Do Violent Video Games Cause Aggression or Not?

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Do violent video games cause aggression or not?
Video games have become a part of culture in America and all around the world. Video games are extremely popular, connecting people through the internet allowing them to interact with one another through cyber-portal for entertainment, with varying genres of games from card games, first person shooter’s, racing or even 3D strategy games. These games connect millions people around the world, gamers spending countless hours glued to screens looking at bunch of pixels. These games are evolving every year, as technology gets better so do the games, with more realistic graphics, sound effects and scenarios. So with this, the violent games are also becoming more realistic, violent and aggressive. Many of violent war games being released today have age restrictions on them, R16 or R18 warning people of the violent content the game has, and however this does not underage people getting their hands on them. Are these prolonged hours spent playing these games damaging these people’s mind or violent games have nothing to do with making people violent? Many studies have taken place to look into whether or not these games are causing aggression, but none of these studied developed well-validated measures of youth violence caused by games. To investigate this important controversy and proof that violent video games cause aggressive behavior needs to be done more research.

There have been many studies based around violence in video games, whether it is elevated blood pressure, aggressive behavior or violent outbreaks.  A study led by Brock University PhD student Paul Adachi has proved that yes these violent games are causing aggressive behavior, but this is based on how competitive the game is and not due to the violence. Therefore a non-violent game that is equally competitive will lead the user to show similar aggressive behavior. Violent video games might be harmful because developing children learn mainly through physically doing things. This may lead to children taking video game experiences and translating them into real life actions. Since violence always seems to be the answer in video games, some children may learn to think that violence is the answer to all. Playing video games can have a hypnotic effect. Daydreaming and fantasizing peaks right before children, at the point when many children are immersed in their video game playing. Absorption is when the logical integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences is suspended. When a child plays a violent video game he or she may be unaware of the behaviors that are developing in their consciousness. Those children who are easily absorbed into the video game that they are playing may have a higher tendency of developing aggressive thoughts and actions.. In many cases, like the 1999 Columbine High school massacre where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students, one teacher, and injuring 21 other students before turning the guns on themselves.  It was well known that the two teenagers who committed this extreme violent act were excessive players of the violent video game called “Doom 3D”, in which the player embarks on defending mars from aliens with large automatic weapons.  A lot of people claim that this game caused the two to violently outbreak into the massacre, however there is no proof, and once again, the game has not caused anyone else, out of its millions of players over the years to commit the same heinous crime, Eric and Dylan were capable of these crimes before playing the game, it is however a possibility that the game helped their psychopathic views to be glorified. Where normal people do not have these psychopathic traits in the first place and play games like this for entertainment only. Video games become more realistic, engaging and increasingly violent. The more players involved the more impact the game has to change in the behavior of children. Since children start...
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