Do videogames promote violence among children?

Authors’ Name: Ayesha Zahid,

Kanza Adil,

Umama Munir,

Lamia Saifuddin

Submitted to: Ms Sania Javed

Date: 15th May 2018

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 Table of Contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 4
Literature Review ......................................................................................................................... 6
Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 7
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 8
Findings........................................................................................................................................ 18
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 19
References .................................................................................................................................... 20

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 Abstract
The research question was ‘Do videogames promote among children?’ This question has been
arisen by parents, teachers and public from time to time Many scientists have studied this topic
and many articles are already present. Abstracts from two research articles have been included in
this report which gave us the understanding of the topic and research question.

For the research, we did survey using research tools and took a sample size of 20. We asked 10
questions from 10 mothers and 10 different questions from 10 random people.

After doing data analysis using statistics and extracting the findings, it was concluded that 70% of
mothers and 40% of public from the sample agrees with research question but does not realize the
full impact of videogames have on children and could not suggest a solution to it. It was further
concluded that videogames might not be the only medium that promotes violence among children.

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 Introduction

Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics take a
firm stance against children and teens playing violent video games. The psychological group
reports that more than 90% of children in the United States play video games. Among kids
between the ages of 12 and 17, the number rises to 97%. More important, 85% or more of video
games on the market contain some form of violence.

Many researchers and scientists have studied this matter for decades but yet there is no certain
prove to whether videogames promote violence among children or not.

Worries about how violence in virtual reality might play out in real life have led legislators
to propose everything from taxing violent video games to proposing age restrictions on who
can buy them. The inconsistent state of the literature was enough to prompt President
Obama in 2013 to call for more research into how violent video games may be influencing
kids who use them. While there are studies that don’t show a strong influence between
violent media and acts of violence, an ever growing body of research does actually support
that violent games can make kids act more aggressively in their real -world relationships.

The purpose of our study is to test the relation between violent videogames and aggressive
behavior among children considering other all the factors and give a conclusion that is
solely based on research and studies that have been included in this report. Also, to take the
opinion of third party which includes mothers and public as to collect unbiased information.

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The scope of this research is to what extent children are getting affected by the visuals of
violence in videogames, their reaction to it in normal life situations and effects on their
personalities that build up with time after playing excessively.

Parents will benefit from this research as they will get a better understanding of their
children behavior because of playing violent videogames, how to train them to condemn
violence and reject it, help them decide the game genre that will be more beneficial for their
child and whether they should be allow their children to play with violent videogames when
they are sure that it will not affect their minds in negative way and will not develop an
aggressive and violent personality.

Educational institutions and teachers will also benefit from this research as they too
influence children’s mind and help them construct their counselling sessions better.

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 Literature Review
Milani (2015) in her researched article Violent Video Games and Children’s Aggressive Behaviors said that
the children of age 17 mainly 11 to 15 tends to spend their time playing video games. Study shows that the
kids who spend most of their time video games tends to have a aggressive behavior and might engage in
fights. It is found that they at this young age they try to copy what they see and it inspire them, generally it
don’t change their behavior but promote their aggressive and violence side, the ones who play wrestling
always want to theoretically perform those stunts with friend which might get them injured. This literature
provide some evidence that the use of violent game increase the risk for young people to develop an aggressive
personality, they don’t always have this attitude but something promote it and the children with calm attitude
don’t even get bother by seeing the visuals and see themselves as heroes protecting the world, while the one
with aggressive behavior think that it’s easy to put out their anger. Four questions were asked to 346 children
of age between 7 and 14 of primary and secondary school, participant who preferred playing violent video
games showed high level of aggression in their personality and said that that’s how they deal with their stress
and it’s a strategy to cope up with depression and tension. The research confirmed that at the very young age
their character is already build and playing violent video games promote their aggressive side.
Ryan (2017) in his research article Video Game Violence Linked to Children said that violence in children
due to video games affect the age of children under 16. When the kids are at their young age their minds are
still growing, when they see violence growing up they feel that its okay and they are then seen being rude and
getting into arguments with their teachers and parents and then there personality become aggressive and they
are more likely to involve in physical fights even in their real life they want to imitate and pretend that they
are that specific character. They can get inspire by games and start stealing cars, their young minds feel that
whatever they are watching is okay and they can do it because the getting is not getting punished by doing so.
They start doing it theoretically and enjoy doing it beating people to put out their anger. Not every child
respond in this way, few just keep it till the point that’s it’s just a game because they spent less time and in
supervision of their parents who only allow them playing video games that are of their age and have rated M
sign on it stands for Mature so they know if the content is good for their age or not. Study showed that not
every child reacted in aggressive way but 40% of the children increase their mental health by playing video
games it helps them in controlling emotions and how their mind should work under pressure and they always
find a way in and win the game so it enhance their mental capability to think, while who respond in aggressive
way shown that after playing violent game they develop a sense of power. It all depend on how an individual
react afterwards.

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 Methodology
The sample size that we took for our research was ten mothers who had children aging from 7 to
14 years and ten people from general audience. The research tool used are two questionnaires, one
for mothers and one for general audience. The type of this research is Business Research. Statistics
is the process that is used for data analysis.

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 Data Analysis
Mothers

Q1. Does your child play video games?

120%
0%
100%
100%

80%

60%

40% 100%
20%
0%
0% Yes No
Yes No

All of the mothers in the sample had children who played videogames
Q2.How many times in a day he/she like play with video games?

0%

60%
50%
50% 40%
40%
40% 50%

30%

20%
10%
10%
0% 10%
0%
1 Time 2 Times 3 Times More 1 Time 2 Times 3 Times More

50% of them admitted that their children play videogame more than 3 times a day while 40%
said 2 times a day and rest of 10% said 3 times a day.

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Q3. Does He/she play video games of any of the following mentioned categories?

60% 50%
50% 0%
40% 30% 20% Fighting Game
30% 20% 30%
20%
10% Shooting Game
0% 0%
0%
Racing

Sports Games

50%

50% of mothers told us that their children play with shooting games and they usually notice
visuals of guns in the videogame of their children, while the 40% said that their children play
with action videogames and 10% told us that their children play with racing videogames. None
of the mothers had children who played with logical or sports videogames.

Q4.What kind of visuals do you usually see in video games?

60% 50% 10%

50% 40%
40%
30% 40%
20% 10%
10% 0%
0%
50%

Fight sequence Gun shooting Cars Puzzles/Maze

50% of the mothers answered that they notice visuals of gun shooting in their children
videogames, 40% said fight sequence and 10% replied that they notice visuals of car.

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Q5.Does your child try to imitate the scenarios of video games in real life?

60% 10%
50%
50%
40%
40%
Yes
30%
50% No
20% Maybe
10% 40%
10%

0%
Yes No Maybe

50% of the mothers agreed that their children do imitate videogame scenes in real life, 40% said
no and 10% answered with maybe.

Q6.Do you notice aggressive behavior in him/her after playing video games?

60% 10%
50%
50%
40%
40% 40%

30%

20%
10% 50%
10%

0%
Yes No Maybe Yes No Maybe

50% of mothers refused that their children show aggressive behavior after playing videogames,
10% were unsure and 40% agreed that they do notice aggression in their children.

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Q7.How does your child react when stopped from playing video games?

80%
70%
70%
30%
60%

50%

40%
30%
30%

20% 70%

10%
0%
0%
Normal Aggressive No reaction Normal Aggressive No reaction

70% of the mothers answered that their children react aggressively when stopped from playing
videogames while 30% said their children’s reaction is normal when they are stopped from
playing videogames.

Q8.Should there be a label of Parental Guidance (PG) on the video games covers?

60%
50% 50%
50%

40%
50% 50%
30%

20%

10%
0% 0% 0% Strongly agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree Strongly disagree

50% of the mothers strongly agreed and rest of 50% agreed to the idea that there should be a
label of parental guidance on videogame packaging.

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Q9. Do you go with your child when they go to buy the video games and try to evaluate their
choices of purchase?

70%
60% 20%
60%

50%

40%
10%
30%
60%
20%
20%
10%
10% 10%
10%

0%
Everytime Sometimes Rarely Never Everytime Sometimes Rarely Never

60% of mothers accompany their children when they purchase videogames and give opinion
on their choice of purchase, 20% of mothers never do, 10% sometimes do and remaining
10% rarely do.

Q10. Are video games promoting violence among children?

80%
10%
70% 20%
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%
20%
20%
10% 70%
10%
0% 0% Strongly agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree Strongly disagree

Lastly, 70% of mothers agreed that videogames do spread violence among children, 10%
strongly agreed while 20% were neutral to this.

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 General Audience
Q1.Does the word videogame brings visuals of guns and fighting scene in your mind?

50%
40%
40% 30%
30% 30% 40%
30%

20%
Yes
10% no
maybe
0%
Yes no maybe 30%

40% of public replied in affirmative when asked whether the word videogame immediately bring
images of guns and fighting sequence in their heads, 30% replied in negative and 30% were not
sure.

Q1. Do you think playing with such videogames makes children feel powerful?

35%
10% 10%
30% 30%
30%

25%
20%
20% 30% 30%

15%
10% 10%
10%
20%
5%
Strongly Agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

10% of public strongly agreed and 30% agreed that playing videogames does make children feel
powerful, 30% disagreed, 10% strongly disagreed to this and 20% were neutral.

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Q2. Do you notice an increase in aggressive behavior in young adults?

60%
20%
50%
50% 30%

40%
30%
30%
20%
20%
50%
10%
0% 0% Strongly Agree Agree
0%
Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

20% strongly agreed and 50% agreed that they do notice an increase of aggressive behavior
among young adults and 30% were neutral on this.

Q3. Do you think videogames glorify violence for children?

35%
30% 30%
30% 30% 30%

25%
20% 20%
20%

15%

10% 20% 20%

5%
0% Strongly Agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

When asked whether videogames glorify videogames for children, 30% strongly agreed, 20%
agreed, 20% were neutral and 30% disagreed to this.

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Q4. Do you think every child responds in same manner to videogames that show visuals of
violent activities?

45%
10%
40%
40%

35%
30% 40%
30%
30%
25%
20%
20%

15%
10%
10%
20%
5%
Strongly Agree Agree
0%
Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

40% of public strongly agrees that every child responds in same way to violent videogames,
0ther 20% agreed, 30% disagreed and 10% strongly disagreed to this.

Q5. Should there be an age limit on purchase of videogames which show visuals of violent
activities?

70% 10%
60%
60%

50%
30%
40%
30% 60%
30%

20%
10%
10%
0% Strongly Agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

60% of public strongly agreed and 30% agreed that there should be an age limit on purchase of
violent videogames while 10% disagreed.

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Q6. Do you think parents should stop their kids from playing such videogames?

45%
40% 20%
40%
35%
40%
30%
25%
20% 20% 20% 20%
20%
15%
10% 20%
5% Strongly Agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Agree disgree Strongly disgree

40% of public disagreed that their parents should not stop their children from buying violent
videogame while 20% strongly agree and 20% agree that parents should stop their children from
buying violent videogames and rest of 20% were neutral to this.

Q7. Do you think stopping such videogames can lead to calm behavior among children?

45%
10%
40% 40%
40%
10%
35%
40%
30%

25%

20%

15%
10% 10% 40%
10%

5%
0% Strongly agree Agree
0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree Strongly disagree

40% agreed that stopping violent videogames can lead to calmer behavior among children, 10%
of public strongly disagreed and 10% disagreed to this ideology while 405 neutral to this.

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Q8.Do you think only videogames are responsible for promoting violence among children?

60% 10%
20%
50%
50%
20%
40%

30%
20% 20%
20%
10% 50%
10%
0% Strongly agree Agree
0%
Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree Strongly disagree

20% strongly disagreed and 50% of general public disagrees that only videogames are
responsible for promoting violence, 20% remained neutral and 10% agrees to it.

Q9. Do videogames promote violence amongst children to some extent?

60%
10%
50%
50%

40% 40%
40%

30%

20% 50%

10%
10%

0% 0% Strongly agree Agree

0% Neutral Disagree
Strongly Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
agree disagree Strongly disagree

10% strongly agreed and 50% agreed that videogames do promote violence to some extent.
Rest of 40% of general audience remained neutral.

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 Findings
10% of the mothers strongly agreed and 70% of the mothers agree that videogames do promote
violence.

Audience gave scattered replies and most of them were neutral at question of matters.

Only 20% agreed that only videogames promote violence, 50% disagreed, 20% strongly disagreed
while 10% were neutral at this.

At the same time, 10% did strongly disagreed and 50% did agreed that videogames do promote
violence to some extent, while rest of 40% were neutral.

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 Conclusion
Although majority of research sample agrees that videogames do promote violence among
children to some extent but they do not believe that only stopping videogames is the solution to
it. Many studies, including this research, do show that there is a relation between usage of
videogame and increased aggressive behavior but there is no direct relation. Many factors have
to be held constant for direct and prominent relation like personality traits, upbringing, exposure
and sensitivity of a child.

The survey suggests that mothers, more than general public, have negative opinion about impact
of violent videogames on their children.

It is evident that not every child reacts to visuals of violent behavior in same way, therefore,
every child should be monitored individually by parents and teachers to keep in check their
reactions and behaviors due to videogames and their gaming activities should be mended
accordingly.

Counselling and awareness programs should be encouraged to make children learn the
consequences of violence and aggression.

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 References

Milani, L (2015). Violent Video Games and Children’s Aggressive Behaviors. An Italian Study

Wheeler, R (2017). Videogames violence linked to children. Journal of Public Policy

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