ASSIGNMENT 1 DRAFT 2 Do violent video games cause behavior problems?

Violent video games have become extremely popular amongst adolescents. The popularity of violent video games has caused an increase in controversy. Most parents and experts feel that some games are just too violent and they demand the government to regulate the sales of these games. However, I strongly believe violent video games do not cause an increase in aggression in adolescents. The amount of violence in video games is far less compared to the amount of violence shown in movies

and television. Besides even the news is filled with war and murder and nearly every movie contains some form of violence. Plus the forms of media are very different from games in a very important way because they involve real people and not computergenerated characters. As mentioned by Dr. Kipling D. William, one of the social psychological science faculties in Purdue University, children's violent tendencies can be diverted towards video games rather than actually doing it in real life. Hence, I feel the forceful plan of regulating violent video games is caused by an exaggeration of the effects and violence in video games does not cause any behavioral problems in children.

Besides the violent content, video games have several positive aspects. Firstly, video games can push the level of competence to the limit by forcing them to master certain abilities to overcome all the obstacles in the level. These options will ignite the sense of logical thinking and strategy formations in ways which formal education does not offer. Secondly, one has an opportunity to make more friends through playing video games online. Many of the most popular video games today have either a multiplayer or an online mode. For example, my brother has made several friends over playing "Call Of Duty" online. This game focuses on eliminating the other team so teamwork

has a major role in succeeding the game. He also discusses plan strategies and has gotten to know the backgrounds of many people while playing. Hence video games are an astonishing tool to keep children entertained during their free time. Lastly, I think future research by psychologists and sociologists need to consider the fact that video games are increasingly complex and not merely anti social or pro social, violent or nonviolent. For the last couple of decades, video game critics have warned us about the dangers of playing video games, especially as they become increasingly realistic. Yet, as the popularity of video games has increased and the violence has become

more realistic, we have not seen dramatic increases in violent crime, have we? In fact, national statistics suggest that violent crime has been decreasing for some time. In other words, the world did not turn into hell when Grand Theft Auto and Call Of Duty started breaking sales records. As I pointed out at the start, the amount of violence in movies and television is way more aggressive than the amount in video games. In addition, there are also many other social influences and contexts that shape the thoughts and behaviors of adolescents. Also many, games have both violent and pro social elements within the same game. And some of the more popular games such as the new bestselling Red Dead

Redemption(from the makers of Grand Theft Auto) have built in reward and punishments for pro and antisocial behavior. In Red Dead Redemption,for example, it is true that a lot of the game is violent. However, the violence has context and consequences, as it does in real life. For example, if you shoot down a civilian, your honor ranking in the game goes down and henceforth, you become less liked by people in town. If you help a person in distress(e.g. a woman being assaulted), your honor ranking goes up and you are often financially rewarded. You also become more liked by people in town.

In other words, the violence is put in a real moral context. There are certainly still games like this, but an increasing number of games with violent content focus on adding moral dilemmas and social consequences. Thus it possible that the effects of video games on behavior are more complex than once believed. In conclusion, the violent content does not cause an increase in aggression in adolescents. Not as much as the violence shown in movies and television involving real characters. The exaggeration of the effects has resulted the forceful regulation of video games. Video gaming is a great tool for social interaction and development of social abilities. The major positive aspect of

the violence in video games is that it has context and consequences like in real life which would really help kids understand and face the real world. New gaming technology is being developed every year and the effects can only get more enhanced.