seems that violent games change the way gamers
respond to aggressive acts. The General Aggression Model did not entirely identify any certain
symptoms that violent video games can cause in the long-term, due to the need of time and

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extended study. However, they were able to come up with a theory, that correlates the excessive
amount of playing with aggression in beliefs and attitudes of the player. Clearly, proves that
there is a strong correlation between the violent video game content and the amount of time spent
on these games. This is commonly known as desensitization, which runs a risk of harming or
teaching our children to become more violent. It produces an emotional desensitization to
aggressive and violence. (Gordon)
In todays society, are constantly bombarded with violent acts on tv, in the media, and in
video games from a very young age. This early exposure creates more aggression in children
and their behaviors and attitudes. Since 1982, there has been a 780% increase of violence in tv
(Grossman and Degaetano), people seem to have a misperception of violence and its
consequences, especially because violence in video games appears to be rewarded rather than
being punished when committing a crime, a murder, etc. A study conducted by Lt. Col. Dave
Grossman investigated the school shooting at Westside Middle School in March 24, 1998. Four
girls and one teacher were killed by boys, one was eleven and the other thirteen. The shooting
itself wasnt the only issue. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman interviewed a teacher from the school who
told him the reaction of the high school students after the shooting. Students laughed A teacher
at Westside High School told me about her students reaction when she went in and told her class
that someone had just shot a bunch of middle schoolers. They laughed. She told me in
dismayed amazement. Grossman further explains his thoughts on why they ay have laughed at
the tragedy, saying whether the students thought the teacher was joking or because it was the
only, absurd reaction to a truly absurd and horrifying event. But she and I both believed they did
so because they have been raised and educated not to take killing seriously. (Grossman and

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DeGaetano) They also included the killing or death doesnt hold any consequence and tragically
becoming a joke.
There are people who are naturally aggressive and take the wrong actions; ending up
hurting someone or something. Research suggests that those types of individuals are the ones
who are more affected by consumption of violent video games. I recall one of them telling me
that, before he started playing video games, he would have never gotten into a stolen car, a step
which led to stealing cars later on and eventually to violent carjackings-just like the game.
(Moten) Ron Moten and Jauher Abraham, founders of the Peaceoholics (anti-gang, anti-gang
violence organization in Washington D.C troubled.) They focused their study on youth at Oak
Hill Youth Juvenile Detention Facility. During the interviews, the researchers realized that the
adolescents seemed to be influenced by things that they were brought up on. Now that kids
spend a lot of time with playing violent videos games, these games become an influencer to
commit crimes. One even mentioned that he would never have stolen a car until he was
influenced by video games, that taught him how to high-jack a car. After their interviews and
arduous critical thinking, Moten and Abraham were able to draw up some answers on what
causes these kids to commit crimes. The youth who were in the detention facility, were
influenced by they idolized or admired, in which may cause either positive or negative actions.
What causes these kids to be influenced? Take the entertainment industry for an example.
People in my life always wanted to be either a rockstar, like Nickelback, or video game hero
Master Chief from the Halo series. Things like this influence kids can change their behavior or
personality, drastically.
Content affects human behavior. Not all games are bad, because there are ones that are
beneficial. However, with games that are more violent than others, parents should research those

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games and be aware of the amount of time being spent into these video games. The gamers and
parents need to be balanced or managed. Misconception of entertainment and major concern. We
can lose our humanity, because nothing in this world will function properly without our
benevolence, respect, dignity. Lastly, influence is a definite; it is out there for and it needs to be
controlled. Everything in moderation is key.