Sellars 1 Antonia Sellars Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 12 February 2014 Videogames: distraction or destruction?

Videogames are universal. Kids, adults, businessmen/women, factory workers, retail, and fast food alike play them every day but some never stop to think about whether or not what they see or do on videogames seeps into their everyday lives. So, that poses the question of how first person shooter games are affecting sensitivity to real-world problems and do they make people more violent in reality. Some people spend a majority of their time playing these videogames when theyre either bored or have free time and some even play the games online against each other or in person for money so much that it may be sometimes hard for them to separate reality from the game. Through this inquiry study I will be examining the potential risks associated with this issue as well. From my perspective, first-person shooter games, (which are games that are centered on weaponry such as guns, grenades, machetes etcetera and combat from first person perspective as if the person playing the game is the one completing the action) can definitely effect certain peoples mindsets but I feel it depends on how strong your mindset is and how you let outside things affect you inside. It almost seems like people need to undergo a psychological evaluation to be allowed to play these games. According to my mother I am emotionally detached anyways, so for me first-person shooter games do not affect my mentality one way or another. The thing about that is, whats true for me and someone else who is not like me may not be true for every person who participates in these first-person shooter games. When I asked a few friends both

Sellars 2 male and female whether or not they thought first-person shooter games affected a persons reaction to violence or their violence levels in real life, two stood out to me more than the others. Kania Wilson, a female non-players response was that: The games could definitely effect your mindset and reaction to real world violence depending on age and maturity; younger people are probably more affected than older people who are more mature. When children begin playing these games at a young age it can become something they see as normal. I then asked Darrell Smith, a male video game player and his opinion on the issue was: Yes, I feel t hat playing violent video games changes the way a person looks and thinks about real life pertaining to the things they see and do on the videogames even if you dont notice it theres always an effect. Both people, female and male, player and non-player, said essentially the same thing which attests to the widely held opinion that violent videogames do affect peoples mindsets. I often find myself not even really reacting when I find out that bad things have happened to people because of the things that I have seen happening in this world. I feel as though the first-person shooter games affect many more than they even realize. I think that the games desensitize people in a way that they dont even realize. There are many researchers and statistics that support the view that I have on the subject. An article in the New York Times by Michael Gonchar, entitled, Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent in Real Life? was aimed at figuring out whether or not there is direct correlation to violence and violent video games and gave many opinions of different researchers on this issue. The article went on to mention another article entitled Shooting in the Dark, by Benedict Carey, that talked about the fact that the men involved in violent massacres like the movie theater in Colorado and Columbine High School had one thing in common they were all gamers who enjoyed playing violent video games. There have been over 25 instances

Sellars 3 over the years where the violent video game playing was on the list of behaviors associated with the men who did the shootings. According to Carey, Playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior in the short term. Moreover, youngsters who develop a gaming habit can become slightly more aggressive as measured by clashes with peers, for instance at least over a period of a year or two, which shed light on some of the questions of people who shared this concern. As these young people continue to grow these aggressive behaviors can either flourish or either die down along the years depending on that person or other factors such as their environment or lifestyles. Also according to an article written by John L. Sherry entitled Research on Violent Video Games and Aggression: A translation, experts who have calculated the variance have found that exposure to violent video games increases violent behavior by 13% to 22%. There has been many studies trying to show how first person shooter games have negatively affected society, and I agree with them in many different cases, but I do believe that it depends on the maturity level of the person partaking in the violent video game. Peoples perceptions of the effects of first-person shooter games may vary because of many factors. The different factors could be their gender, their tolerance for violence, and maybe even their background and at-home life. In different cultures and society certain types of violence is accepted. In our society, violent videogames are a norm because it is just a game, right? No, not in my opinion. During my own independent studies I have found that men are more likely to say that the first-person shooter games do not affect them but they do admit to an adrenaline rush while playing. When someone is having an adrenaline rush it means that they either feel threatened or excited, their heart rate speeds up, they begin to sweat, and their body creates energy to deal with those situations. When playing a game how do you really use that fuel from the adrenaline rush? Is there residual adrenaline left over? Some would even say that

Sellars 4 little adrenaline rush from the game is what makes them go out and do something more extreme. There has been many instances where people have killed because of videogames like the 8 year old little boy in Louisiana who killed his grandmother after playing a violent videogame. Stereotypically, and also through personal experience most Women are more likely to be a little more squeamish when it comes to the vulgarity, blood and gore depicted on videogames like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. There has not been any cases in which it was discovered that a woman did something like shooting up and elementary school or that they have killed as the result of a videogame, but that is not said to create the picture that woman cannot also be ruthlessly violent as well. In these violent games, players are rewarded for violent behaviors which makes them more prone to learning the behavior. In psychology that practice is called positive reinforcement. Positive enforcement is a type of operant conditioning (learning through a system of rewards and punishments) in which you teach a subject by giving them a treat or something of that nature when they do the right thing. In a famous study in positive reinforcement conducted by BF Skinner, skinner designed a box that had a lever on the inside. When the lever was pressed food would come out. Skinner placed rats in the box and while they run around the box they would accidentally knock the lever and food would come out. Eventually, the rats would automatically run to the lever and knock it for food, thus teaching them how to feed themselves through positive enforcement. So, if while playing a videogame, during a mission people have to kill someone and by doing that you get all of their money or something along that nature, people are taught that that is good and for people with weaker mindsets that learned behavior could travel with them to the real world.

Sellars 5 Recently, in Chicago there was a 16 year old boy who killed his 17 year old brother by stabbing him in the chest 17 because he had the higher score of 17 on a game called Flappy Bird according to geekclick.org. Things like this show how competition can really be a big issue for some people who do not handle losing well. There are many people who sometimes bet their friends and others on these games for money. Is losing different if the video game is violent? For this game to be non-violent and to cause such dire behavior; things of this nature really makes you wonder what it could cause someone who plays violent videogames daily to do and the sad thing is, people have been killed for much less. On forbes.com an article written by Eric Kain has pointed out that, as violent video games have become more popular, violent crime has fallen. That statistic shows that even though there is a widespread view of the effects of first person shooter games, theres also a positive outcome. Procon.org has many examples of the positive effects of violent videogames. According to the site, a link between violent videogames and violent behavior has not been officially proven, the US Secret Service review found that violent videogames has a marginally smaller affect than that of violent book and movies, and playing the games provide a safe outlet for anger. Also, the military uses videogames to train their soldiers in certain aspects. Some people even use these games as an escape from reality, maybe they dont feel in control of their lives or are going through some things that make them want to do violent things to certain people but they know that is not a good idea but what happens if thats not enough? But on the contrary, on the other side of the argument, a 2000 FBI report includes playing violent video games in a list of behaviors associated with school shootings, small children confuse the fantasy world with reality, and violent videogames cause the players to associate pleasure with inflicting pain upon others. People can even become addicted to playing videogames so much that it can

Sellars 6 rule their lives or they do things that they wouldnt normally. According to an article on Listverse.com called Extreme cases of videogame addiction many children blame videogames for why they did certain things. A kid skipped school for three weeks straight to play videogames, there was another who became lost in a game called World of Warcraft and became a fire mage and set a kid on fire during a fight, also there was a kid who committed suicide and in the note said he wanted to join the heroes of the game he worshipped. Parents need to monitor their children when it comes to the things they see or games they play, there is no reason a child should be playing videogames for that long of a time until they become addicted or even violent videogames period for that matter. Neglect could also be a major reason for the exposure of so many of these children to these videogames or it could even be the opposite like in the case where a man left his twins in the tub while he played a videogame and is now facing up to 20 years for involuntary manslaughter. Some parents are so busy they do not pay attention or they just buy them whatever they want to keep them out of their faces and quiet. There are many valid arguments for each side of this argument and still there is no concrete evidence that states whether or not either side is wrong or right. Many people can be affected by this issue both directly and indirectly. The stakeholders of this issue are both people who play videogames regularly, video game creators and manufacturers, the people who became or may become victims of crime because of those people who are negatively affected by first-person shooter games, and also video game researchers. People who play videogames regularly face the issue of whether or not these games are making them more violent, manufacturers and creators have to worry about whether or not something they created is responsible for violent attacks on others or maybe even a possible lawsuit if people get creative enough. All of that is bad but what about the innocent people who, if the

Sellars 7 videogames are proven to be indeed responsible, are being slaughtered or attacked because someone saw something on a videogame, got angry and decided to do the same to innocent bystanders? Ask yourselves are videogames just a mild distraction or a major destruction? You decide.

Sellars 8 Works Cited Carey, Benedict. "Shooting in the Dark." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. Gonchar, Michael. "Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent in Real Life?" The Learning Network Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent in Real Life Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Mar. 2014. John L Sherry. "Research on Violent Video Games and Agression: A Translation." Http://icagames.comm.msu.edu/violence.pdf. N.p., n.d. Web. Kain, Erik. "Do Games Like 'Grand Theft Auto V' Cause Real-World Violence?" Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2014. Lam, Ricky. "Top 20 Cases of Extreme Videogame Addiction." N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. ProCon.org. "Do Violent Videogames Contribute to Youth Violence." ProCon.org. 9 Sep. 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. "Teen Arrested For Killing Brother Over 'Flappy Bird' Game (3 Images)." Geek Click Teen Arrested For Killing Brother Over Flappy Bird Game Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.