start to my essay

still need to add a good 400 words i believe. wasnt sure on the conclusion as i does seem to ramble on...

Do video games cause an increase in violent behaviour?

There is a seemingly negative view by society on the violence shown in video games today. Over the years the improved realism of video game violence has made the general public question the affect it has had on the minds of gamers today and how it can be compared to an increase of violence in society. Society believes that impressionable young people may attempt to re-enact the violence that they play out in video games. I will try and disprove this common belief that video games are the main cause for an increase in violent behaviour.

The debate over video games and the violent effect it supposedly has on people is a worldwide debate that I believe, from the research that I have gathered, is one that has us split right down the middle. Where some believe that these games have a severe negative effect on human behaviour others would simply argue that there is no proof to this theory as these games sell millions and yet the world hasn’t entered into a time of moral panic and an age where for a hobby everyone goes around killing.

Kierkegaard 2008 believes violence shown in video games is harmless and has nothing to do with the violence shown in society today. “Moreover, his research shows that previous work is biased towards the opposite conclusion”. He believes that evidence from the 1980s suggesting video gaming is a cause of violence in society cannot be proven to be the case. He also mentions "With millions of sales of violent games, the world should be seeing an epidemic of violence," he says, "Instead, violence has declined”. While looking at England and Wales, according to Home Office Figures the level of crime has gone way down since the early part of the 90s. The ‘British Crime Survey’ has seen a major decrease while the ‘Recorded Crime’ has also shown a steady decrease. This suggests that the violence of todays video games has had little to no effect on the minds of society. If video games cause an increase in violent behaviour should crime statistics be increasing rather than decreasing?

While looking at the controversy that has surrounded video games, although a lot of teenagers from America have got into trouble for doing something they claim they saw on a video game and just wanted to do it in real life is perhaps more a result of poor parenting, trouble in the family or even a genetic problem.

Anderson and Dill 2000 looked at the effects of violent video games in the laboratory and in real life. They made two studies: the first found that college students who played the most violent video games had the most aggressive behaviour. The second found that test subjects playing a violent game acted out more angrily while playing than those who played a non-violent game. I feel that while these are facts that cannot be argued or ignored it should be noted that although they act out in a violent way I would deem it highly unlikely that they would then leave this study, be able to walk down an alleyway, find a gun (AK-47,) break into a car, start the engine without keys and decide to go on a killing rampage without considering the consequences of their actions! With such a topic it also makes me believe that a laboratory experiment on such a subject would not reflect the external population thus such an experiment cannot be a valid representation of the population.

Barker and Petley 2006 question the way violence is defined in the media. While it may seem simple to define what is and isnt violence in video games it is different to our societys. They ask the question “Is the ‘violence’ shown in a tom and jerry cartoon or computer game similar to that seen on a news bulletin?”. Anderson 2003 backs up this view point from studies on college students that showed “increased aggression after exposure to clearly unrealistic and fantasy violent videogames”. He also found an “increase in aggression while playing E rated video games” meaning they are suitible to everyone. Anderson 2003 also believes that major gaps remain while trying to look at the impact of video game violence. He believes there is a need for longitudinal studies to test the link between violent video games and later aggression. This type of study would perhaps give some stronger answers to that which have already been done such as laboratory and field experiments.

Gummer 2007 notes that the more realistic computer games will encourage a more violent behaviour. Whereas a fantasy game of a man slaying a draggon will not.
I feel it should be pointed out that violence in general does not seem to be a problem with all of society, as they claim that shooting someone in ‘Grand Theft Auto’ is supposedly more unlawful than ‘LEGO star wars’, which still involves shooting, and sword fighting.

I feel that with an introduction and improved production of online gaming, gamers will obviously turn on their game consoles and PCs every night and weekend as it has become a new way of meeting up with mates and other family members who may be living elsewhere or even in the next room. With this new method of socialising it can then lead to the gaming audience to spend endless hours doing some sick and twisted things just to have a laugh with their mates.

In a newspaper article from the Telegraph, Gordon Brown mentioned "We know that, historically, in tough economic times, there has been a rise in crimes of violence and theft," this is perhaps an indication that when looking at crime and violence it is perhaps other factors such as the credit crunch which is causing people to turn to aggressive behaviour, rather than copying the aggressive things one might perform on ‘Grand Theft Auto’.

In conclusion I believe that from the research and studies that I have looked at, none of them can be valid to the view that video game violence has had an effect on serious crime and agression in society. While violent video games have shown delinquency, fighting and perhaps robbery a game such as ‘Grand Theft Auto’ cannot be related to a mass killing spree. I also believe that there is no evidence to suggest young children are more prone to this violence than an older male or even female.
My final belief is that when children as young as 10 are found to be influenced by playing games such as grand theft auto, then I feel that the problem falls more under the fault of the parents than anyone else because these games are often given age restrictions on the case such as 15, 16, 18 age limit. A young mind is more likely to take things they see on TV a lot more seriously. Another more serious problem people should be looking at is how these children are getting hold of these games. Are shopkeepers selling them to children without considering the age restrictions? Or is it the fact that they are able to buy them from websites as the parents have saved their credit card details on those pages so they can buy games without their knowledge? ‘Canis Canem Edit’ a game about school bullying and ‘Manhunt 2’ a game about performing a sadistic kill for points were both released a few years ago - most shops refused to sell them and to be able to get hold of these games meant you had to go online to find it a website that would sell it. Sale figures show that the this probably had an affect in the success of the games as it was much harder to get a hold of and perhaps even put parents off buying the game more than usual, this is perhaps a step that can initially be taken to stop people getting hold of the video games and it can test to see whether there is a relation to crime levels and the supposed cause from video game violence.

Literature review

Kierkegaard 2008 believes violence shown in video games is harmless and has nothing to do with the violence shown in society today. “Moreover, his research shows that previous work is biased towards the opposite conclusion”. He believes that evidence from the 1980s suggesting video gaming is a cause of violence in society can not be proven to be the case. He also mentions "With millions of sales of violent games, the world should be seeing an epidemic of violence," he says, "Instead, violence has declined”. Barker and Petley 2006 question the way violence is defined in the media. While it may seem simple to define what is and isnt violence in video games it is different to our societys. For instance “Is the ‘violence’ shown in a tom and jerry cartoon or computer game similar to that seen on a news bulletin?”.
Gummer 2007 notes that the more realistic computer games will encourage a more violent behaviour. Whereas a fantasy game of a man slaying a draggon will not.
Anderson and Dill 2000 looked at the effects of violent video games in the laboratory and in real life. They made two studies: the first found that college students who played the most violent video games had the most aggressive behaviour. The second found that test subjects playing a violent game acted out more angrily while playing than those who played a non-violent game.

Reference:
Kierkegaard, K. KK 2008 “Video Games And Violence: Are Studies Biased” [Internet] http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/video_games_and_violence_are_studies_biased [26-10-09]
Barker, M MB & Petley, J JP 2006 “The Media Student’s Book” Fourth Edition Oxon Routledge
Gummer, A. AG 2007 “Violence in video games and its effect on children” [Internet] http://www.mcvuk.com/blog/93/Violence-in-video-games-and-its-effect-on-children [26-10-09]
Anderson, C CA & Dill, K KD 2000 “Violent Video Games Produce Violent Behaviour” [Internet] http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/familyresources/a/vidgameviolence.htm [26-10-09]