Nathan Lisbin Professors Jacqueline Campbell English 015- Position Argument Final Draft 12 October, 2012

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Video games and violent behavior In the 1970s, the first electronic video games came out as a fascinating and innovative invention. Video games have now been one of the biggest industries in the world from companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Atari. However, people dont have an answer to the psychological effects of gaming as opinions vary everywhere. At a conference sponsored by Atari in 1983, the company seemed to emphasize the positive aspects of game playing through their article Video Games and Human Development (Buchman). They talked about how these games can increase eye-hand coordination, reaction times, and other related ideas. However, games are more graphically enhanced today, almost to the point where its difficult to tell the difference between the virtual world and real life. A popular gaming site known as IGN or Imagine Gaming Network has reviewed almost every video game and should be reminded of the psychological aspects of gaming. IGN should be shown how the excessive playing of violent video games can cause behavioral problems in the minds of adolescences. The reasoning will be presented by using examples of previous acts of violence, scientific research, and the poor social skills of excessive gamers. This topic has been controversial ever since violence in video games was introduced. There are many people who believe that violence in video games cant cause behavioral issues. Many reasons that people have had varied from no scientific data on the issue to kids having psychological problems before playing the game. This may have been true about 5-10 years ago

Lisbin 2 but since that time frame scientists have done extensive research on the issue. In an article, Violent Video Games Linked to Brain Changes and Decreased Emotional Control, written by the scientific blogging news staff, scientists discussed the effects of first person shooter games after an incident where a man had recently killed many people at a summer camp. This incident was believed to be the result of heavy exposure to video game violence. There was a definite difference in emotional stability between people who stayed away from such games and people who were constantly exposed to the game violence. The violence in video games can alter the mind but many times can also lead to horrific events. About 5 years ago in 2007, Philadelphia was experiencing homicide rates that were out of control. The city was averaging around 204 homicides in seven months with many incidents occurring around adolescence. Representative Ronald Waters in an open interview said children can't always understand the difference between the video game world and the real world, and there's no telling what impact this exposure to violence will have on them later in life(GamePolitics). People who play violent video games on average have a much higher chance to have a more aggressive attitude. Occasionally these violent feelings end up hurting and injuring others. People in the past have demonstrated these acts of violence from the results of playing video games. The addictive value of these video games can sometimes be as powerful as drugs. There have been reports of people who are unable to stop playing; constantly thinking about the next moment they can play. Furthermore, many violent video games explicit violence by presenting players with vast amounts of irrational reasoning. Such as in the series Modern Warfare, players do not have the option of attempting anything different in a mission other than to kill and steal important items. Never is there an option for treaties, surrenders, or other

Lisbin 3 peaceful means, only bloodshed every minute of the game. Furthermore, this game is also enhanced with the best graphics, making this game very realistic to the players. Video games can have very realistic violence inducing violent behaviors in adolescence, but besides actual statistics on the effects of video games we also have scientific research done on the current issue. The IU Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences did a study on how violent video games affect different parts of the brain. To do conduct this, scientists took a random sample of twenty-eight adults and split them up into two groups. The first group played a first person shooter game for a week and didnt play the second week. The second group acted as the control for the experiment and didnt play at all. The scientists first analyzed the group that had played the first person shooter game after a week had gone by. They were able to notice that there was activation in the frontal brain area where emotions such as violence are controlled when playing these games. However, the frontal brain activity for possible violent emotions returned back to its original state during the second week of no playing. The conclusion these scientist made was that with long exposure to the video games it takes increasingly longer to deactivate the frontal brain area. Eventually, the area could be permanently locked if the game was played for a strenuous amount of time. This experiment shows that beyond observations, we can actually notice changes that happen in ones brain. These changes in the brain can have a huge impact on the emotional stability of a human and could easily be a cause of violent behavior in people. Video games can alter the mind making people much more violent but they can also contribute to having poor social skills and overweight problems. Back home, one of my best Lisbin 4

friends was defiantly what some people would describe as a hard-core gamer. He would rarely come to social events we invited him to because he hadnt completed his in-game objectives yet. Constantly eating and playing, we noticed he had developed many faulty social skills as he didnt interact as well with us. The addiction to the game can cause people to sit on their console for endless hour and from statistics people also eat more. The combination of sitting and eating is another reason for obesity in gamers. However, secluding yourself into a game for endless hours defiantly do not helping your social skills either as you are not communicating with any real life people. In the article Video Games and Your Childs Health by Earl Hunsinger he mentions two problematic statistics involving violent video games. The first problem was a statistic brought up that 40% of excessive gamers will develop high blood pressure due to lack of exercise and nutrition. The second was about 40% of children ages five through eight are already clinically obese due to exposure to excessive gaming. In fact, in Beijing, china alone reporters say that at the least 20% of all primary and secondary students are overweight due to constant TV and gaming. These results are staggering to think about as the percentages are ridiculously high. People need to have self-control to keep themselves from overplaying in eventual addiction. Violent video games can cause acts of real life violence, higher obesity rates, poor social skills, and other health related problems that can clearly be explained by scientists. However its almost impossible to not be related to video games in some sort of manner at all due to the gaming industry making roughly $17 billion per year. That is more money than the film and television industries combined. Video game violence is everywhere, parents and gamers should Lisbin 5

limit their time playing the games. The traits and health related problems derived from violent games can be staggering but can be avoided especially if one plays in moderation.

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Work Cited

Scientific Blogging News Staff. "Violent Video Games Linked To Brain Changes And Decreased Emotional Control." Violent Video Games Linked To Brain Changes And Decreased Emotional Control. Science 2.0, 12 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.science20.com/news_articles/violent_video_games_linked_brain_changes_an d_decreased_emotional_control-83533>.

Funk, Jeanne B., and Debra D. Buchman. "Journal of Communication Volume 46, Issue 2, Article First Published Online: 7 FEB 2006." Playing Violent Video and Computer Games and Adolescent Self-Concept. Medical College of Ohio, Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1996.tb01472.x/pdf>.

Hunsinger, Earl. "Video Games and Your Child's Health." Buzzle.com. Buzzle.com, Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/video-games-childs-health.html>.

GamePolitics. "Video Game Link to Philadelphia's Murder Rate? Politicians Probing." GamePolitics News, 11 July 2007. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.gamepolitics.com/2007/07/11/video-game-link-to-philadelphias-murder-ratepoliticians-probing>.

Hummer, Tom, William Kronenberger, Kristine Mosier, and Vincent P. Mathews. "Violent Video Games Alter Brain Function in Young Men." Medical School News. Indian University School of Medicine, 1 Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://communications.medicine.iu.edu/newsroom/stories/2011/violent-video-gamesalter-brain-function-in-young-men>.