Violence in the Video Games - Research Paper Example

Violence in the Video Games Technology has bestowed several unique and interesting things to the human kinds but unfortunately all the products of technology are not completely beneficial for the human beings. There are some products of technology that remain surrounded around great waves of criticism and controversies because it is claimed that their benefits are lesser than its disadvantages. Among these, the video games could be regarded among the highly controversial thing because over the last thirty years they have made their places inside the homes of most of the people and gradually the children have shown the sings of negative change within their behaviours and attitudes. The Criticism and Popularity of Video Games The criticism against the video games is not very new and over last few days people have been complaining about the negative consequences of the video games. Video games have become very controversial products because along with time the negative consequences of video games are identified by the expert but at the same time the popularity of video games is also on its peak because in short intervals people are provided with new options and versions of different video games to maintain their interests in it. The popularity of the video games began in 1976 when there was a game Death Race developed by Exidy was introduced in the market. In this game the players have to take control of the cars running over the pixelate representation of the gremlins. The game became popular among the people that it was also profiled in the magazine 60 minutes. After this game, people have been experiencing the rapid wave of introduction of new games and their advanced versions. Over the last decades there has been numerous research studies conducted to find out the potential impacts of video games upon the minds and behaviours of the children. Most of these research studies have come up with the conclusion that video games promote graphic violence, sexism and sex through the portrayal of nude bodies, gory scenes and depiction of criminal behaviour. These studies have also established the link between video games and addiction and aggression. It is found that the exposure to the violent video games decreases the sense of pro-social behaviour among the children and they began to show less are about the welfare and rights of the people around them. It is also found that the children frequently exposed to the video games are tend to be more violent, aggressive and careless in their real lives (Anne and Walling, p1). There are several benefits that are claimed to be drive from the video games. For instance, it is also unveiled in a recent research study that the video games teach children team work and make their minds more attentive and alert to take immediate and right actions. They learn to encounter different types of problems and hurdles and to use their minds to come out of the problem areas. The video games maintain the interest of the children for long time and sometimes parents take these as an option to keep their children busy while sitting at one place (Ferguson et al, p332). Despite these acclaimed benefits of video games, it is also a fact that the harmful and long term negative effects of video games are much more as compared with these little benefits. It has been revealed that the video games induce several behavioural problems within the children due to which they commonly become involved in the violent acts like school shooting and beating the fellows etc. Some of the parents have also observed that the children want to spend more time in front of the TV playing video games rather spending free time with the family members. In this way the social lives of the children are also negatively affected by the video games because they spend more time of games and neglect other important tasks. The negative effects of video games in term of violence and aggression were identified some decades ago (Ferguson, p37). President Ronnie Lamm was urged by the Island PTA to formulate legislation upon the video games making. In the early 1980s the legislations were made to restrict the video games developers to follow some rules and principles while developing the games. Disbarred attorney Jack Thompson also filed the case against the video games development for adding the essence of violence and cruelty in the games and promoting the violent acts. It is found that spending more time playing the video games makes the children violent because the video games promotes aggressive behaviour among children and youngsters and increase their physiological arousal, aggression related thoughts and behaviours. The players of the video games often become reluctant to participate in different physical activities because they find their gams more interesting as compared with the physical activities with the peers (Thomas, p43). Eventually the video games reduce the physical activities of the children and make them home savvy. Along with time there is great awareness among the people regarding the negative effects of video games upon the children however, it is also a fact that the video game industry is also growing and expanding significantly along with time that shows great interest of people in purchasing and playing different video games. Over the years, the video game industry has become very strong and several advanced versions of the games like Sony Play station, Game Cube, Nintendo, and PSP etc. have developed and introduced in the market and people are widely attracted towards these games. It shows that there is still need of awareness among the people that they should limit their children’s expose to the video games in order to control their behaviours and attitudes (Ferguson et al, p332). The responsibilities of Parents The parents have commonly complaint about the problem of addiction in their children when they are exposed to the video games and it is a very common problem associated with the video games. When children and youngsters spend more time with these games they get maximum exposure to the violent activities and eventually the chances of penetration of violence in their mind-sets also increased a lot. It implies that the children must be allowed to play video games with some time restrictions to restrict the effects of these games on their minds (Anne and Walling, p1). The parents have to play a very important and major role in this situation. They have to be strategically concentrated upon the activities and time table of their children to assure that they will not become violent and aggressive after being frequently exposed to the video games. The parents must check the details of the video games before allowing the children to play these. It is not an easy and simple task because the advances game packs come with many options that are difficult to monitor but the parents have to take this step if they want to avoid the negative consequences of the video games upon the minds of their children. It has been proved that the video games mostly affect the minds of the children in the negative way so it is imperative that the parent must take some steps to limit these steps by controlling the exposure. If the parents will neglect it today it will affect their children’s future because they will turn out to be violent and aggressive person their future life. Conclusion The above discussion clarifies that the video games have very obvious effects upon the children because they add violence and aggression among them. Despite these negative effects the video games are becoming more and more popular and the children and youngsters are becoming addicted to these games. In this scenario the parents have to play their roles by limiting the exposure of their children so that they could also control the violent within the attitude of their children. Work Cited Sheff, David. Video Games: A Guide for Savvy Parents. Random House, New York, 1994, p. 33 Thomas A. Kooijmans. Effects of Video Games on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviors during Development, Rochester Institute of Technology. December 2004 Ferguson, Christopher; Rueda, S., Cruz, A., Ferguson, D., Fritz, S., & Smith, S (2008). "Violent video games and aggression: Causal relationship or by-product of family violence and intrinsic violence motivation?” Criminal Justice and Behaviour 35: 311–332 Anne D. Walling, MD, "Do Video Games Lead to Violent Behaviour in Children" American Family Physician, Vol.65/No. 7, 1 April 2002, p. 1 Ferguson, C. J. "The school shooting/violent video game link: Causal relationship or moral panic?" Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling. 5(2008):25-37 Read More