Video Games and Violence

            In today’s world there is a lot of talk about video games and how they affect a person’s mentality. Politicians often use video games as the reason for violent acts. People everywhere are arguing whether video games are the cause of violent outbreaks in the world. The truth is that video games do not cause violence and is in fact more beneficial to people. In recent years there have been academic journals that defend video games on the psychological standpoint.

In the academic journal “Defending the morality of violent video games” by Marcus Schulzke, says that video games are not the problem of violent acts of today.  He talks about the arguments that are used by the other side and why it they are not correct. He talks about the problem of certain research that was already done. He says that they are too focused on a certain part and does not consider everything about video games. The research is not broad enough to give sufficient evidence that video games cause violence. He talks about the three viewpoints that someone can have when it comes to video games and how each one is different. He eventually finishes by saying that all three perspectives will lead to the conclusion that video games don’t cause violence. “Judging games from a Kantian or Aristotelian standpoint is primarily a theoretical, while the utilitarian approach requires empirical study. Analyzing these as distinct parts of the anti-violent gaming argument helps to see what counts as evidence for each perspective.” (Schulzke127).  These three types of point of views all come from different way of thinking. These ways of thinking will help truly figure out if video games cause violent in the real world. The study done by each viewpoint will be important to see the differences in violence caused by video games and other outside factors that happens to people. “There are three basic empirical questions regarding video game violence. Do they give players the skills to hurt people more effectively? Do they weaken feelings of empathy? Do they motivate players to commit violent acts? Each of these must be answered to assess the moral status of video games, as these are the three most common criticisms found in the gaming literature” (Schulzke 131). In the end the most important part of video games boils down to these three questions each giving their own answer. In the end research that is found in the academic article shows that it does not give people more effective ways to kill someone. Video games do not weaken feeling of empathy toward other people and their surroundings. Video games also does not motivate people to go commit other crimes done in society. “Wonderly argues this from the perspective of David Hume’s moral philosophy.37 In contrast with earlier philosophers who tried to base morality on abstract moral precepts or on individual virtue, Hume understood morality as being rooted in natural identification with others’ feelings. Empathy is an intersubjective faculty—our being with others allows us to feel their experiences and we are naturally averse to harming others because of our capacity to empathize with them. If video games destroy our understanding of others, then they will plausibly lead to harmful consequences when seen from a Humean perspective.” ( Schulzke 132). Perspective and morality of empathy changes how a study of video games and their affects on people.

In the academic journal “Play Fighting: THE REAL-WORLD VIOLENCE OF VIDEOGAMES.” by Jini Maxwell, she talks about how video games and acts of violence have been coming more relevant in these past few years. She then talks about how it’s not the video games that are causing violence. Then she talks about how the similarity and differences between the army and first-person shooters. She then continues to say that the similarities between the violence in video games and how the army don’t cause violence in people. In fact, it was helping the U.S. Army because they are using it to train some of their recruits when people first apply to the army. It also helps the army because it has led to more people joining the army in the recent years. “Maybe rather than asking whether the fictional content of a videogame contributes to aggressive behavior in its players, a perhaps even more significant question is what relationship games technology and development have to real-world violence.” (Maxwell). The problem is not that people are becoming more aggressive and that we shouldn’t be focused on one media. A more important part of the effects of video games is the real-life connections that exist.

In the social media post Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered questions, by Craig A. Anderson, from American Psychological Association talks about common myths that exist of video games. He Discusses 11 myths that are common to people who have not done their research on video games. He also talks about certain gaps that exist between the research that was done that says video games cause violence and harm people.  He brings up useful information and backs up his claims by supporting it with research and putting his own work cited so that anyone can look at what he used. One of these myths is that correlation does not mean causation. In fact, because there is no seen change in the behavior of children that correlation is causation. If there is no difference in how people are behaving as they play violent video games, then the causation is that video games do not cause violent behaviors in people. “The overly simplistic mantra, “Correlation is not causation,” is useful when teaching introductory students, the risks in too-readily drawing causal conclusions from a simple empirical correlation between two measured variables. However, correlational studies are routinely used in modern science to test theories that are inherently causal.” (Anderson). Correlation and Causation is used in science all the time and is extremely important when it comes to getting results. Correlation is not causation is only important for people who are beginners when it comes drawing conclusions so that they can learn but eventually they will learn to use it correctly.

In another social media post The frustrating, enduring debate over video games, violence and guns, by Aja Romano from Vox, talks about political events that surround violence and video games. In recent news politicians and the president are saying that video games are the cause of violent acts and that people shouldn’t be playing video games. The post then states that blaming video games for violence is not something new and that it dates to 1970. “But this isn’t a new development; blaming video games for real-world violence — any kind of real-world violence — is a longstanding cultural and political habit whose origins date back to the 1970s. It’s also arguably part of a larger recurring wave of concern over any pop culture that’s been perceived as morally deviant, from rock ’n’ roll to the occult, depending on the era.” (Romano). There has always been something to be the blame for real world violence and it just depends on what time period people are looking at. It’s easy to point at video games and say that the cause of real-world violence without doing any research on them. The thing that is new to the development of real-world violence is the people fighting these claims. It’s just not one group of people fighting for video games. Gamers, Scientist and other social media outlets are all saying that video games are not the cause of these mass shootings and real-world violence. In recent years the new data that test if video games cause violence has shown that it doesn’t lead to more violent behaviors. “Historically, video games have played a verifiable role in a handful of mass shootings, but the science linking video games to gun violence is murky. A vast body of psychology research, most of it conducted before 2015, argues strenuously that video games can contribute to increases in aggression. Yet much of this research has been contested by newer, contradictory findings from both psychologists and scholars in different academic fields.” (Romano). New research shows that violence caused by video games doesn’t really exist and that previous work are proven invalid. This is important because that means that previous findings that said video games caused violence can also be considered wrong and that they don’t hold any real value anymore.

In the academic journal The Effect of Violence and Competition Within Video Games on Aggression, by Andrew Dowsett, does a study that revolves around violent video games and competitions that people join. It talks about problems that exist between other studies and why they can’t be used. One of those reasons is because they use other video games across all testers and that it can’t make a clarified conclusion. The point of this experiment is to test both the impact of competition and violence on aggression using experimental design and the same game across all conditions. By the end of the experiment there was no results showing that video games cause violence, instead it’s losing a competition is causing more aggression not the games itself. “this experimental study is the first to demonstrate this effect by controlling for any confounding game effect variables by using the same game across all conditions.” (Dowsett 24).  Using data from other experiments that they sourced this experiment is done differently from the rest. They were careful in the way that proceeded with the research to make sure they didn’t mess up the results. “In summary, this study demonstrated that competition and losing in competitive games impacts aggressive affect, while violence within video games does not. Future studies need to continue to use the same game across conditions to control for confounding variables so that it becomes clearer exactly how video games impact aggression.” (Dowsett 26). These studies show that there is no violence caused by video games and that it’s losing at video games cause more aggression in people. This is also important because it gives future researchers a basis of how to their own experiments. Also, why it’s important to have certain controlled variables when it comes to doing them.

In another academic journal The Impact of Video Games on the Players Behavior: A Survey by Muhannad Quwaider does a survey of a bunch of people who plays video game daily. They then do research and experiments to see the effects of video games not just on the mental basis but also on the physical basis. The look first at the skills or reactions earned from playing different video games. Those reactions can give positive reactions or negative reactions all depending on how the people act while playing video games. The other part of the study tests the relationships between video games and people’s behavior and how they act. In conclusion they found that depending on the person’s behavior they can act in two different ways. One way is to be more cooperative with others and be positive with others, on the other hand people can act more selfish and have a negative reaction to things. These different reactions come from the person’s behavior and emotions on the daily basis. Their personality is amplified by playing video games. If a person is more cooperative and kinder, they more likely to have a positive reaction to when it comes to playing video games. “The majority of studies conclude that there is a relationship between the video games and the player’s behavior. In these studies, the researchers conclude that the video games have impact on the player personality, like emotions, reflexes, behaviors, motivations, needs, thinking way and approach internal and external situations.” (Quwaider 581). Video games influence the behavior of people it just depends on the person’s behavior from the start to decide what emotions come from people. Peoples reactions can all differ from each other, there is no one decisive way a person will act from playing video games.

In the YouTube video Adam Ruins Everything – Behind the Myth that Video Games Cause Violence by Adam Conover from truTV, talks about certain myths that exist about video games and how wrong parents and kids are because of certain medias talking about it. Some of these myths come from shooting that happen and people are looking for something to blame instead of looking at actual problems. They even point out that a bigger problem to these mass shooting is accessibility there is to guns and how easy it is. The amount of aggression that is built by playing video games is equal to playing a sport. There is no major amount of aggression that is built from playing video games. The video back up their claim with research that they linked in the video and by another PhD psychologist. They made it clear that playing video games are not harmful for people and that the media is using it as an excuse. It’s easy for people to point and blame without looking at the actual problems we have in society.

On the other hand, there are still people who believe that video games cause violence and that’s why we should control them. Examples of these people are politicians like the president. In the article Samantha Nerove: Why so many mass murders? Study impact of violent video games and impose age restrictions by Samantha Nerove from Fox News, talks about how violence is caused by video games and that they should be limited on how kid use it.  Problems with her argument is that she didn’t use any data to back up her claim. She didn’t do any research or cited it if she did. She also is writing her own opinion on it which is clearly show by the fact that this article is written in the opinion section. In the article she says “Violent video games are just one way our society glamorizes violence and killing through movies, TV, music and other forms of entertainment. We need to take a hard look at why we do this, and to decide if measures should be taken to promote more positive behavior” (Nerove). Video games are not desensitizing people to violence and they are certainly not making people more violent. There is no research done by this author and can’t be taken as the truth. The problem that exists is that anyone who reads this article without doing research would believe her and not know the actual truth. Video games have been more helpful with people as shown from the other sources above. Violence in games shouldn’t be a fear to kids or parents.

In conclusion video games do not cause violence. The problem is that media and politicians are using video games as an excuse. There is no current data that supports video games cause real-world violence. Politicians are feeding people incorrect information without doing research and causing major problems. People must do the research and see that video games are actually more beneficial then harmful if anything.

 

 

 

 

 

Work Cited

Anderson, Craig. “Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions.” Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions, American Psychological Association , Oct. 2003, https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.

Conover, Adam, director. Adam Ruins Everything – Behind the Myth That Video Games Cause Violence | TruTV. Adam Ruins Everything – Behind the Myth That Video Games Cause Violence | TruTV, TruTv, 25 Jan. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzaI3IsCuko.

Dowsett, Andre. “The Effect of Violence and Competition within Video Games on Aggression.” The Effect of Violence and Competition within Video Games on Aggression, vol. 99, Oct. 2019, pp. 22–27. Science Direct, https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S0747563219301773.

Maxwell, Jini. “Play Fighting: THE REAL-WORLD VIOLENCE OF VIDEOGAMES.” Screen Education,no.95,2019,p.50+. GaleAcademicOnefile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A602718314/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=835159c9. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

Nerove, samantha. “Samantha Nerove: Why so Many Mass Murders? Study Impact of Violent Video Games and Impose Age Restrictions.” Samantha Nerove: Why so Many Mass Murders? Study Impact of Violent Video Games and Impose Age Restrictions, Fox News, 7 Aug. 2019, https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/samantha-nerove-why-so-many-mass-murders-study-impact-of-violent-video-games-and-impose-age-restrictions.

Quwaider, Muhannad. “The Impact of Video Games on the Players Behaviors: A Survey.” The Impact of Video Games on the Players Behaviors: A Survey, vol. 151, 2019, pp. 575–582. ScienceDirect, https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S1877050919305393.

Romano, Aja. “The Frustrating, Enduring Debate over Video Games, Violence, and Guns.” The Frustrating, Enduring Debate over Video Games, Violence, and Guns, Vox, 26 Aug. 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/8/26/20754659/video-games-and-violence-debate-moral-panic-history.

Schulzke, Marcus. “Defending the Morality of Violent Video Games.” Defending the Morality of Violent Video Games., vol. 12, no. 2, June 2010, pp. 127–139. CCNY Databse, doi:10.1007/s10676-010-9222-x.