Battles 1

Nathaniel Battles
Deby Dagher
UWRT 1102-002
14 June 2015
Violence and Video Games
Today many people are worried that people, especially kids, are getting their violent
behavior from violent media around them. The one form of media violence people are worried
about the most is video games, as they are the most interactive form of media. The level of
violence within video games is at an all-time high. Dont get me wrong, there are plenty of
games out there that are not violent in any way, shape, or form. But the ones that are violent,
have a level of violence that can be scary at times. The realism of the violence I have seen in
games that I play is crazy. You cut someone with your sword, and they get cleaved apart in the
exact same manner in which you sliced them. It is no wonder that people are worried that video
games might be making people violent. I have been playing video games since I was in 1st grade,
I believe I was around 6 or 7 years old when I started. That makes it 17 to 18 years that I have
been playing video games, which is a long time for me. And starting back when I was in high
school video games were believed, at least by the public, to be the cause for some school
shootings. This issue hits home for me, because I am an avid gamer that wants to make video
games one day, so I dont want violent video games to be this evil in society. I want them to be a
way for people to connect and have fun, even if that fun is violent, at the very least it isnt real. I
wish that people saw video game violence the same way I do, it isnt real and you should never
even think of doing that to someone. This is why I am so interested in this issue that has become
a rising question among people, namely parents, around the country.

Battles 2
Why should you care about this, and how does it pertain to you? Because if video games
are in fact a legitimate cause for violent behavior, you may very well lose a good number of
games you enjoy. Millions of people play video games that are just like mine and yours, if any of
those games are violent ones than we may have to bid them a fond farewell. Those games could
also be changing you mentally, turning you into someone that hurts people around them. I like to
think that I would never hurt anyone the way I do enemies in video games, but I have never been
in a situation where my life was on the line. I honestly dont know what I would do, if I would
run, defend myself, or use violence to solve my problem. If video games are subconsciously
affecting my mind than I could be a walking time bomb, waiting for the right conditions to go
off. This could very well be the cause for a large number of crimes committed by children as
well. In the past there were a number of shootings that took place while I was going through high
school and early college. People speculated that video games were part of the cause for this, as
the violence in them provided an extremely violent outlet for the shooter(s). I honestly dont
know if this is the case or not, all I know is that it was speculation at the time. These are some of
the very real issues with violent video games right now. That or video games are not a cause for
violent behavior and people need to quit using video games as a scapegoat. It might be that the
kid became violent because of problems back at home or at school. If we all can get to, and
address, the real problems at hand for violent behavior than we may be able to lower the violence
and crime in our world. In the end people really need to find out the truth about this so we can
put it to rest. And the people that I want to read this the most are parents, teachers, and anybody
that works with kids. As well as gamers and game developers, so we can all understand just what
we are playing.

Battles 3
I looked into articles, books, and videos to try and find evidence that video games make
people violent, what I found can be very convincing one way or the other it really depends on
how you look at it. The first source I picked was a video titled Game Over: Gender, Race &
Violence in Video Games. This video addresses the issue of violence in video games and what
affects that can have on a person. It brings the level of violence in video games, how that
violence is used, and what that can mean for people who play them. It showed that video games
are becoming more realistic and that makes it harder to discern the game from reality. This
makes it easier to associate in-game violence with real-life situations. It talks about how the
player must complete certain objectives with violence in order to progress, which can lead to
people becoming violent in order to solve real world problems. It went on to show that military
and police use simulations in order to train people to shoot at people, and just how effective this
training has been. It than went in depth on how these violent scenarios can have an effect on our
minds and how we think. That violent video games bring out aggression and can be used to make
us think in a more violent manner. I want to know the level of detail that went into the studies
that they are basing this on. I feel that they could be very insightful as to how video games make
people violent. The peer reviewed article I chose for this looks into the level of violence in video
games that are rated E for everyone by the ESRB rating system. I was surprised to find that a
majority of the games they pooled had violence in them. They looked at games from all genres
and did not include any action, like tackling, that is a regular part of a sport in their criteria for
violence. What surprised me more was that they even found symbols for alcohol and sexual
images in a couple of games (one game for each). The sexual image it would seem was not
unsafe for kids, but it still was considered to be of a sexual nature. A number of the games that
were found to have violence in them required the player to use violence in order to progress in

Battles 4
the story. What I want to know is what all did they see as violent? And what all do kids do when
they play around outside of video games that could also be considered violent? Should all of the
violence they found in these E rated game be considered harmless fun? Gamers dont just play
video games for the violence, in fact for a large number of gamers they play so they can connect
with others and have fun with their friends. The second peer reviewed article I picked talks about
just this, why gamers play MMORPGs. That is massive multiplayer online role playing game, I
know its a mouthful, hence the acronym. The study into the reason as for why people play this
game came up with results that I could completely relate to. The reason most people did so was
to connect with others and socialize. Many kids that play these games developed key socializing
skills that could help them in the real world. They also found that these games could help players
to learn how to strategize and plan things out. Key skills in the business world, no matter what
job you take. What all can someone learn from playing this type of game? What all can someone
learn from playing other types of video games? I was shocked to find that this issue had gone all
the way up to the senate, but I was excited to see just what they had come to. Unfortunately the
senate has come to no decision on the issue of video games and violence. But they did pass a bill
to begin research on the matter called the Violent Research Act of 2013. The purpose of the bill
was to begin an investigation into the effects of violent video games on children. And although
the bill was created to start research it does give some insightful information into previous
studies and cases concerning violent video games. It cites that national and federal agencies like
the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
have stated/reported harmful effects that violent media has on children. The AAP looked to other
studies and experiments to back up their statement. While the FCC conducted their own study
into the effects of violent video games on children. This act also cites the International Society

Battles 5
for Research on Aggression and the commission they carried out on media violence. All of these
found or stated that violent media increases aggressive behavior in the short term. The bill also
quotes decisions and studies that point to the contrary, that there is no connection between
violent media and aggressive behavior. In one case, the Supreme Court overturned a law that
California had passed banning certain violent video games. The court, in its majority, had found
that there was not sufficient proof that video games cause violent behavior. They, in their
majority, also found that there is little difference between violent video games and other violent
material that is covered by the First Amendment. The fact that the Supreme Court overturned
such a law based on the lack of sufficient evidence has me flipping. I wish the research that is
underway was finished so I could try to get an answer from the findings. My last resource is a
book called Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games. Although
the whole book is dedicated to my inquiry, I decided to use only the last chapter called Practical
Advice for Parents. Before I started this project, I thought that kids should not play games that
are not appropriate for them and this chapter covers what a parent can do to do this. It talks about
where a parent can go to research a video game and which video games are appropriate for their
kid(s). It also talks about what a parent should do to reinforce healthy core values and how both
the parents and their kids can approach video games. Parents should above all else remember that
video games are on the bottom of the list of potential problems for violence among their kids,
and that their real problems may come out while they are playing video games so parents should
pay attention.
The most significant answer I can find to whether or not video games make people
violent is no they dont. They may make you aggressive and frustrated, I can personally attest to
that. But they dont make you a violent person in the long haul, nor are they a cause for violent

Battles 6
behavior in kids. With that being said, the evidence given by the military and law enforcement
still make me cautious as to who should be allowed to play violent video games. Namely
children, they have no business in my mind, and from what I have found here in playing violent
video games they arent old enough for. I am happy to find that video games can be used as a
social outlet and a way for kids to be more social in this new age of technology. For me nothing
has really changed about where I stand on this, except for the fact that I now have a better
understanding about what has been done to look into this issue and what genuine points there
are. A major thing to look into is causality for why people are aggressive or violent when they
play violent video games on a regular basis. I hope the Violent Research Act of 2013 that the
senate passed sheds some light on this and bring some closure to everyone. I also think that
people should go out and get the book Grand Theft Childhood: The surprising truth about
violent video games. It has a lot of material on the issue and looks at it from all sides. By no
means is my journey into this done, I have to know about what all people have done and are
doing about violence in video games. And I hope to one day understand enough that I can firmly
take a stance in the argument, but for now I will have to wait and see.
The changes that I made to this draft compared to the first draft are not all that big. The
feedback I got from my classmates did not lead me to make any major changes to it, but I did
add in who my audience was and how long I have been playing video games. Aside from those
two things I think I already had covered their other questions.

Battles 7
Works Cited
Game over : Gender, Race & Violence in Video Games. Dir. Nina Huntemann and Media
Education Foundation. 2000.
Fuster, H., X. Carbonell, A. Chamarro, and U. Oberst. "Interaction with the Game and
Motivation among Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games." The
Spanish Journal of Psychology 16.E43 (2013): 1-8. Print.
Kutner, Lawrence, and Cheryl K. Olson. "9 Practical Advice for Parents." Grand Theft
Childhood : The Surprising Truth about Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do.
1st ed. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. 209-30. Print.
Thompson, KM, and K. Haninger. "Violence in E-rated Video Games." JAMA 286.5 (2001):
591-98. Print.
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,.
"Violent Content Research Act of 2013 : Report of the Committee on Commerce,
Science and Transportation on S. 134." Violent Content Research Act of 2013 : Report of
the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on S. 134. Washington : U.S.
Government Printing Office, 2013, n.d. Web.