Video Games and Sociology - Research Paper Example

Violent video games contribute to aggression and criminal behavior among teenagers. This is a topic is important since many parents do not determine the scripts of video games played by their teenagers. Accordingly, the topic is important since the internet has increased access to violent video games and aggression among the teenagers is on the rise (Gentile 29). Video games encourage influence the perception of players through encouraging them to become part of the video script. The players of video games have the opportunity of selecting the characters to play with and choosing several weapons such as bombs, guns and knives.

Video games require the active participation of the player and reward violence thus increasing the chances of development of aggressive behaviors (Ruschmann 213). The paper will discuss the adverse effects of violent video games of teenagers’ aggressive behavior. The paper will look at statistics of teenagers who play violent games and finally offer recommendations to parents. Thesis statement: violent video games increase the danger of aggressive behaviors among teenagers. Body Social scientists have studied the impacts of video game violence on teenagers since 1950s.

Video games have become bloodier and violent than ever and more than half of teenagers waste valuable time playing such games (Ruschmann 127). The consumer demand for video games with aggressive scenes and violence has increased over the last few decades. Video game manufacturers produce games with violent scenes in order to appeal to the teenagers (Gentile 49). Unlike passive watching of the television, video games require the teenagers to actively participate in the gaming sessions through challenging the virtual opponent with different weaponry such as knives, bombs, guns and pipes.

A majority of the teenagers identify with violent characters that are usually portrayed as heros in the violent video games (Ruschmann 89). According to previous research, American children aged between 8-18 years spend an average of eight hours in one week while playing violent video games. The research also found out that boys spend more hours than girls while gaming. A majority of the favorite video games such as ‘modern warfare 2’ and ‘call of duty’ contain extreme scenes of violence, murder and shooting.

In addition, multiplayer online video games such as ‘modern warfare’ have exceeded more than 10 million subscribers with a majority being teenagers aged less than 17 years. It is clear that online video games contain negative themes such as murdering for money and going on a shooting spree thus exposing the teenager players to instincts of violent behaviors (Ruschmann 190). According to the General aggression model (GAM), violence in video games can influence the beliefs, attitudes and personality of teenagers (Paludi 34).

Instances of killing, shooting and murder in video games will lead to psychological arousal thus leading to feelings of aggression. Repeated gaming will reinforce the scripts and attitudes thus desensitizing the aggression and creating aggressive attitudes among the teenagers (Ruschmann 187). Violent video games are addictive and dominate the life of the teenagers thus leading to wastage of valuable academic time. Playing violent video games for long hours will impair the psychological functioning of the teenager (Paludi 56).

These games have the danger of causing attention deficit and hyperactivity. Repeated playing of