Violence in Video Games - Research Paper Example

 Violence in Video Games INTRODUCTION Video games have become an increasingly popular form of media in American households (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan, 21-22). The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reported that 68% of American households regularly play video or computer games (ESA, 2010). The ESA also claimed that 40% of video game players are women and that women over the age of 18 represented 34% of “gamers,” while boys under the age of 17 represented only 18% (ESA, 2010). However, a large number of concerns have been raised by both parents and researchers concerning the amount of time children spend playing video games, the violence found in a number of video games, and the effects these two elements have on the physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and social development of children (Strasburger, Wilson, & Jordan, 39). The emergence of violent video games accompanied with the number of brutal violent acts, several of which included children and adolescents, has intensified the attention given to violent video games by the research specialists and community. The American Psychologist Association indicated that violent video games impact negatively children’s mental health (APA, 2005). While there are many suggestions that video games have a generally positive affect on individuals, violent video games undoubtfully lead to aggressive behaviors, aggressive symptoms and generally have significant harmful effects on individuals, particularly children and adolescents and their psychological health. VIDEO GAMES: A FRIEND OR A FOE One of the growing areas of research concerning video games has examined why people play video games. Klug and Schell proposed five reasons why people play video games: to control their environment, to vicariously experience, to vicariously live in another place or time, to explore fantasy relationships, and to experience competition (Klug and Schell, 93). Also, a state of flow has been frequently indicated as a reason for and result of video game play. Flow is the term for the highly enjoyable state experienced when a balance between skill and challenge is achieved during an intrinsically rewarding activity. Video gaming has been widely analyzed in the psychological and social literature on the subject of its potential benefits and negative outcomes for individuals. For instance, non-violent video games of RPG genre (Role-Playing Game) have been cited as directly causing players to withdraw from family, friends, and other responsibilities, eventually leading players into a state of social isolation, loneliness and depression and ultimately ending in even suicidal or homicidal acts (Miller, 159). Indeed, the recent emergence of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPGs) such as Eve Online and World of Warcraft with subscription base reaching more than 10 million players have introduced expansive online game worlds that contain thousands of characters and environments. Simultaneously, the advent of MMORPGs had only proved the existence of problems highlighted in the prior psychological research. On the other hand, supporters of video games claim that these games can improve players’ social skills, increase academic performance and problem solving ability, and promote creativity and imagination, therefore decreasing the likelihood that players would resort to violent actions or a suicide as a solution to their problems (Griffiths, 48). Furthermore, psychologists argue that video games have great potential as a tool for education, language, literacy and organization skills of individuals engaged in video gaming activities (Griffiths, 48-49). According to Gee, the 3D technology in action video games has been shown to improve children’s sensorimotor skills, especially skills in spatial reasoning (Gee, 85). Violent video game action hyperactivate the visual cortex, and depress activity in the prefrontal cortex, - the part of the brain responsible for complex linguistic grammar and sequential motor planning and thereby developing spatial skills (Gee, 85). VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND MECHANISMS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT Video game violence remained a topic of growing concern for people and specialists around the world. Thompson and Haninger preformed a content analysis of 55 E-rated video games (Thompson and Haninger, 2001). Although they examined other categories, their results concerning violence were most interesting; they found that intentional violent acts were included in 64% of the games. Also, in 60% of these games, violence was required to progress throughout the stages of the game (Thompson & Haninger, 2001). Additionally, 41% of these games did not include content descriptors which indicated any kind of violent content (Thompson & Haninger, 2001). However, due to the interactive nature of video games and the ways in which video game content varies depending on the user and his or her actions, definitive and complete numbers of total violent acts in video games were not available. Since the introduction of video games, it has been argued that video games have unique characteristics that make them distinctive media experiences compared with traditional media such as television and films (Gentile and Anderson, 134-135). One of the first characteristics identified by Gentile and Anderson is that video game players are active participants whose own behaviors lead to success or failure (e.g. Halo, Counter Strike, Medal of Honor). Vorderer pointed out that traditional theories of television or films, in general, rely on the assumption that users respond to content that is given to them, while content in video games evolves as the player participates in the game and may change as play develops (Vorderer, 28). As a consequence, for example, Gentile and Anderson suggested that active participation in violent video games might increase the learning of violent scripts (Gentile and Anderson, 137). Huesmann also pointed out that active participation in violent actions would increase violent behavior to an even greater extent for video games than for traditional media (Huesmann, S11). A second characteristic is that violent video game players receive constant reinforcement of their aggressive behavioral choices through being rewarded with points, positive sound effects and access to new game levels (e.g. Halo, Doom, and Half-Life) (Wartella and others, 14). It also has been suggested that immediate and instant rewards for violent action increases the motivation to learn and imitate (Gentile & Anderson, 137; Huesmann, S12). Social learning theory assumes that people are more likely to learn and adapt violent behaviors if the behaviors are rewarded. Similarly, people are less like to model violent behaviors if these behaviors are punished. Third, Sherry argued that while watching television, viewers can break concentration and still follow the story, while video game players cannot break concentration until the end of the game with the exception of a pre-programmed rest periods (Sherry, 412). Thus, video games players’ attention is more continuous and solitary than a person viewing television or film. In other words, violent video game players are usually exposed to unrelieved and uninterrupted streams of violent scenes of pain and killing which cannot coexist with feelings of empathy or guilt (Gentile & Anderson, 137-138). Finally, violence in a typical video game is repetitive compared with television and film violence. After quantifying the amount of gun violence on television and in video games, Smith and colleagues reported that video games contain far more repetitive and extensive violence than television (Smith and others, 598-600). Huesmann suggested in his information processing model that repetitions of violence may act as cognitive rehearsals of aggressive content, and thus increase storage and retrieval of aggressive scripts (Huesmann, 17). Consequently, aggressive scripts would become more accessible and available so that those might be used more frequently to solve social problems (Huesmann, 18). The desensitization perspective also suggests that repeated exposure to violence, when it is coupled with a positive emotional context such as humor, cartoonish characters, and reward for violent acts, may lead to emotional and cognitive numbness to violence in both the media and real life. VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES AND THEIR IMPACT ON CHILDREN Video games have grown in popularity with the young; according to Gentile and Wash, children between the ages of 2 and 7 spent an average of 43 minutes per day every day playing video games (Gentile and Wash, 2002). First and second grade boys have been found to play video games on average 3.5 hours per week, while girls play for about 2.5 hours each week (Funk and others, 422). In 2005, a survey of more than 2,000 children across America indicated that the average American child lived in a household with three televisions and two video game consoles (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout, 28). This survey also indicated that 68% of children have a television in the bedroom and 49% of those children have a video game console attached to it (Roberts, Foehr, and Rideout, 28). The content of video games available for children has become a concern for researchers and parents, particularly with the growing number of games containing violence. Back in 1998, Dietz conducted a content analysis of video games and found that 80% of video games on the market involved aggression and violence (Dietz, 435). In half of the violent games, violence had themes of sport aggression. In addition, twenty percent of the games portrayed females as victims or in distress and directed violence against these females. These statistics are of concern because of the number of video games on the market today and the ever-growing popularity of violent games on the younger generations. Children are influenced by their experiences, and media research indicates that children’s perceptions are influenced by violent media exposure. The striking reality proves the psychological conclusions on the relationship between violent video games, children exposure to this media violence and their aggressive behavior. Doom, video game of shooter genre and one of the most successful selling games in the United States, was identified as one of the favorite games used by one of the Columbine killers, Eric Harris, who also marketed a special of this game of his web page. Michael Carneal, an eleven-year-old who shot and killed classmates in Paducka, Kentucky, also spent many hours playing video games such as Quake and Doom. Because of their intrinsically interactive nature, video games developed a reputation as one of the most problematic types of media. Many have worried about the time children and adolescents spend with video games. Young boys between the ages of 8 and 13 reportedly spent an average of 7.5 hours per week with computer and video games (Strasburger, Wilson, and Jordan, 37). A number of studies indicated that the amount of time children spend playing video games typically peaks between fourth and eighth grade (Funk and others, 415). This corresponded to what many developmental psychologists have referred to as the Concrete Operational Period (between approximately ages 7 and 11 years). According to psychologist, the concrete operational period was marked by a child’s ability to create and use “operations,” or internalized mental procedures that make up an organized structure (Miller, 155). With the development of operational thought, the solutions and representations that a child designed became dynamic and fluid (Miller, 156). As a result, the concern most commonly expressed by parents and researchers was the influence of video game content on the development of operational thought. Practically, the majority of modern published studies have revealed the relationship between violent video game playing and decrease in positive characteristics like empathy as well as increase in desensitization obtained from violent video games (Funk and others, 414). Gentile and colleagues studies 607 eighth and ninth grade students’ video game use, level of parental monitoring, and exposure to video game violence (Gentile, 82). Relationships were also explored between video game violence, hostility, school grades, arguments with teachers, and involvement in physical fights (Gentile, 82-83). According to the results of this study, adolescent males who preferred higher levels of video game violence were found to be more likely to be involved in fights, arguments with teachers, and poor school performance (Gentile, 83). Similar findings have also been found among German youth in the study conducted by Krahe and Moller, which included 213 eight graders (Krahe and Moller, 57). This research supports much of the research made by the North American colleagues that exposure to video games violence is associated with the acceptance of physical aggression, an indication of possible desensitization to such exposure. CONCLUSION Exposure to video game violence appears to have an impact on adults, adolescents, and children. Although some findings are contradictory, more recent studies have provided evidence that playing violent video games leads to aggressiveness. Further, it is evident through research findings and astonishing reality cases of violence that video games containing violence will almost always contribute to players’ spontaneous articulations of mood, aggressive behavior and hostile intention. From this perspective, it is important for modern parents and adults alike to realize that chronic exposure to violent video games is detrimental for individual’s emotional development and psychological wellbeing. WORKS CITED American Psychological Association. Resolution on violence in video gamesand interactive media. Washington, DC, 2005. Retrieved Oct 24, 2010 Dietz, T.L. An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. Sex Roles, 38, 425-442, 1998. Entertainment Software Association. Industry facts, 2010. Retrieved Oct, 24, 2010 from Funk, J., Buchman, D., Jenks, J., & Bechtoldt, H. Playing violent video games, desensitization and moral evaluation in children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 413-436, 2003 Gee, J.P. What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003 Gentile, D. & Walsh, D. A normative study of family media habits. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23,157-178, 2002. Retrieved Oct 24, 2010 from Gentile, D. A., & Anderson, C. A. Violent video games: The newest media violence hazard. In D. A. Gentile (Ed.), Media violence and children : A complete guide for parents and professionals (pp. 131-152). Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003 Griffiths, M. The educational benefits of video games. Education and Health,Vol. 20 (3),47 5l, 2002. Huesmann, L. R. The impact of electronic media violence: Scientific theory and research. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6), S6-S13, 2007. Huesmann, L. R. 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Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 48(4), 584-606, 2004. Strasburger, V., Wilson, B., and Jordan, A. (2009). Children, Adolescents, and the Media. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. Thompson, K. & Haninger, K. Violence in E-Rated Video Games. Journal or American Medicine, 286, 591-598, 2001. Retrieved Oct 24, 2010 from < http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/286/5/591.pdf> Vorderer, P. Interactive entertainment and beyond. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertainment : the psychology of its appeal (pp. 21-36). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. Wartella, E. A., O’Keefe, G. J., & Scantlin, R. Children and interactive media: A compendium of current research and directions for the future. Markle Foundation, 2000. Read More