(An image of the video game title DOOM)Does a video game cause another person to kill people? In 1997 their was a case where a young man killed another boy. In this case his lawyer said, "In the Kentucky case, the young killer, 14-year-old Michael Carneal, had never undergone any firearms training. He learned how to shoot and kill from the video game." Many adults, lawyers, etc believe that video games cause kids to kill other people. This is not necessarily true their are many studies that prove other wise. One instance that we see people blaming video games for a child's violent behavior is the Kentucky shooter case, where a young boy influenced by a movie called "The Basketball Diaries" walks into his school and opens fire on his classmates and teacher. This may not be a video game but it opened the door for people to believe that simple things can influence a child a large amount. Another thing that pushes people to believe this was the interviews with a former Army colonel where he said “mass murder simulator that provides military-type training.” The colonel continued to say "it is like the flight simulators that teach military personnel how to fly aircraft.the video game “Doom” is used in the military itself to teach soldiers how to kill. In the game, the gunman moves slowly through a building, in the same way that a Special Forces soldier might enter hostile territory." This leaves the question does video games cause violent behavior in young children and adult? What do you believe?
The opposing side tells us a different story. They show research that tells us, "According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play." It is believed that society are more likely to jump on the bandwagon because they are afraid of the games. The lawyers and advertisers against video games scare people into believing the game is dangerous and that what someone does not understand is wrong. There is more evidence to prove that games don't cause kids to become anti-social. This is because most kids today have internet and with that they play games with other kids and have conversations. It is not what society is use to but its still something. There is more evidence that shows that most violent behavior comes from the household and not a video game.
Scientific test that say video games are dangerous, most of these test were proven to be inconclusive. This is because of where and how the test where done. They did not take into consideration the environment nor did they pay attention the children relationships at school or home. This caused question to appear and say well it could be because he was bullied. Another thing is the belief that woman do not play video games, this is not true orginally men where the people mostly who played video games, but studies show that woman are playing games more and more. There is a lack of violent crimes done by woman involving the video game made me do it defense. Also the gaming industry have started making video games with female protagonist which is not uncommon today. Gerard Jones says "that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives."
Military Psychologist will tell you that video game used to train soldiers can have a negative imapct on children minds, but game industry argue that this is only true if "
The people who want you to believe use fear and scapegoating to convince people that games are monsters. While the people who believe that games do not cause violent behavior they us scientific facts and testimonials from normal kids. A lot of the times when people mention video games in a negative light they show it with fear and violent music and pictures to give people a reptilian and Limbic experiences. The thought that something that you don't understand might hurt you gives you the sense to run while violent images and music reinforces that. The evidence is their people have to find out what to believe.
The opposing side tells us a different story. They show research that tells us, "According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in the United States is at a 30-year low. Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media before committing their crimes than the average person in the general population. It's true that young offenders who have committed school shootings in America have also been game players. But young people in general are more likely to be gamers — 90 percent of boys and 40 percent of girls play." It is believed that society are more likely to jump on the bandwagon because they are afraid of the games. The lawyers and advertisers against video games scare people into believing the game is dangerous and that what someone does not understand is wrong. There is more evidence to prove that games don't cause kids to become anti-social. This is because most kids today have internet and with that they play games with other kids and have conversations. It is not what society is use to but its still something. There is more evidence that shows that most violent behavior comes from the household and not a video game.
Scientific test that say video games are dangerous, most of these test were proven to be inconclusive. This is because of where and how the test where done. They did not take into consideration the environment nor did they pay attention the children relationships at school or home. This caused question to appear and say well it could be because he was bullied. Another thing is the belief that woman do not play video games, this is not true orginally men where the people mostly who played video games, but studies show that woman are playing games more and more. There is a lack of violent crimes done by woman involving the video game made me do it defense. Also the gaming industry have started making video games with female protagonist which is not uncommon today. Gerard Jones says "that young girls often build upon these representations of strong women warriors as a means of building up their self confidence in confronting challenges in their everyday lives."
Military Psychologist will tell you that video game used to train soldiers can have a negative imapct on children minds, but game industry argue that this is only true if "
- we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context.
- we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught.
- we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces."
This is EXCELLENT blogging, Sean.
ReplyDeleteThoughtful, detailed and thorough.
You raise such good points here - I would say that:
1. Every individual's brain is unique.
2. So every individual will have a different relationship with continuous video game play.
Very well done,
Dr. W