Gorr

Andrew Gorr
Mr. Hull
Honors English II
20 February 2016
Violence In Video Games
Ever since their conception, video games have become increasingly realistic and
violent. With game franchises such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, Grand Theft Auto and
others emerging, Americas youth has more and more violent titles at their disposal.
Hyper realistic games such as these allow fans to become more immersed in their
environment, allowing them to live in a false, violent, alternate reality. Accessibility to
these types of games is becoming a big issue, in that youth are able to get ahold of
violent video games very easily. Playing these games can lead to negative effects for
anyone who takes part in them and those around them. Many groups are trying to find
solutions towards limiting the accessibility of violent videogames for youth, but their
efforts have for the most part, been in vain. Violent video games are some of the most
popular games with todays youth, leading to concern throughout much of the gaming
community about the negative effects the games are having on children.
Video games are a huge part of todays society, that fact cannot be ignored. A big
reason for this is due to the accessibility of games to youth, with many children owning
consoles, computers, and even mobile devices. This can be seen quite easily when one
looks at the study performed by Mental Health, which states that a measly six percent
of young teens have not played a video game of any sort in the last six months, showing

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that video games are much more accessible than they have been in the past (Giovanni).
In 2015, A Review of the Effects of Violent Video Games on Children and Adolescents
discovered that the majority of children in the United States use electronic devices for
an average of forty hours a week. This is a terrifying amount of time for one child to be
sitting in front of a screen, and a solution to limiting this time must be a top priority.
The parents of children who play violent video games are not enforcing, or
recognizing, the restrictions on those types of games. The same study performed by
Mental Health, showed that the ratings produced by the ESRB are generally ignored
by both children and their parents when they are purchasing video games (Giovanni).
This fact leads to more and more under-aged children playing video games designed for
an older community. This can lead to many children viewing things that may be
considered too violent for someone of their age. A similar study performed by Whitaker
and Bushman states that nearly seventy percent of all gamers who play mature rated
games are below the age of seventeen, the recommended age for playing such a game
(Bushman). This huge percentage of youth playing violent video games can lead to
young gamers having psychological problems due to the intensity and realism of their
gaming environments.
Violent video games give the children who play them a false idea of what type of
behavior is acceptable in todays society. Open world games such as the Grand Theft
Auto or Saints Row series, shows robbery, murder, and other crimes in a comedic way
that can help to desensitize children to the horrors that they may be committing. Other
popular shooter games, such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, show firearms more as
toys than actual murdering tools. This can help to contribute to a lack of precaution

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among children when they are exposed to firearms. This could potentially lead to more
accidents involving adolescents and guns. These gaming franchises cannot continue to
show terrible atrocities in a light, comedic way, otherwise children will not grow up to
fear the capabilities of firearms, which will then lead to an increased amount of firearm
related crimes in the future.
When playing a violent video game, a childs odds of becoming more violent
becomes greater when shown intentional harm more so than if they are shown blood
and gore. Iowa State University performed a study that showed that cartoon games are
just as effective as todays Hyper-realistic games at increasing aggressive behavior in
adolescents (Anderson). This shows that aggression as a result of video games has
been present since their conception, and is not necessarily a new thing. This same
study also showed that intentionally harming an individual is much more effective than
blood and gore at triggering violent thoughts and behavior in children. If the child sees
someone hurting another human being in a video game while feeling no remorse, then
they are much more likely to show the same type of behavior when they are interacting
with others in real life.
Youth who play violent video games are much more likely than their counterparts
to show signs of aggression and a disability to forgive someone for their mistakes. The
study performed by Iowa State University showed that teens who began to play
videogames earlier in the school year became more aggressive in nature by the end of
the school year (Anderson). This is most likely due to witnessing violence in their games
and then believing that exhibiting similar behavior is acceptable in society. School
massacres such as the one that occurred at Columbine have been linked to the

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murderers having played violent video games in their free time, such as Call of Duty,
which may have led to their actions. The more likely scenario however, is that the media
did not know the true reasons for the horrors committed and began to use whatever
scapegoats they could to give the public an answer.
Children who play violent video games are less likely than others to help another
person who requires assistance. As a result of playing violent video games, teenagers
who play violent video games are much less likely than others to help those in distress
due to having a negative outlook on the world (. This negative outlook on the world may
come from them becoming enraged with others in an online multiplayer game. They
may also want to help others less because the violent video games have desensitized
them to problems other than their own. The games can take away the players ability to
associate themselves with other peoples problems, which in turn will make them less
likely to want to spend their time helping others in need when they could be helping
themselves instead.
There are many ways that the gaming community can help to limit the
accessibility of violent video games to youth. Retailers could require customers
purchasing mature rated games to show an ID to prove that they are of age. GameStop
has already begun to implement this practice in order to lower the amount of underaged children purchasing their games. With a large retailer like GameStop implementing
this, hopefully it will lead to more businesses following suite. This idea is not full proof
however, because it could easily be ignored by the child having either a parent or older
sibling purchasing the game for them. Every rule that companies try to implement will be
able to be fooled in one way or another, but the requirement of having to show an ID

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may help to limit accessibility to violent video games for children whose parents do not
permit them to own the games.
Another way to limit accessibility is by helping parents to recognize what the
ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) ratings mean and why the game received
the rating it did. Parents can view what the ratings mean by visiting the ESRBs website,
and then deciding whether or not they want their children being exposed to the violence
present in the game. It can be a very helpful tool for parents who are not familiar with
current violent games popular with their children. They could also ask other parents
about the game they are researching, as well as read online reviews for games on
websites such as IGN. This can help to convince parents whether or not a game is
appropriate for a child of their age. It will also result in less under aged children playing
on mature rated games.
Parents must have a way to view what their children are playing so that they can
easily intervene and limit things in the games that they do not like. Popular games such
as Call of Duty have features such as gore and blood that can be disabled if a parent
does not believe viewing it is in their childrens best interest. When the parent is viewing
their children playing a game, they can easily distinguish between something that they
want their children to be playing and a game that they would not want them to be
playing. If a child plays on a Television in a centralized location such as the family room,
then more than one person may want to use the Television at the same time, leading to
conflict. This small disagreement however, is a small price for a parent to pay to ensure
the safety of their childs mental health.

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Violent video games have become increasingly popular in todays youth and
some people in the community are becoming concerned with the effects the games are
having on the children. The fact that games are becoming increasingly accessible leads
to more under aged children getting ahold of highly violent video games. The children
then become much less forgiving and begin to show increased signs of violence when
interacting with others. Restrictions must be created so as to stop the youth of America
from becoming desensitized to the horrors of the world. Video games can be a great,
entertaining way for people to spend their free time, but the age restrictions given out by
the ESRB must not be ignored but enforced if children are to grow up with a light view of
the world.

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Works Cited
Albanese, Giovanni, Jr. "Violent Video Games Create Aggression, But Do They Cause
Kids to Commit Crimes?" Healthlines RSS News. Healthline, 14 Aug. 2015. Web.
21 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.healthline.com/health-news/violent-video-games-create-aggressionbut-they-do-cause-kids-to-commit-081415#1>
Wittekind, Erika. Violence as Entertainment: Why Aggression Sells. North Mankato, MN:
Compass Point, 2012. Print.
DeLisi, Matt, Craig Anderson, and Douglas Gentile. "Violent Video Games Are a Risk
Factor for Criminal Behavior and Aggression." RSS. Iowa State University News
Service, 26 Mar. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2013/03/26/violentvideogames>
Marcovitz, Hal. Online Gaming and Entertainment. San Diego, CA: ReferencePoint,
2012. Print.
Jodi L. Whitaker and Brad J. Bushman, A Review of the Effects of Violent Video Games
on Children and Adolescents, 66 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 1033 (2009),
<http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/wlulr/vol66/iss3/5>