Smith 1 Anthony Smith ENC 1101-011 Steffen Guenzel 10/8/13

Violent Videogames and Their Effects on Children There has been an ad released by the creators of the Man Hunt videogame franchise that indicates violence in video games being entertaining and fun through text. An article written about the game foretells of barbaric virtual humans running down a street with butcher knives in their hands as if they were working in unison to attack and harm others. Additionally, there have been reports that the game features beheadings with hatchets, bludgeoning with baseball bats, the jamming of syringes into eyeballs, cutting opponents testicles off, and environmental kills in which common objects in the field of vision, such as electrical cords to strangle victims. If this isnt enough to make you cringe on the inside knowing a young child could be playing such a game, the system that has released the game is the Nintendo Wii which is operated by a motion sense related controller. Every time a child is chopping, stabbing or cutting someone virtually, they are reenacting the movements in real life. Before discussing some of the negative effects and also positive effects of these games, I will analyze the text a little further using the strategy presented by Keith Grant-Davie in Rhetorical Situations and their Constituents by identifying the rheators, audience, exigency, constraints, and using discourse to support claims made about the effects of violent videogames on children and whether or not they can be in fact positive as opposed to negative claims. If no one was concerned about their children and their change in behavior because of videogames, there would be no need to address this issue. The concerned parents of the children,

Smith 2 mothers particularly can be presented as the rheators in this rhetorical situation and they have become very worried about their children pretending to kill someone and getting satisfaction from it and so they have come together to form an organization called Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence (MAVAV) The exigency of the organization is to educate parents of the world's fastest growing addiction and the most reckless endangerment of children today in Violent Video games. The Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence just want to spread awareness about the effects of the violence in videogames on their children because violent videogames have been related to murders, rape, and even joining gangs (American Psychological Association website, Aug. 17, 2005). Without completely jumping to conclusions, research needed to be done to support their negative claims towards the violent videogames. MAVAV has some evidence to their claim based on a study done in 2007 by Christopher Barlett, Richard Harris, and Callie Bruey. The study reports that it takes up to four minutes for the level of aggressive thoughts and feelings in children to return to normal after playing violent videogames. It takes five to ten minutes for heart rate and aggressive behavior to return to baseline. Videogames that show the most blood generate more aggressive thoughts. When blood is present in videogames, there is a measurable increase in arousal and hostility. If a child plays violent videogames hours upon hours, it can have drastic effects on the way a child thinks and also their aggression levels because it will be hard for them to differentiate fantasy from reality from the images that are presented to them with rewards in the videogame. Going back to the ad for the videogame Man Hunt 2, if a child continues to play a videogame with such blood and gore for numerous hours in a day, levels of aggression will more than likely increase much more than a child who doesnt play violent videogames. Moreover on the mission of MAVAV is not to completely ban their children from

Smith 3 playing videogames. The purpose is just to balance their playing time with more appropriate games so that the games dont affect their behavior in a negative way. Although playing violent videogames constantly arent necessarily healthy for young children, there have also been some extremist misconceptions by some mothers who dont allow their children to play videogames because they feel that all videogames have negative effects as well. In fact, a 2007 study reported that 45% of boys that played violent video games because it helps me get my anger out and 62% played because it helps me relax. (Journal of Adolescent Health). As you can see, violent videogames can have their positive effects on gamers although, this claim has also been supported with another pro videogame statistic showing from the year 1995 to 2007 that juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3% while the distribution of games has quadrupled since then. Even though the ad portrays the game as violence being a fun and entertaining aspect of the game, the audience, gamers must know the difference between fantasy and reality and not do everything they see in a videogame because it is all simply a fantasy meant for entertainment. Another aspect that can prevent the negative effects of these games on the community has been age restrictions. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) was created to classify if a game was violent or not and usually recommends that people must be over the age of 17 to play/purchase unless they have parental consent. So ultimately the power of whether or not ranges back to the parents of the child. The negative constraints of the ESRB rating system purchasing confirmation is that someone who may be of age can purchase the game for the minor and work around the law using that loophole. The community just needs to be aware of what kinds of games their children could be playing right under their noses. Videogames are made to

Smith 4 attract the minds of adolescents because it is the only way they can do what they want, when they want without being punished for their actions aside from the end title You Lose Using Grant-Davies r, the intended audience of the violent videogame ads are usually gamers and children but can also be implied to people who may be interested in reading about upcoming new games that are going to be released later in the year. Why gamers and children? These ads are meant to attract the attention of people who are usually bored and have a lot of free time on their hands, the exact definition of a young child who comes home from school and finishes their homework early. The implied audience are the innocent, more mature bystanders of the videogame being advertised because they either are not interested in playing videogames or they think violent videogames isnt enough to appeal their need for entertainment, or they just simply do not have time to play them but like to enjoy the creativeness in the ad regardless. All in all, violent videogames can have positive and negative effects on children based on their level of maturity and the age that they are exposed to such content. MAVAV should encourage the community to monitor what type of games are playing in their homes and ensure that if they are playing these types of games, they should be able to handle the material being presented to them and make sure that they dont bring these violent activities into real life. For the parents that are against the violent videogames because they see more negative effects than positive effects from exposure, an alternative stress reliever is always an option such as sports or cardio related activities. For parents who are for and against violent videogames, they should be aware that these kinds of ads are out there and whether or not you want your children exposed to these games is solely up to the ability of the parents to supervise what their children are exposed to.

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Works Cited

Dorothy Salonius-Pasternak and Holly Gelfond, "The Next Level of Research on Electronic Play: Potential Benefits and Contextual Influences for Children and Adolescents," Human Technology, Apr. 2005

"Crime in the United States, 2008," FBI website, Sep. 2009

Mavav.org

Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. "Rhetorical Situation and Their Constituents." Writing about writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. N. page. Print. "Factors Correlated with Violent Video Game Use by Adolescent Boys and Girls," Journal of Adolescent Health

American Psychological Association website, Aug. 17, 2005