Video games and violence - Essay Example

?Running head: VIDEO GAMES Video games and violence Insert Insert Grade Insert 21 April Video games and violence Introduction The history of video games can be traced back in the late 1950s and in the early 1960s, a period when the first minicomputers were introduced thereby availing an opportunity where man can interact with the computer. The earliest games were developed at the Massachusetts institute of technology by an undergraduate student, and since then, the computer or video games have transformed to one of the major entertainment industries in the world that incorporate animated graphics art and narrative structures. Dynamic steps have been made from the traditional board games to the modern interactive games (Gunter, 1998, p. 11 & 12). Over the years, the video games have attained a vast popularity especially among the teenagers. This has attracted public concern from the various public quarters. Studies have been conducted that sought to explain the impact or effects that video games have on the developing minds of teenagers. The increased level of crimes and violence among the teenagers has largely been blamed on the video games that depict violent scenes. At the moment, there are numerous video games incorporated in the various electronic devices, which include even the phones, thanks to the ever changing and developing technology of the modern world. Social and ethical issues The school shootings of April 20th, 1999 in Jefferson County, Colorado that involved two teenagers Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris is one of the numerous life case studies that is attributed to violence incorporated in video games. In this case, 13 students including a school staff were murdered and 24 people injured on that fateful day in a span of 49 minutes before the two teenagers ended their lives with the same weapons. This kind of mass murder elicited a public debate on the motives behind the two teenagers’ violent behavior. At the apex of the accusations was the effect of the video game on the two teenagers as it was later revealed that the two teenagers were addicts of the violent video games and they had even played a violent video game just before the shootings. These violent acts have instigated public attention on the possible social and ethical effects of video games and particularly in regards to violent behaviors among the teenagers (Massey, 2007, p. 1 & 2). Video games and violence Over the past three decades, video games have increased their market base and popularity as well. The market base of the video games is founded on teenager market as a child who is as young as three years is considered to have started playing video games at home. In the recent years, focus has sharply been fixed on the violence content that is incorporated in the various video games. A lot of eye brows have been raised regarding this issue and its influence as the teenagers playing the video games are supposed to “view the world through the eyes of the game character” (Signorielli, 2005, p. 36). To make the matter worse the recent technology has option of the player personalizing the game as the players can scan the pictures of people they know and paste them on the potential victims in the game character. With this kind of technology incorporated in the violent video games the teenagers are bound to indulge in violent behavior as the chances are high that they will implement the same actions perceived in the video game in the real world (Signorielli, 2005, p. 36) Video games of the first generation incorporated animated characters of cartoons but that is not the case at the modern world as the characters in the video games are more realistic than before thus indicating that the acts of violence incorporated in the games will also be realistic. Use of the rewarding mechanism where a character in the game is rewarded for killing and ripping of the opponent’s heart is one of the many ways that violence is glorified in the video games rather than been condemned. The improved graphics technology has enhanced the depictions of these killings in the video games to appear more realistic and appealing to the eyes of the young teenager playing the video game. This may have serious consequences as the teenagers are regarded of not having the capability of differentiating the real world and the fantasy world. The amount of violence in the video games could only have minor significance if the larger percentage of people playing them were mature but this is not the case as more adolescents than adults are playing these games (Vorderer and Bryant, 2006, p. 348). Argument for Video games are regarded as a form of entertainment especially among the teens. The game players do not just watch, but instead interact with the game thus making video games an interesting form of amusement. Taylor indicates that parents bear the responsibility of introducing their children to nonviolent games such as Earth worm Jim. This will enable the children to develop away from the popular culture of violence (Taylor, 2005, p. 245). Argument Against Despite the fact that not all video games condone violence and anti-social behavior, majority of the video games condone it. A good example of a violent Video game is GTA (Grand Theft Auto) a game where the character of the game sells drugs, sleeps with prostitutes and even kills policemen (House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee, 2008, p. 301). Another major concern of video games is that the players in one way or the other tend to be addicted to the games they play. The players of these games are constantly compelled to play these games thus disregarding other important activities in their lives. The seriousness caused by this addiction is portrayed by the fact that the players tend to experience withdrawal symptoms when they try to resist playing the video games. Future development of video games Video games are supposed to offer a form of entertainment to the players and not reveal to them strategic mechanisms they can use to instigate violent activities. Future development of the video games should revolve around less violent content and incorporate an entertaining and educative theme. The young minds of the teenagers are still developing and as they develop, they should be natured in a positive dimension as opposed to feeding them with violent content. Educative and skill oriented games that include sports and racing, are supposed to be the main themes of the video games as opposed to the violent themes. This is in order to avert future violent acts of crimes such as the school shootings of the 1990s that rocked America. The perpetrators of these shootings were said to have been playing violent games for a lengthy period of time. In addition to this the teenagers do not have a clear understanding of differentiating between the fantasy world and the real world and hence while designing the various games the designers should note that what they portray in the games has a high percentage of been emulated by the teenagers (Dowd, et al, 2006, p. 233). Conclusion Video games are more popular among the teenagers than any other group of people in the society. This therefore means that caution should be taken while developing the various types of video games targeting this set of market. Violent related games are on the rise in the modern world, which should not be the case, as the teenagers tend to see the world on the dimension of the video game character. In addition to this, the glorifying or rewarding of the violence committed in the video game by the video game character is not supposed to be condoned. However, video games are here to stay as they are popular across the globe and hence they cannot be treated as evil devices regardless of their negative effects. One of the active roles that can be applied is changing the perception that exists about them. In addition to this focus should be shifted on how to improve the positive effects and avoid the negative effects that are attributed to the video games. Reference list Dowd, E. N. et al., 2006. Handbook of children, culture, and violence. London: Sage Publications. Gunter, B., 1998. The effects of video games on children: the myth unmasked. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press. House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee., 2008. Harmful Content on the Internet and in Video Games: Oral and written evidence. London: Parliamentary copyright House of Commons. Massey, R., 2007. The Link Between Video Games and Violence. Berlin: GRIN Verlag. Signorielli, N., 2005. Violence in the media: a reference handbook. CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc. Taylor, J., 2005. Your children are under attack: how popular culture is destroying your kids’ values and how you can protect them. Illinois: Sourcebooks, Inc. Vorderer, P. and Bryant, J., 2006. Playing video games: motives, responses, and consequences. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Read More