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Grand Theft Auto Wont Make You Steal a Car

in Real Life

by Kristofer Randall

Table Of Contents
Reflective cover letter: pg 3
Argumentative essay: pg 4
Annotated Bibliography: pg 8
Rhetorical analyses: pgs 1013 Kristofer Randall
English 1010
Alena Balmforth

Reflective Cover Letter

Originally, I was with the group that was writing on the argument that college should not
be free. Unfortunately I was unable to get my part of the assignment done, so they kicked me out
of the group. So instead, the argument I chose to do alone was something along the lines of the
argument that the group had originally decided to do. I chose to argue that the violence in video
games does not cause violence. I regret my choices that got me kicked out, and will try to do
better in the future. I did learn a bit from doing this assignment. I learned that my choices have
bigger consequences now that I am in college, it is way harder to get a procrastinated assignment
done in college rather than high school, and that life is only going to get harder from now on.
This was a fun topic to research, and I enjoyed writing the essay. I found out that I have a

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stronger feeling for this side of the subject than I thought, and it was rather eye opening for me. I
feel I did a good job on the assignment granted I only had a week to complete the essay after I
was kicked out. I feel good about it, and hope that the class will acknowledge what I am trying to
say.

Kristofer Randall
Alena Balmforth
English 1010

Grand Theft Auto Wont Make You Steal a Car in Real Life

Many people believe that violence in todays games is contributing to the violence in the
world around us. But the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooter was reported to mostly play
games like Mario Kart and Dance Dance Revolution. The idea that games cause violence is
wrong. Why? Because of the fact that the research is flawed, the crime rate has decreased, games
are a good way to relieve stress and anger, the games competitiveness is what causes the
aggressive feelings, and the older generations always seem to condemn new media.

Flawed Research
There are many studies that claim that violent video games cause violence in youth.
These are all flawed because the results differ from study to study, and this is due to researchers
each having a different idea of what exactly they are measuring. Some measure the

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competitiveness of the game, or measure the blood and gore, or even how real the violence looks.
They also dont take into account whether the children that are studied have violent tendencies,
the conditions they are living in, or how well the family is doing. Since these results vary, it is
hard to draw a solid conclusion that these games are the cause.

Lower Crime Rate

People claim that the crime rate is going up as the sales of violent games rise. The crime
rate is actually going down. The reason behind that way of thinking is because its easier for the
media to deliver news to you 24/7. According to disastercenter.com, the total amount of crimes in
the U.S. has gone from 11,608,072 in the year 2000, to 9,475,816 in 2014. This may be because
of the rising game sales. Teenagers are inside in front of the tv more than they are outside. How
are you going to go rob a bank or something if you are in the house gaming?

Great stress relief

These video games are a great way to relieve stress: you can take your negative feelings
out on virtual things rather than people in real life. This allows a healthy relief, and can calm
someone rather quickly. A peer reviewed study was published in the Journal of Adolescent
health shows that "61.9% of boys played to 'help me relax,' 47.8% because 'it helps me forget
my problems,' and 45.4% because 'it helps me get my anger out." Another study in the same
journal claims "Boys use games to experience fantasies of power and fame, to explore and
master what they perceive as exciting and realistic environments (but distinct from real life), to
work through angry feelings or relieve stress, and as social tools." This may be the reason that
the crime numbers are going down as the sales of games are going up. If a person was angered
by a customer at work or a coworker, when they get home they channel their aggression at the

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bad guy in a game, rather than jeopardizing their job by flipping out at said coworker or
customer.

Competition, not violence, is what creates aggressive feelings

Lets think about human nature for a second. When threatened, the brain triggers the fight
or flight response. This allows the person to compete with his surroundings to survive. Video
games can cause the response to happen as well. Knowing this, games like Mario Kart can cause
these feelings of aggression. Why else does everyone hate the Rainbow Road race track? Its
the last lap and you are in first place. You drift around the corner to reach the finish line, but a
shell flung at you causes you to fly over the edge and into space. Since that happened, you finish
the race in fifth place instead of first. This can cause many people to be aggressive because they
were already in fight or flight mode with all of the pressure of trying to stay on the track with no
fences, let alone attempting to hold the lead.

The Older Generation Condemns The New Media

Weve seen this in the past many times over. The radio, tv, comic books, and cell phone
usage are all examples of this. Rock and Roll used to be considered the music of the devil. Each
new advancement was only a new way for a person to express their ideas and get their views into
the world. So are video games. The older generation is condemning these games and claiming
that they are more violent than the media that they had as children. However, they forget that in
the 1980s they had movies like Glory, a movie that showed someones head exploding, sending
blood everywhere. There was also the movie Alien, which had a scene where a creature exploded

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out of a mans chest, sending blood and guts flying all over the characters standing around him.
Violent games are only interactive versions of these movies. You are part of the movie instead of
just watching whats going on.

Now, there is some legitimacy in the other side of the argument. While I say that there is
no harm in playing these violent games, we should also remember that a children ages 5 and
under are highly susceptible to influence. This is why we have the rating system, and why
Gamestop refuses to sell games with an M rating to people under the age of 17. The reason I say
that kids 10 and under, let alone 5, shouldnt play or even watch these games isnt due to the
violence, its because there are things in some M games that kids that age shouldnt see. You
wouldnt have a 4 year old play Grand Theft Auto V because of the amount of sexual content in
the game.

In conclusion, violence in media doesnt cause the violence around us. It may seem that
way, but you need to look at the many things that prove this point as well. The research that
games cause violence is flawed, the crime rate is decreasing dramatically and continues to do so,
games relieve stress and anger, competitiveness causes the feelings of aggression, and this fight
against the new media has been seen through the many generations. Keep in mind that we do
need to keep the games within what a child can accept as real and ok to do in the real world. Join

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me in the fight for these games to continue being around, because if the fight is lost, we will lose
what could be one of the best ways to entertain ourselves when we are alone. Thank you. Adachi,
Paul J. C., and Teena Willoughby. "The Effect Of Video Game Competition And
Violence On Aggressive Behavior: Which Characteristic Has The Greatest Influence?"
Psychology of Violence (2010): 25974. Print. Two studies were done, one keeping the violence
levels the same and changing the competitiveness, the other keeping the competitiveness the
same and changing the violence level. Both studies found that the competitiveness levels are
what caused the aggressive feelings.

Ferguson, Christopher. "Video Games Dont Make Kids Violent | TIME.com." Ideas Video
Games Dont Make Kids Violent Comments. TIME, 7 Dec. 2011. Web. 2 Dec. 2015. By about 4th
grade, children can easily distinguish what's real and what's fantasy. The author conducted a
study with children ages 1014 and found no correlation between the games and behavior. Game
sales are going up, while youth violence is going down. California tried to ban the sales of M
rated games because of studies that supposedly prove that violent games cause youth violence,
the court system said no due to lack of evidence.

"Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear." Moral Panics. Fearexhibit.org. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.fearexhibit.org/media/moral_panics>. The fear of video games corrupting youth is

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one of many fears that have popped up over the many years. Rock and roll was feared to make
the youth rebel at that time, and comic books were feared to cause juvenile delinquency. These
fears are helped to grow by the news and media, for example a child's arm was bitten off by a
shark just off the beach of Florida. That summer, the news treated every sighting and attack like
a major news story, when the amount of attacks was completely normal

"Violent Video Games Con Article 5 ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. 23 Sept. 2015. Web. 2
Dec. 2015. Games, violent or not, relieve stress for most people. This is a possible reason as to
why crime rates among youth are going down. Kids and teens have found a different place to
channel their negative feelings

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Alena Balmforth
English 1010

Rhetorical Analysis
The Effect Of Video Game Competition And Violence On Aggressive Behavior: Which
Characteristic Has The Greatest Influence
This was a well written article. One could tell that the intended audience was geared to
older readers: a ten year old would find it boring. The point it was trying to make was rather

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persuasive, and it has no bias. At the beginning, it seemed that it was an anti game article,
towards the end it came out with a simple statement: there is little to no correlation between
game violence, and real world aggression. It had a lot of facts to back it up, and was really
interesting and fun to read. The article is saying that it is the competition that creates the hostile
actions of a person, not the violence, and it gives the numbers of their studies to back that up.
People seem to believe otherwise, but overall great article.

Alena Balmforth

Rhetorical Analysis
Video Games Dont Make Kids Violent
I feel that this article is one of the most influential ones that I used in my report. Intended
audience: older teens to adults. Very bold in its claim, and states all of its facts in a short few
paragraphs. Very interesting read, if more people thought this way we wouldnt have this big

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controversy as to what exactly causes the violence today. Well written, well researched, very
informative, and persuasive. Great article.

Alena Balmforth

Rhetorical Analysis
Moral Panics

Intended audience: 13 years and older. Informative article, well written, and a lot of
common knowledge is shown. Anyone who has seen the movies based in certain eras, or gone to

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history class, knows of the moral panics in the past. Each thing shown as harmful turned out to
be completely harmless. It mentions the Salem Witch Trials, the fear of rock and roll ruining the
minds of the children, and the scare of the turn of the century causing all the computers to break
down. Persuasive, reminding, and for some, educational. Great read.

Alena Balmforth

Rhetorical Analysis
Violence in Video Games con article 5

This article was one of many good paragraphs on a site called procon.org. It has many
sources to pull from, and gives a good point that makes sense. Many people can connect with
what it says, and is very comprehensive and understandable. It shows that most, if not all, games

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can cause these aggressive feelings, and then relieve them when the game is over. It shows that
any type of competition can be dangerous, but that shouldnt keep people from what doing what
they enjoy. Very interesting, good read.