Here follows the second half of the paper on violent video games. The works cited are available in the links on the side of the page.
Some other studies have shown that,
while not all children and young adults exhibit violent tendencies, the
instances do rise immediately following the consumption of violent media
(Anderson). While some aggressive children do play more aggressively themed
games, they actually do not commit significantly more aggressive or violent
crimes. However, they do exhibit other behaviors, such as lower grades and
lower attendance scores. These children also tend to be more anti-social in
environments other than co-operative gaming. Some aggressive children are, in
more extreme cases, more likely perform a direct imitation of the depicted
violent acts. Even college-aged subjects have shown increased aggression,
proving that it is not the age of the subject but the media content providing
the impetus. A major gap in the studies, according to Dr. Craig Anderson, is
the fact that no studies have been done on the longer-term effects of violent
games. He questions how to select the correlating amounts of aggression in
order to compare video games to other media, for example television and horror
movies. A study along these lines could shed some light on increasing
aggression and violent crime by gamers as they progress into adulthood
(Anderson). While there have been some positive uses for some violent games
(i.e. military training and a game named “Re-Mission” used to teach cancer
patients about after-care (Simnacher)), these games are primarily about
senseless violence and general mayhem.
Although addiction issues and
violence are serious problems, even more disturbing are the experiments
conducted by researchers at the Institute for Social Research, University of
Michigan, which have shown that violent video games and movies desensitized the
subjects to the perception of actual violence (Bushman). In a number of
subjects, even the perception of the severity of violence or an emergency
presented in the study was lowered or negated. The desire to help a person
perceived to be in danger was reduced (or in extreme cases, eliminated) during
and immediately following consumption of violent media. Subjects in the
experiment were given a bogus questionnaire after a gaming experience. During
the questionnaire, a simulated fight was played out just outside the door to
the room. The verbal questionnaire given following the staged fight dealt with
the subject’s perception of the violence outside the door. A similar study was
performed with violent movie content, with much the same result. Subjects
presented with content that is more violent were markedly less likely to show a
desire to aid the victim and most claimed the violence was not as severe, even
though there were simulated injuries involved. In other studies of violence in
games, this is a common trend among consumers of violent media.
In conclusion, we should be aware
that, while there are some beneficial effects from video games in general, the
more violent games only bring about negative effects on society. Addiction in
younger children, anti-social behavior, and a general desensitization to
violence are occurring in our society. Parents and older teens can aid in the
reduction of negative effects by reducing the amount of time spent playing
these games and helping to insure that younger children cannot purchase adult
or mature rated games. Spending more time with our children instead of parking
them in front of the electronic babysitter is also a way to reduce these
effects. Less violence and more educational content could also be explored as
an alternative in co-operative gaming, as these types of games seem to promote
teamwork and lowered aggression in most gamers, even though the content itself
is violent.
