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Violent Video Games Essay, Research Paper

Violent Video Games: Should

They Be a Concern

Frank, Betty, you re right on time. Please come in, Glenna asked as she and her husband Chris greeted their long time friends at the door. Dinner is about ready, please have a seat, Glenna invited as she hustled to the kitchen. Can I help at all? Betty hollered as Glenna scurried along. Nah, thanks for the offer, but I m just finishing up, she responded from across the room. As Glenna set down the last bowl of food she bellowed for everyone to come and eat. Where is Mark, Betty asked, referring to Glenna and Chris 13 year-old son, as she sat down. He is playing those God-forsaken video games, Chris replied with disgust in his tone. Yeah, he hardly ever wants to do anything with us anymore, much less eat dinner, Glenna added with the same tone. I ll bring him a plate in a bit; let s pray.

Video games are a very popular means of entertainment among adolescents today.

They offer a much needed, long sought after, cure for Boredom. However, there are many concerns surrounding video games. The frontrunner among these concerns is video game violence. This is a very real and pertinent issue because the teens that are being saturated with this violence on an everyday basis are the only hope for a better tomorrow. Moreover, if this violence is influencing them to treat life as meaningless, then there must be some kind of action taken to stop this desensitization. The problem of violence in video games has been pushed off and ignored for long enough. It is about time that we confront this problem in a hard-nosed manner to see if there is a cause for concern about our youth. First of all, we will discuss what video game violence is. From there we will examine the effects it has on the user s family life, his social life, him physically, and finally, psychologically.

In order to draw accurate conclusions on this issue, we must first define and explain what video game violence is. Violence, in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, is defined as rough treatment; [or] use of physical force on others, esp. to hurt or harm them (1175). From this we can logically draw a definition of violence in video games as being any game that has the user (in the game) utilizing physical force on others in order to hurt, harm, or kill them. Nearly a third of the top 100 top-console games for the first quarter 1999 had at least some sort of violent content as described before (Quittner 50). What is even more startling is that an estimated sixty-two percent of North American homes have video game equipment (Ko 47). With this high of a percentage of homes having video game equipment, and nearly 33 of the top 100 games having violent content, it is, therefore, easy to see how prevalent these games are in America s modern culture.

When video games were first introduced in the 1970 s they became a preferred childhood activity for leisure (Cesarone 31). Parents responded with concern about the possible ill effects of the games on children (Cesarone 31). However, early research on these effects was inconclusive (Cesarone 31). Today, research is much more productive and exact. Games being put out today, because of their extremely gory and violent nature, have triggered many more advancements in how thorough the effects on the users are examined. Now that we have a good idea of what video game violence is, we ll take a look at some of the effects that video games have on the user s family life.

The effects on family life are probably more of a concern to parents than any other aspect of life that video games affect. This is because it does not stop at the user. The effects are felt at a collective level. All who are in daily contact with the user are susceptible to these effects. The first aspect of family life that is affected is the togetherness atmosphere. Those who are into video games can literally become addicted to them. In fact, a 1998 study published by Psychological Reports found that one in five adolescents could be classified as pathologically dependant on video games (Ko 47). That ratio is more than likely higher by now. With this addiction comes self-confinement to the game and isolation from those who are not involved in the game (Walsh).

Another aspect of family life that is affected is the education of the user. In a study of 225 college-aged students, those who had a history of playing video games as a teenager scored lower marks in school than their non-game playing peers (Ko 47). The main cause of these lower marks in school is from the fact that they will substitute homework time for game playing time (Ko 47). Therefore, because of the lower marks, the parents become upset and have to discipline the user; the parents troubles are increased along with household tension. Dr. David Walsh, PhD, lays out a few tips on the website for the Institute for Media and the Family for parents to follow in order that there will be less stress involved when dealing with their children about video games. They are:

1. Limit game playing time (recommended: No more than 1 hour per day.

2. Play with your child to become more familiar with the games.

3. Provide alternative ways for a child to spend time.

4. Require that homework and jobs must be done first; use video game playing time as a reward.

5. Do not put video game set in children s rooms where they can shut the door and isolate themselves.

6. Talk about the content of the games.

7. Ask your video store to require parental approval before a violently rated video game can be rented by children.

8. Finally, encourage play with friends away from the video game set (Walsh).

If parents were to abide by these tips, they would resolve many of the problems that occur as a result of video games.

The real problem

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