Running Head: FALSE VIDEO GAME AGGRESSION 1

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Why Video Games Are Blamed For Causing Teen Violence Ben Heigl

Naperville Central

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FALSE VIDEO GAME AGGRESSION 2

Introduction

In the past 30 years, the usage of video games has only been rapidly increasing. This mass consumption has led to a larger and larger target market, in fact, 97% of all teens in 2008 have played at least one video game. Due to the rapid expansion of the video game consumer market, the video game industry had a period of growth thus causing the genre of games to grow as well. However, this caused video game genres to appear which contained violent imagery and/or violent actions. This caused outrage among the media, and many news outlets blamed these violent games for causing aggression among teens. This ideology still appears in today's society, and much of the general public believes violent games influence teens to become more violent. The researcher is going to find out if video games do cause violence. He will also analyze why the media blames violence in teens on games. The researcher will use a wide variety of sources from opposing sides and attempt to deduce an affirmative answer.

Review of Literature

The researcher searched for sources which analyzed violence in video games, he could then deduce if they caused violence or not. This evidence would then assist him in learning if the media rightfully or wrongfully blames violence in teens on video games. He found out that a large portion of the public dislikes violent video games and believes that they desensitise children and teens. However video games and computer games do not induce violent behavior among teens and young adults. In fact, video games make the players feel quite the opposite, according to Ed Louise (2004) “government researchers found in a national survey that "most people associate positive feelings such as enjoyment, happiness, exhilaration, relaxation, and

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challenge with playing computer games”(Par. 7) Louise cites a source which clearly shows that videogames do not induce violent feelings. They actually cause those who play them to be happy and excited. This is very different from what much of the media says about video games. The media and many big figures who have no real knowledge of video games create the attitude of which the public views video games with. One of these figures is former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich. According to an article by scholastic (2005) “Blagojevich says violent video games don't just show criminal acts--they let kids commit them.”(Par. 8) The governor continues to explain that violent video games are causing today's adolescents to become more violent. The source also shows some children playing a rated M -Mature, game called Halo. “

Where you

shoot aliens and blow them up in a futuristic environment.” (Par. 9) Blagojevich uses this to assert his claim of violent video games leading to violence in teens. However, like many other big name media stars, Blagojevich was soon found to be in a scandal and promptly jailed. The researcher found this source important because it shows that many of the violent video game accusers cannot be trusted and have no real professionalism in that subject matter. The researcher then went and searched for a source that depicts violent video games as taboo. He wanted to see if, contrary to his previous research, if there was enough evidence to argue that video games cause violence. According to Ed Laurice in an article against video games (2010), “Viewing violence may lead to real-life violence. Children exposed to violent programming at a young age have a higher tendency for violent and aggressive behavior later in life than children who are not so exposed.”(Par. 9) Laurice states that when children view violence, they will eventually

become violent. The researcher believes while this behavior is true, the child has to be constantly exposed to violent imagery. Also, a child or teen has to be unstable to be affected at all by

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violent games, as any normal child or teen would learn that violence and killing is very

malicious. The researcher found another source which backed his hypothesis. In an article from the Mental health weekly digest,

researches Ferguson and olson conducted violent video game

tests on children with mental instabilities, (2013) “Ferguson and Olson's findings do not support the popular belief that violent video games increase aggression in youth who have a

predisposition to mental health problems. The researchers found no association between the playing of violent video games and subsequent increased delinquent criminality or bullying in children with either clinically elevated depressive or attention deficit symptoms.”(Marie, Par. 19) The researcher found that violent video games have less of an impact on an even smaller group of people, as the source continues to say (2013) “Although Ferguson and Olson warned that their results could not be generalized to extreme cases such as mass homicides,”(Marie, Par. 18) The researcher figured out at this point that violent video games must only influence a very small group of people, and that some sources in the media which talk about violent games are untrustworthy. However the researcher needed more evidence, he looked for another source which advocated against video games. In the article “Keeping Kids from Violent Games” author Suzi Parker states (1999), “The video games basically numb our youth to the issue of ... violence or ... violent acts.”(Par. 2) The researcher considered this viewpoint, as violent games may not cause violence among teens but rather numb teens to it. It could also cause teens to be much less social, which would be an even bigger negative impact! This would mean that violent games would actually have a considerable impact on teens, and therefore the media must be right, the researcher thought this too drastic a viewpoint shift, so he looked for a pro-video game source. In in article by Paulson, Paulson reveals the opposite of what the prior source believed, (2008),

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“The researchers found no basis for one of the frequent criticisms of gaming, that kids who play video games are loners who are socially isolated. In fact, they discovered, three-quarters of all teens play games with others at least some of the time, and about half play with friends they know from their offline lives. Daily gamers were just as likely to communicate with their friends and spend time with them face to face as their peers who don't play games often.”(Par. 13) Unlike the opposing viewpoint, the researcher found clear evidence and research that video games stimulate teens into becoming not only becoming sociable. But just as sociable if they were talking face-to-face with their peers! The researcher looked for one more source that could assist in sealing his findings on the subject matter. In the article “Only a Game?” by Guy Cumberbatch, the author cites a source which shows a middle ground, (2000) “Those who had played the violent video game showed significantly faster responses to the aggressive words.

However, we cannot know from the results whether the violent game speeded up responses, or whether the non-violent game slowed them down. Thus the authors' conclusion that the effect is due to the violent game is a leap of faith.”(Par. 15) The researcher found at this point that it is safe to conclude that violent video games should not cause violence. As the sources which argue against violent games were easily refuted with facts and evidence. The researcher still needed to find a definitive study to help him bridge the fact that violent video games do not cause violence and why the media blames violence in teens on video games. In the article named, “Violent Games do not cause Violence” researcher Eric Kain examines why video games aren't violent and the stigma surrounding them. Kain states (2013) “To hold up a few sensational examples as causal evidence between violent games and violent acts ignores the millions of other young men and women who play violent video games and never go on a shooting spree in real life.

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Furthermore, it's very difficult to determine empirically whether violent kids are simply drawn to violent forms of entertainment, or if the entertainment somehow makes them violent. Without solid scientific data to go on, it's easier to draw conclusions that confirm our own biases.”(Par. 8) The researcher concludes that violent video games and violence in teens are not directly

correlated. The source also says that it’s easier to draw conclusions that confirm our biases, could these biases be what creates the negative stigma between violent games and the general public? The researcher then looked into why is there a negative stigma between violent video games and the media. After all, the researcher is attempting to find why the media blames violence in teens on video games. The article “Violent Video game Stand-off” is a press release which shows families accusing violent video games of desensitising their children. While the researcher now knows that video games do not cause violence, he realizes this source shows the public's negative view of video games, one of the sources states, (2010) "The pattern of results ...

strongly suggests that exposure to violent video games is a causal risk factor for increased

aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognition, and aggressive affect and for decreased empathy and pro-social behaviour,"(Stephan, Par. 1) The researcher figured out that the families have a

negative stigma for video games because of the media, much of the media lies to them about it.

Why is this? The media doesn’t realize the many factors that can make a teen violent. When an incident that involves a teen committing a crime or violent act, there isn’t time to dig up studies and stats, so the media points fingers to get more people watching them. In the article “Shooting in the dark”, author Benedict Carey talks about all the factors that could lead to high teen

violence"^'None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on"(Par.

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12) This shows that there is a great divide between the truth of violent games and much of the general public. Those who see these games and judge them for how they are have never actually played these games to see what would happen. They also don’t consider the other driving factors that could cause a young person to become violent. The researcher finally comes to a conclusion that the negative stigma of violent video games is caused by a media which does not fully understand that video games do not cause violence. The media instead believes that since

children are interacting with violent games, the children will become violent themselves, but this is not true because studies have been made that refute that claim. The media creates a stigma for the general public, and the parents, as seen in articles above, fear for their children and make protests against violent video games, not knowing that those same games do not actually cause violence.

Conclusion

There are multiple arguments and studies which attempt show violent video games causing or not causing aggression. However after weighing the value of each argument, the researcher found that videogames are not a leading cause of violence among teens. The researcher came to this conclusion after noticing that the media and a number of studies attempted to show that violent video games cause violence among teens, although they could never come to a decisive conclusion. The researcher reviewed the sources claiming that video games do not cause violence, and found a multitude of studies that supported their claims. The researcher came to the conclusion that video games do not cause violence. When the researcher

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reviewed why the media blames violent video games for causing teen violence, he looked over his sources once more and came to another conclusion. After looking over all the evidence, the researcher found it safe to assume that the media often blames violence among teens on video games because the media doesn’t fully understand that violent games do not cause violence.

Video games, and violent video games are still a relatively new and growing product in today’s society, so the mistrust of them can be understandable. However, if the negative stigma

surrounding video games is to go away, then will have to stop the false advertising against them.

Many adults will need to learn that their children will not be desensitized when they play violent games, and that the media often portrays video games in a harsh light.

References

Carey, Benedict. "Shooting in the Dark." New York Times

, 12 Feb. 2013, p. D1(L). Science In

Context, Web.

Web. 25 Oct. 2016

In this article author Carey Benedict analyses if violent school shooters get their violent tendencies from video games. It is revealed later in the article that there isn’t enough evidence to convict video games of influencing shooters.

Cumberbatch, Guy. "Only a game?" New Scientist

10 June 2000: 44. Science In Context . Web.

24 Oct. 2016.

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In this source, writer Guy Cumberbatch makes studies on college and high school students, observing if their violent game preferences lead to aggression. Cumberbatch believes that there may be a correlation after making the study, but reveals his findings to be inconclusive as he doesn’t know if the teens engaged in violent behavior in their childhoods. Cumberbatch creates a second study/experiment, and finds that there is still only a weak correlation between violence and video games. And he believes that popular culture is the main driving force which demonizes video games.

Current Events, a Weekly Reader publication

. 104.19 (Feb. 18, 2005): p3. From Opposing

Viewpoints In Context

.

This source is about former Illinois Governor Blagojevich shunning video games in an interview. He says those who play violent games are troublemakers, and that you can’t take away their video games without a fight. He uses an example of an 11 year old acting violent when he and his dad play the game Halo

together.

"Keeping kids from violent video games." Christian Science Monitor

, 30 Mar. 1999, p.

1.Opposing Viewpoints In Context

, Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

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Suzi Parker reveals that an average of 98% of all teens have played video games. She shows that video games can actually help teens socialize and teens who play video games interact online as much as they would if they were talking face to face. she also shows that video games encourage teamwork and frontal cortex activity, and encourages more children to try puzzle games.

Ed. Laurie Willis. Opposing Viewpoints

Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2010. From Opposing

.

This source is about Craig Anderson explaining why video games cause teen violence.

He shows studies which link teen aggression to violent games. But he also goes over media violence as well, linking it to teen aggression and violence. Anderson explains that many sources like the media expose teens to too much violence, causing them to become overly violent and aggressive. Finally, Anderson points to the main cause of teen violence being video games involving violent activity, where the player is seeing the world from the violent characters perspective, thus altering how he/she behaves.

Ed. Louise I. Gerdes. Opposing Viewpoints

San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2004. From

Opposing Viewpoints In Context

.

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In this source Douglas Lowenstein argues for the International Digital Software association. Lowenstein makes several arguments using research from different sources, he claims that violence isn’t the main attraction of video games, but is the most well known part of them. He goes into detail of how the studies were done and why they are legit, as well as refute the claims people make towards video games. Lowenstein gives examples of real “gamers” and how they are not affected by violence in videogames.

Ed. Roman Espejo. At Issue

Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2015. From Opposing

.

In this source Eric Kain examines why the public blames video games for teen violence.

Since recent mass shootings, the media has begun to turn against video games, claiming they cause teen aggression. He looks at games that demonstrate violence like Street Racer and the public's negative views on games like it. He even includes famous politicians and businessmen shaming violent video games. Kain looks into if the government has done anything about the accused link of video games to mass-shootings, and see’s that there is a proposed bill of a 1% tax on violent games which would go to mental health patients.

Kain looks at how popular video games are and shows that a very large number of people enjoy these games. Kain says while many studies have been done to see if video games cause violence, the studies’ results always conflict with each other. Kain finishes up by telling the reader that even though violent games are filled with gun violence, there is no

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correlation between real life gun-violence and video game gun violence, and that violent games are scapegoats for the media.

The Christian Science Monitor.

(Sept. 17, 2008): News: p25. From Opposing Viewpoints In

Context

.

In this source Amanda Paulson shows that videogames can cause children to be more interactive with each other. She see’s that games can make a difference for how kids behave, but it’s always for the better. She experiments with different genres and finds that children who play certain types of games will react positively with the videogame's genre. With violent games however, the children become only a little spunky but don’t react as much. She see’s the negative video game stigma as something that has to go.

"Video games do not make vulnerable teens more violent." Mental Health Weekly Digest

9

Sept. 2013: 285. Science In Context

. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

In this article by Marie Green researchers Ferguson and Olson conducted a study where they were looking for if violence in video games really affected children. Fergusons and Olson's findings do not support the current public belief of video games causing violence.

Interestingly the researchers found that violent video games can be slightly cathartic effect on children. After seeing these results, Ferguson and Olson strongly advocated for a change of the public’s view of video games. They learned in fact, it’s more common for a mass shooter to not play violent games than to actually play violent games.

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"Video game violence stand-off." Age

[Melbourne, Australia], 11 Mar. 2010, p. 12. Opposing

, Web 28 Oct. 2016

In a brief press release, author Stephan Miers discusses many local Australian groups to be protesting violent video games being available to the younger audience. And the possible outcomes may not be so good for video games. He then states that if the groups did try to take their protests to court, there is a good amount of evidence to support the fact that violent games don’t directly cause violence.