The Relationship between Violent Video Games and Youth Violence - Essay Example

The Controversy Analysis Introduction There has been raging debate in the United s over the relationship between violent video games and youth violence. In this regard, several studies have been conducted by experts in diverse fields to establish the existence, or lack of correlation between these two issues and so far, there is yet to be any form of consensus on the issue. Video games have evolved in the last two decades from simple two dimensional images to complex 3D multi participatory storylines that are played online with participants across different continents. With the growth of these games, so has their popularity and diversity in content (Gunter, 112). There are presently very violent military scenario games with some depicting ancient battles, a development that has led to the following thesis question: Are video games responsible for youth Violence in America? This essay will look at the two arguments on this topic; one is support and the other against, with reference to studies and relevant literature on the thesis question. History Video games as we know them today, traces their origin from the start of 1950s when computer engineers and academicians began the design of simple games and artificial intelligence programs in their respective computer science studies. The popularity of video games however, hit the mainstream in the 1970s and 80s when home computers became available. From the 80s to present times, several generations of video games have been developed with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 from Sonny being the latest 8 generation games. As video games evolved, so did the technology and story lines behind them. Presently, there are games in all aspects of life from business to military combats with the latter being most popular among enthusiasts. Violence among youths on the other hand, has been around even before the invention of video games but the information age has seen new style of aggression among the youth (Levesque and Roger, 51). This has prompted analysts to establish if there could be a correlation between video games and contemporary youth violence given the many hours young people spend playing these games. So could there be a relationship between these two phenomena and is so, how? If not, what is the evidence of the lack of relationship? Argument 1: In support Roanna Cooper and Marc Zimmerman in their article, highlight youth violence as a significant public health issue with youth homicide among African-Americans aged between 14 and 24 years, being very high. Other than the Columbine tragedy that made headlines in 1999 when 12 people died in the hands of youths who launched a military style assault in the school, Cooper and mark discuss the need to analyze the relationship between video games and youth violence to have a comprehensive understanding of violence among the American youth. Anderson, Gentile and Buckley captured in their book titled; Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents, the effects of video games against passive media on violence. This they did by comparing three studies conducted among college students who were randomly sampled to play violent games or those with no violence. From the studies, the authors reported three major findings: a) those that played violent games punished their opponents with high noise that those who participated in non violent games, b) consistent exposure to violent games was found to be related to recent violent behavior and c) interactive type of media violence were found to have a strong relationship with violent attitudes compared to non interactive media like the television. On the basis of this study, there appears to be a relationship between habitual exposures to violent video games with youth violence. This study however, cannot in itself serve as a basis for unanimously accepting that video games give forth violence among the youth, more evidence needs to be presented to substantiate this claim. There was a second study aimed at establishing a cross-sectional study of media habits and aggression among the youth. This research sampled 189 youths and had participants’ complete surveys on violence TV, movie and video game exposure relative to their stance in violence if any. The survey was statistically controlled using the matrix of sex, overall screen time and aggressive credence. The authors established that violent games had a prediction of increased physical behavior of aggression in the real world in the long run (Anderson et al 03). This study, coupled with the first, provide evidence on the relationship between video games and youth violence both in the short and long term. A third study by Anderson, Gentile and Buckley was conducted across elementary students to understand if a lengthened exposure to violent games resulted to heightened behavior of aggression over time. The sample population was 430 students from the third to fifth graders, and was administered twice in a school year to assess their media habits and attitude on violence. Findings revealed that children who had an encounter with more video games at the beginning of the school year saw the world in a more aggressive manner and changed to be more physically or verbally aggressive. The changes were noted by both peers and teachers. From this research, more evidence has emerged on the correlation between video games and youth violence. If third to fifth graders could record such visible changes in a single school year, then there is a definite video game influence on aggression among the youth and continued exposure poses a great deal of danger to extreme violence. There was a revelation in Bushman and Huesmann’s 2006 articled in the Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine journal that examined with the help of Meta-analysis, the effects of short and long term violent media on children and young adults. Across their studies, the two authors reported a relationship between exposure to media violence and aggression. Further research by Anderson et al in 2010 where 136 studies were reviewed with a total participant portfolio of 130, 296 from different countries revealed consistency between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior towards self, peers, parents and teachers. It is this plus a dozen other studies that led Rowel houseman to point out in his 2010 publication, that violent video games have the same public health risk magnitude as exposure to cigarette and led based paints. Though the comparison was a bit extreme give cigarettes guarantee the possibility of lung cancer, Huesmann was simply using this analogy to underscore the underlying risk factors. My argument on the basis of these well researched, is that violence among the youth is triggered to a great extent, by repeated exposure to video games. Just like constant exposure to pornography is likely to lead to sexual perversion and unusual sexual behavior, so are video games. The amount of hours spent by the youth in these games has a silent but gradual effect on their aggressive buds. In the long term, those exposed to this interactive violence are likely to take their new found attitude to the real world and the result is the Columbine tragedy. Video games are clearly responsible for youth violence in America. Argument 2: Against With the growth of video games from the Game Cubes and PC days to the present complex graphics and story lines, parents have become more concerned with the violence witnessed when their children are playing the latest versions of video games. Their worries are however, unwarranted and instead of defacing the image of the gaming industry, they should look at the benefits that this trade comes with. Data from the Entertainment Software Association reveal that gaming is one of the fastest growing sectors of the American economy. From this association, the industry posted total sales of $22 billion in 2008 up from a modest $2.6 billion in 1996 showing steady growth (Entertainment Software Association, 26). The perception that this industry entirely depends on children is a myth since there are more adult than child gamers. The Entertainment Software Association report of 2009 revealed that 68 percent of American households play either computer or video games and the average age of a gamer is 35 years. On the grounds of gender, 60 percent are male while 40 percent are female (Seifert et al, 36). These statistics do not dispute children the fact that many kids love video games, but provide the reason for this love, which is not necessarily bad or violent as most are made to believe. These violent games on the contrary, provide a harmless opportunity for children and the youth to explore the regulations and corollary of violent actions. Such enables them to have an experience on issues like wars, other forms of violence and death without facing real consequences of these phenomena. According to Jones Gerald in his 2002 publication, the author put together beneficiaries of super hero comic books, movies, video games and cartoons. In his findings, Gerald revealed that even though some children would use the stories in comic books, cartoon, action movies and video games badly, a majority of the participants used their encounter with combat fantasies to feel strong, take charge of their anxieties and remain calm when faced with real violence. Their experiences with these media, therefore, facilitated the participants’ to navigate their emotional challenges to new levels of development. Video games teach children to partition their communication into narratives or fixed portraits, so by telling stories visually, children get to experience their thoughts comprehensively. While adults label these children fantasies as media violence, children make use of these well in exploring what is impossible and extremely dangerous in a controlled context. This allows them to accept the limits of reality and by playing with rage, children use destruction and imagination to surrender some habits on their way to becoming better people. In a quick study during the 9/11 crisis, author Gerald Jones walked into classrooms and noted that children were less shaken compared to parents and teachers. When finding out why, most of the sampled children mentioned the prior violent images with anger and excitement, experiences they had gathered from video games and action movies. It must, therefore, be understood that children react differently to tragedies compared to adults and when in a scary situation, they must play with the trouble to a point where they feel safer. Playing with serious terrorist situations is an emotional tool that helps children in their development to adolescence. Violent video games, besides helping children overcome their fears and anxieties; also increase their level of interaction with their peers. By playing these violent games as children, gamers reduce violence as adolescent because they substitute actual aggression with rough and tumble play in video games. As boys play these games, they get the chance to express aggression and earn status among their peers without causing any physical harm. For example, a champion at one of the Xbox games will be highly regarded among his peers and treated with respect when the same would only come if he had assaulted his peers in the absence of video games. Exposure to violent video games has not been related to crime or violent behavior. Links between video games and violence are further explained by more variables like domestic violence and aggressive personalities exhibited by parents or guardians. It is important to note that gamers understand that what they are playing is a game and cannot, therefore, bring their fantasies in the virtual world to real life, but can use such to evaluate real life violence from a perspective of knowledge. In a 2007 study, findings revealed that 45 percent of boys loved video games because it helped them in getting rid of anger while 62 percent did so to relax. It must be understood that children deal with their emotions differently from parents and given that these games give players some level of control with regard to pace and direction, it enables the youth to properly manage their emotions when playing (Kirsh and Steven, 66). By being in control, the young ones reduce stressful responses to other real life violent scenarios. While many parents claim that in buying video games for their children, they have no way of establishing the contents of the game and little control what they play, there is little truth in this claim. The gaming industry has a useful tool that helps parents in knowing the nature of these games through a universal rating system developed by Entertainment Software Rating Board. It is the responsibility of parents, therefore, to take charge of what their children consume and buy games that match their children’s’ age. It is hypocritical to claim that they have no idea when it comes to games and yet they monitor movies watched y these kids and would not expose them to adult movies. The whole myth about video games causing youth violence is just what it is, a myth. For starters, it is not true that a majority of gamers are children but even among children, these games do more good than harm in developing their emotional sense. As children grow, their likely to encounter violence and video games are a safe way of preparing them for the real world in a virtual and safe interactive atmosphere. Having children earn respect from video games is much like being respected for skills in poetry. It helps kids get more creative and direct their aggression to the virtual world that has no physical harm to their peers. Even for kids who may not be physically very competitive, video games gives all a fair chance at earning respect which is good for emotional and psychological well being of children gamers. As for these and other reasons, Video games are not responsible for violence among the American youth. Conclusion It is acceptable among most researchers that violent behavior is a function of many other factors like neighborhoods, family situation and the kind of peers. From research, for example, it has been established that those youths living in violent neighborhoods and with experience of violence either as victims or witnesses have the highest risk of becoming violent in their youth. But even with this consensus, it’s agreed that neighborhood alone is a catalyst for violence and not all people in these locations are violent. Exposure to domestic violence equally increases the risk of youth violence but does not automatically result in violent children. In similar magnitude, research has revealed that a person who makes his first kill in a video game has a higher risk of violent behavior but not in all cases. Violence, therefore, is a function of multiple factors that include video games but then, the same game has several positive contributions to making the youth better citizens. Even in the midst of mixed thoughts on the relationship between video games and youth violence in America, there is significant correlation between playing these violent games and real world violence. It cannot be said that video games are solely responsible for youth violence; there is need for further research into the magnitude of their contribution towards the vice. In conclusion, the two schools of thought on this subject are correct in their own independent ways that video games have an element of good and bad on the issue of violence among American youth. Work Cited Anderson, Craig A, Douglas A. Gentile, and Katherine E. Buckley. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Internet resource. Entertainment Software Association. (2009). Essential facts about the complete and video game industry. Retrieved from videogames.procon.org/sourcefiles/-facts-about-the-computer- and-video-game-industry.pdf Entertainment Software Association. (n.d.). Video games and the economy. Retrieved from videogames.procon.org/sourcefiles/video-games-and-the-economy.pdf Gunter, Barrie. The Effects of Video Games on Children: The Myth Unmasked. Sheffield, England: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998. Print. http://videogames.procon.org/view.answers.reader-comments.php?questionID=1608 Kirsh, Steven J. Children, Adolescents, and Media Violence: A Critical Look at the Research. Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, 2012. Print. Levesque, Roger J. R. Encyclopedia of Adolescence: Vol. 1. New York: Springer, 2012. Print. Roanna Cooper, MA and Marc Zimmerman: Do Video Games Influence Violent Behavior? 2011, internet Seifert, Kathryn, Karen Ray, and Robert Schmidt. Youth Violence: Theory, Prevention, and Intervention. New York: Springer Pub. Co, 2012. Print. Read More