Games,
if any media, would be the number one cause of violence in people
because it allows for violent behavior to be carried out without any repercussions.
This where a lot of people believe that a persons judgment of what is acceptable and what is not is twisted
as they are confused between reality and the game experience. "Due to consumer demand over the last three decades, most video games produced and sold today are violent." (Norcia, 2013). This helps in understanding why violent games are often thought to be a reason behind violent behaviour. This website helps to further understand where I am coming from.
Grand Theft Auto,
Saints Row and Gears of War are three of the thousands of games that allow
lifelike violence that ranges from running over pedestrians to Gang warfare. I
have played these games and I have never felt the urge to kill or injure
anyone, but then again I do not play them constantly. Repetition of killing people, whether they are
pedestrians, neighbors or police officers might cause something in people’s
minds to think that it is ok to do it in real life. This is when the blurring
between reality and fantasy occurs and people crack and perform psychotic things.
While playing
these games, people are encouraged to empathize with the character they are
playing as and if the characters are psycho gang members or zombies
killing scantily clad women, then they, the person may be encouraged to feel like
them. In doing so, possibly aquiring aggression and hostile feelings that these
characters have might . "Players are encouraged to actively participate as a character by choosing how they will interact with other characters including which weapons will be used while fighting or attacking other characters." (Norcia, 2013).
An example of where video game violence has cause violence in real life is the Sandy Hooks Elementary School shooting where Adam Lanza shot and killed teachers and pupils. This article explains what happened and how video game violence can effect a person. Furthermore, a new mexico teenager shot and killed his family. He was also highly involved in violent video games. FoxNews (2013) stated "He also contemplated killing his girlfriend's parents, the sheriff said. Instead, they say 15-year-old Nehemiah Griego texted a picture of his dead mother to his 12-year-old girlfriend, then pent much of Saturday wither her. The two went to church where his father had been a pastor, and Griego eventually confessed to killing his parents and three younger siblings." The rest of the article goes to describe what happened.
People have also stated there opinions here and the majority believe that no, violent games do not promote violent behaviour, however, I disagree.
Your topic's pretty interesting, and so far what you've written about video games and players is pretty appalling. I don't play video games -- the last I played was Space Invaders in its day -- but it's hard to escape their presence in popular culture. People will always wonder about a connection between violence in video games and in real life, but more so with the increase in the life-like quality of the graphics and the technological trends towards positioning the player in the game -- first-person perspective, virtual reality, etc. -- as much as possible. You jump a little bit, though, when you say "Because of this, it is fairly obvious why people are being killed. For example, chronic video game playing brought on the Connecticut Newtown shooting." By this, I assume you refer to many playing for eight hours a week, but this is not quite clear; from your wording, you could be referring instead to the percentage of American youth instead. You used more cautious wording in the sentence: "Adam Lanza, the shooter, ...." People would probably challenge statements made with such conviction, especially without corroborating evidence.
ReplyDeleteI think you have picked a really interesting topic to argue and it is great to see that you have come up with a strong viewpoint as to the fact that you believe that violent media plays a role in violent behavior. I personally don’t agree nor disagree with your argument however I think there are a lot of viewpoints on the topic. I have played call of duty, grand theft auto etc for fun before, however I have never played properly. Obviously there is a sense of power you get from these games when you are playing them and I think you are right when you say that this does not influence violent behavior as in I have never seriously consider actually killing someone simply for the fun of it as a result of playing violent video games. You have mentioned that you feel repetition of killing people is blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. I disagree with this statement, like most teenage boys my brothers and friends etc have all gone through stages in their lives where they have played such games excessively and I don’t think this has affected their behavior in real life in any way, so it will be interesting to see if you can come up with any strong evidence to prove otherwise. You have obviously done quite a lot of research on this topic already and you have already produced a substantial amount of fact in relation to your topic. It may be more convincing for us as the audience to see these facts in their actual from via hyperlinks.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this first blog and believe you have picked out some great points, like you and many others i have also played games where killing another person is the sole purpose and i neither feel the urge to want to go kill someone outside. I agree to some degree to what Natasha said earlier, however i believe that it is stereotyping and racism that are somewhat portrayed in these games that encourage and influence young teens to perhaps have bad images of other ethnicity s from what they see from their video games. Perhaps it could be an idea for the next post but other than that great job :)
ReplyDeleteWonderful topic! as someone who enjoys gaming, I really did enjoy reading this!
ReplyDeleteYou came across quite strongly and that was pretty great!
I can see how a person may link violent gaming to violent living, but as mentioned by others, it is a very debatable topic!
Something interesting to look at might be the story of James Bulger a two year old abducted and killed by young kids, and was blamed on violent gaming.
Great use of visual language, and I like how you chose a neutral colored background.
And I agree with comments above about influence and such
Hay Patrick,
ReplyDeletegreat topic! I'm doing something similar, so I know where your coming from. The blog was nice and short, straight to the point with great examples such as the Movie Directors and the game Grand Theft Auto. I myself enjoy playing video games and watching violent movies but hardly engage in that stuff, which is good I guess. Great Blog
:)
Again, you might want to consider re-wording "Repetition of killing... must trigger something in people's minds...", "...the person would be encouraged...", and "In doing so, they hold the aggression...". Unless you can support these with definitive proof, you have to present them as speculations or possibilities.
ReplyDeleteHi Patrick,
ReplyDeleteYou've picked a topic which is pretty relevant at the moment, with the recent events such as the Sandyhooks shooting always seeming to come back to the effects of media (particularly video games) on teenagers attitude toward violence. I personally don't agree with the stance that you have taken here. I grew up playing video games, from scifi shooters like Halo and Brute Force, to fantasy RPGS like Dragon Age and Final Fantasy, and even visual novel type adventure games like Phoenix Wright, and I personally am not prone to any violent behaviour. In fact, I loathe conflict and avoid it like the plague. Admittedly, I do not play the more violent games such as Call of Duty or Saints Row, as they simply aren't to my taste.
For a long time, the media has been trying to find something to pin violent shootings such as the Columbine shooting on. They used to say the same thing about rock and roll, and seem to recall Marilyn Manson's music being blamed in the Columbine shooting (as well as the Counterstrike games). I personally think that the way the media blames what the shooter consumes is irresponsible. It creates a stigma against whatever is blamed, and perpetuates a negative stereotype against those who consume it. I think that instead of blaming what the shooter consumes, we shouldn't be blaming anyone but those who didn't listen. People don't get up and shoot out an entire school because they got a bit mad and they saw it in a video game. Most people would probably go and play video games if they got a bit mad, and take out their anger there. The people who go out and shoot up entire schools cannot be mentally healthy, and it's up to the people around them to see the signs before they do something drastic. The fact that they play video games is, I think, a complete coincidence. Video games are an incredibly popular form of media that is only getting more popular, and so many teenagers play video games that the fact that a select few of those teenagers should be so mentally unstable as to commit horrible crimes seems to me, a mere coincidence.
That said, I DO think that violent media including video games is responsible for the desensitisation of the population. Increasing exposure to violent content causes us to become used to it, which is why people can go and see Saw without blinking an eye. However, I wonder if the desensitisation only occurs with relation to fiction. With the recent Boston bombings, people of all ages were affected and shocked by the events, even though I'm sure there are hundreds of TV shows and movies that reference bombings. I think most people are able to see a divide between fantasy and reality, and recognise that the horrible things they see on screen aren't so horrible because they aren't happening to real people.
Patrick I believe that this is such a relevant topic for todays society, especially with video games and television being such an influencing and important thing in peoples lives today. Your topic fit in so well with the shocking happenings that have taken place recently such as the Boston bombings and Sandyhook shootings. Although these events have happened in America I think this topic is still very relevant in New Zealand! Many teenagers, young adults and even little children are exposed to video games and television shows that are violent. I do think that places a huge part in their lives, being it that this is something most of them do often.
ReplyDeleteI understand that it is by choice with you may decide to take a violent action to something, and that it requires good morals and self-control. However being exposed to something often can influence you majorly and can drastically change your morals and the way you see things. I believe that though it may not of been the main reason to the tragedies in America it could of been a big deciding factor in the decisions made.
It is very similar to being peer pressured into something. I guess you could call it media pressure. And it is the same in New Zealand. High schoolers thing it is fun to play games like tekken and mortal combat, and watch movies like fast and furious and tv shows such as ufc (which I must admitted are quite entertaining and fun), but this way of thinking soon becomes the mindset of many of them and they seem to think it is somewhat okay. They believe that a fight will sort out they're problems. That they are able to do all those cool moves and tricks and set their opponent straight. This is how violence sets in to the minds of many young people.
I really like your topic and you bring up some really good and interesting points. You were really able to make me think and come up with my own idea on the situation, which in many respects I agreed with yours. I think that this topic really raises a good discussion.
I think that like a child exposed to abuse constantly, that is all he or she knows will soon except that and I think that it is the same in this case.
Good Job!
Hi there Patrick
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. very interesting. Children playing video games are a bit of a threat to our society. Video games should be played according to the childs age. parents have a step to take in taking charge of games their children play. many parents dont care about what games their young ones play because they think its just games. but when reading the James Bulgar story changed my mind about video games and its effects on kids. grand theft auto and other games you mentioned above are some examples of these violet behaviors on kids. a study conducted by Gentile, Lynch, Linder & Walsh says that kids who play a lot of video games tend to become more aggressive, may be associated in fights with their peers and a decline from school achievements could be seen from the student playing video games frequently.
also that video games and media are becoming such a large part of our society, we have to be careful what we are 'feeding' our young.
so well done on choosing such a debatable topic. good job
Hi
ReplyDeleteI do believe violent video games are a large influence in the lives on children and youth. If it wasn't for games like these, most teens wouldn't know much about a gun or anything. I do believe these games can bring out an aggressive side in people, as they become addicted and one small thing sets them off. however at the same time I don't believe these games can be the reason people do what they do. I am a gamer myself and I may get angry at a game but I don't have the urge to go kill someone when they make me angry in day to day life. I think with things like these it really does just stay in the game. Its the same as saying heavy metal causes people to kill. I think its more the nature of the person rather than what a game makes them do, yes it will give them more knowledge of things but I don't think it will be the reason for killing. Marilyn Manson makes a good point when interview in Bowling for Columbine he is asked Do you know that on the day of the Columbine massacre, the US dropped more bombs on Kosovo than any other day? His response "I do know that, and I think that’s really ironic, that nobody said ‘well maybe the President had an influence on this violent behaviour’, because that’s not the way the media wants to take it and spin it, and turn it into fear, because then you’re watching television, you’re watching the news, you’re being pumped full of fear, there’s floods, there’s AIDS, there’s murder, cut to commercial, “buy the Acura”, “buy the Colgate”, if you have bad breath they’re not going to talk to you, if you have pimples, the girl’s not going to fuck you, and it’s just this campaign of fear, and consumption, and that’s what I think it’s all based on, the whole idea of ‘keep everyone afraid, and they’ll consume.’"