Do video games lead to violence

Tennis for Two, an early analog computer game that used an oscilloscope for a display A modern recreation of a controller for Tennis for Two Early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from —a " Cathode ray tube Amusement Device" was filed for a patent on 25 Januaryby Thomas T. Each game used different means of display:

Trump blames video games, movies for violence This detail led many to worry that violent video games may be negatively affecting their own children. What is the truth? Read More Both the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics take a firm stance against children and teens playing violent video games.

The titles seem to say it all: The American Psychological Association observed in an August policy statement that research demonstrated a link "between violent video game use and both increases in aggressive behavior Video games, the academy noted, "should not use human or other living targets or award points for killing, because this teaches children to associate pleasure and success with their ability to cause pain and suffering to others.

These clear, no-nonsense arguments appeal to many parents. However, they may not represent the views of the entire field.

Some social scientists have come up with more unexpected results. Whitney DeCamp, an associate professor of sociology at Western Michigan University, says the evidence points to either no relationship between playing video games and violent behavior or an "insignificant" link between the two.

Screen violence -- real and fictional -- harmful for kids, experts say Sure, he said, some studies have revealed a connection between kids playing violent video games and violent behavior.

But there is a problem with "looking at those two things in a vacuum": Kids who like to play brutal video games may have a predisposition toward aggression, he said. The real question, he said: Does playing violent games cause a person to act violently? In his own studyhe examined that question using data from the Delaware School Survey, which included responses from 6, eighth-graders.

Among the questions, students were asked whether they had played violent video games in the past year. DeCamp factored out the propensity to play violent video games due to a natural attraction to brutality along with other factors, such as gender and family relations.

He discovered that playing video games, no matter how bloody, did not predict violent behavior.

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Christopher Ferguson, associate professor and co-chairman of the Department of Psychology at Stetson University, supports this view. In fact, he goes so far as to suggest that violent video games may help reduce societal violence rather than increase it.

He added that newer studies "with better methods" have typically failed to find much evidence of a connection between brutal games and even minor aggressive acts, let alone violence.

Persuasive evidence comes from an economic study published in Februarywhich looked at violent criminal offenses in the weeks after the release of popular video games. Tracking both sales and crime rates, the authors discovered that general societal violence decreased in the weeks after the appearance of a new edition of a popular title.

Violent Video Games - regardbouddhiste.com

Obviously, this does not rule out longer-term effects, the authors admit. Still, they make a bid for the games offering "cathartic" effects, allowing players to safely release their aggression. While the debate rages on, Ferguson believes the tide has turned against linking video games to violence.

When asked about the teen shooter in Munich, DeCamp said, "we need to take a lot of caution before we place the blame on any one particular thing.

Both the psychological association and the American Academy of Pediatrics suggest that parents take an active interest in and monitor the games played by their children.

This simple bit of practical advice -- and not an all-out prohibition -- may be the best solution.The Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, created by Ed Boon and John Tobias, has been the subject of various controversies since its creation in the s.

In particular, Mortal Kombat has often been criticised from a broad spectrum of politicians and other critics for its unrestrained use of graphic and bloody violence (both in the game's regular combat scenes and its Fatalities. Sep 18,  · Many members of the media are quick to blame video games, with or without data to back up their claims.

As many as 97% of US kids age play video games, contributing to the $ billion domestic video game industry.

More than half of the 50 top-selling video games contain violence. Being a college student who plays video games from time to time, I can honestly say that violence in video games has come a long way.

When looking at video game history there was once a time where such a game as pong was entertaining as well as non-violent.

Peer Commentary. Are We Talking About the Same Violence? Joel D.

Do Video Games Cause Violence?

Collinson Rochester Institute of Technology. Koojimans determined that the Pac Man and Super Mario Brothers video games were violent. Although having said that, he indicated that they were not violent by today's standards. Jul 25,  · "I'm hearing more and more people saying the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's thoughts," Trump said.

But some experts' findings disagree.