Patrick Berry Unit 6 LO3 Double Page Spread Article

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Controversial Video Games

GTA use of sex and violence http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gta-5-14-year-oldboy-kills-father-brother-inspired-by-violent-character-trevor-1442418
Call of Duty linked to 4 deaths http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2640431/Coroner-probes-Call-Duty-video-game-four-teenagers-regularlyplayed-went-kill-themselves.html
Violent games have become more and more popular within the last 10
years, especially with the younger teenagers. Two of the most popular 18
rated games are Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. These games however
popular they are, can be classed as one of the most controversial video
games in the recent market. Grand Theft Auto has pushed the limits of
acceptance with all their games, having huge amount of blood, violence,
sex, language. Grand Theft Auto has been one of the biggest causes for
media panic in the gaming industry.
Studies are constantly being completed to find data on whether playing
violent video games make people angrier. Craig Anderson is a physiologist
at Lowa State University who had spent much of his life on how crimes
committed by teenagers and violence in video games can relate.
Throughout the studies he conducted he found out that teenagers do
become more aggressive and agitated when they play violent video
games. However, you still cant relate this study to crimes committed.
Chris Ferguson is a psychology professor at Stetson University and is
completely against the whole idea that games make children more
physically violent. Firstly, because youth violence is at its lowest for 40
years according to government Statistics. Ferguson also stated that all the
research conducted linked to increased aggression was problematic. Many
of the studies used outcome measures that had nothing to do with real-life
aggression and failed to control carefully for other important variables,
such as family violence, mental health issues or gender.
Grand Theft Auto can supposedly lead to violent crimes in the real world.
A 14-year-old boy who ended up killing his father and brother. The media
say that he was following in the lines of one of the main characters in the
Grand Theft Auto game, Trevor. The 14-year-old boy shot his father 3
times, twice in the face and one shot in the brain. He then moved onto his
brother who was hiding under the bed. He shot him 4 times with a
shotgun and after finding him to still be alive he picked up a large knife
and stabbed him multiple times before finishing him off with a machete.
We can see instantly from this that the 14-year-old was a passive player
when it came to the game. The 14-year-old, Samuel stated that he
enjoyed playing as Trevor in the game. Trevor was one of the extreme
characters in the game, he was very quick to get angry and he was
extremely violent with everything he does. This supposedly inspired
Samuel to do what he did in the way he did. This would mean that a lot of

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the times he played he would be passively playing. This meaning that he

was accepting of everything that was done in the game, he wouldnt care
that people are dying left, right and centre, he wouldnt question any of
the morals that are being broken in the game. This also a key case of the
Hypodermic Needle. This is where a certain piece of media would inject
subliminal messages into the audience, injecting the ideas into peoples
minds. With Samuel here you can say that he was being injected with the
idea that being violent gets problems solved, and because it was Trevor he
was playing as, Samuel could have been manipulated into having these
violent outbursts when something very small wouldnt go his way.
It is very easy to blame Grand Theft Auto for what Samuel did. He got
these sudden angry tendencies, he enjoyed playing as one of the most
violent characters in gaming and he played the game more and more
each day. It is easy to see why Grand Theft Auto could have been the
cause of the deaths. However, you cannot blame the whole situation on
Grand Theft Auto, firstly Samuel should not have been able to play the
game seeing as its rated 18 and at 14 youre very impressionable about
what you see each day. In addition, there are millions of people who play
the game each day, and I am sure there is thousands of people who enjoy
playing as Trevor. None of those people have done a crime to the extent of
what Samuel did. So you would have to think that Samuel might have had
a mental disability because of how immersed he got into the game. You
could definitely say that Grand Theft Auto was what helped Samuel to do
the crime, but you cannot blame the whole incident on the game. These
boys that commit the crimes may have been born with issues but because
of this exposure to the heavily violent games made them to go and kill.
Call of Duty, just like Grand Theft Auto is an 18 rated game that focuses
heavily on blood and violence. Call of duty has caused media panic in
multiple different situations. The story focuses on the Suicides of teenage
boys and whether you can blame the deaths on call of Duty. John Pollard
Looked into recent suicides of boys who played a lot of call of duty. William
Menzies, 16, suffocated himself in his bedroom. Callum Green, 14, hanged
himself after playing the game. Both of these boys were considered
normal with no disabilities or mental problems. Callum Green didnt drink
or smoke, he was a straight-A student, and hadnt shown any previous
signs of self-harm before playing the game. Call of Duty is known for its
realism and competitive aspects. It can get very addictive, very quickly,
making people get more and more immersed into the game. These games
can be related to the reception theory. This is where audiences would
have different views on a certain piece of media because of their lifestyle.
The age, gender, ethnic group, class are all aspects that can change the
way someone would look at a text. These boys could have related to the
game in different ways and get affected in such a way that they couldnt
take it anymore. The boys could have interpreted the preferred meaning

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in such a way that they accepted everything that happened and started
relating to what happened in the game.
Violent games have been related to many horrific crimes in the news, but I
think that everyone just jumps to conclusions. Whenever theres a crime
with teenagers, video games are looked at instantly, however that cant
be the only option for someone to do what they did. Millions of people play
violent, bloody, 18 rated games every day and just because a few people
have done crimes based of video games, that doesnt its the only option.
9 times out of 10 there are going to people other reasons behind the
crime, but because the media wants to create a panic to the audience,
they choose a very simple answer, making parents scared of their children
playing violent video games. Do I think that violent video games are the
cause of certain crimes, no, however that doesnt mean I dont think the
games had an influence on the person.
Censorship is one of the problems that could cause these children to
commit crimes. Most violent games would be classified as 18 or 15 rated
but everyday youll see parents buy their 12-year-old Grand Theft Auto. It
is extremely easy for underage children to get hands on a violent game.
The hardest aspect to consider is that you cant do much about this
problem. A lot of the problem revolves around the parents, they should be
the ones who get games for the children and make sure that they dont
play games that are too old for them. Parents need to become more aware
of how dangerous it can be for children to play violent games.
http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/07/video-games-dont-make-kids-violent/