Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

The effects of video games: A Review of literature

Erick Garcia
University of Texas at El Paso

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

Abstract

This paper focuses one determining whether video games affect people in a negative and
how they are regulated. More specifically whether the regulation system for video is effective at
and if it needs to be upgraded to be stricter in order to forbid overly explicit content from
reaching people who might find this content unsuitable for younger audiences. The research
reviewed in this paper was chosen due to the fact that it was unbiased and showed clear results.
This is done by asking four questions regarding video content and the rating system and the
proceeds to answer these questions using the research acquired.

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

The effect of video games: A review of Literature

As of 2013 there are approximately 7.125 billion people in the world, and out of those 1.2 billion
people play video games, that is almost the entire population of the country of India. That means
that about one of every seven people one may meet play video games frequently. With such
Baffling numbers one can only assume that video games are a lifestyle, and a one might also
wonder if it makes those people any different. Does playing video games affect how people or
who they are? Many argue that this is definitely the case when it comes to violent video games,
claiming that exposure to such video games cause the individual in question to become more
violent in real life. The counter argument for this is simply that video games do not cause violent
behavior in those exposed to them. Tis report will go over some research that was gathered
regarding whether video games affect people and if they do whether this effect positive or
negative. Among the effect that video games are said to be cause is verbal aggression physical
aggression. And on the other hand some argue that video games actually affect people in a good
way such as improving certain things such as reflexes and concentration skills.
The following questions will be used as the basis to determine the validity of some of the claims
made previously.
1. Is the current Video game rating system effective, and could it be improved
2. Could video game content actually affect those who play them after prolonged exposure?
3. Does the age of the person exposed to them actually affect how bad the effect is, if any
effect at all?
4. Are Video games bad for all people or does it depend on the persons beliefs and how
they were raised?

Is the current Video game rating system effective, and could it be improved?

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

The video game system is handled by the ESRB which stands for the Entertaining
Software Rating Board was created to regulate who plays video games with content that might
be considered too explicit for younger minds. The rating system focuses on the contents of the
game such as language, violence and/or sexual content and rates them on 6 levels which are
Early Childhood, Everyone, Everyone 10+, Teen, Mature, and Adults only for the
first four levels there is almost no controversy, it is when it comes to the last two levels that there
is some outrage. Since there are literally less than 30 games rated adults only and most games
with questionable content are placed in the Mature section. Some people argue that the system
should be more strict, placing more games in the Adults Only section. According to a small
debate that was published online, there is evidence that even avid gamers think that the current
rating system is either outdated or not strict enough and should be re-evaluated. Although, there
are still people who think the system is fine as it is and should be left as is. In retrospect, even if
some people think that it should be left as is and some who think it should be updated. The best
solution this seems to be to re-evaluate the system and reach a middle point. Since the adults
only section seems to only include explicitly sexual games, and one violent games it seems like
the system might not even be at fault but simply there are just not enough games that actually fill
the category of AO. Even though a few games M rated games are released that spark some
controversy, they are still not bad enough to be placed in the Ao category. According to the
survey done there seems to be a majority of people who were not aware of the system or simply
ignored it. This could also indicate that the system might be outdated.
Could video game content actually affect those who play them after prolonged
exposure?

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

According to a study done in 2009 by Cheryl K. Olson, Lawrence A. Kutner, Lee Baer, Eugene
V. Beresin, Dorothy E. Warner, and Armand M. which aimed to study whether exposure to video
games actually affect people. This study was carried out by testing 1254 teenagers by having the
play violent video games and later testing how they reacted to various situations and asking them
how they felt about the events. At the end this study concluded that prolonged exposure to
violent video games does in fact affect adolescent by making them exhibit more violent behavior
and showing to have more violent thoughts, and although most of these thoughts are not enacted,
it should still be noted that those who were not exposed to the violent video games did not
exhibit these violent thoughts. A survey was done proved that some people argue that violent
video games do not affect people negatively. Due to the simple fact most of todays video games
are violent and the actual percentage of people showing some kind of violent behavior is very
minimal. And thus by simply analyzing this fact one can determine that video games dont
necessarily affect people in a negative way.
Does the age of the person exposed to them actually affect how bad the effect is, if any
effect at all?
The age of the individual exposed does seem to be the greater concern for some people.
Since whenever a game with questionable content comes out the reason most people seem to be
upset about is that they fear that they children will be influenced by the explicit content in these
video games. A study conducted by the authors Pablo Espinosa and Miguel clemente was
conducted with the hopes of determining whether violent video games affect young people. They
did this by testing people of different ages and expose them to different level of graphic content
and then asking them a series of questions and examining how they responded after each level of
content. At the end this study concluded that the content of the games affecting people is not

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

correlated to the age of the individual meaning that the age of the individual does not really
matter but in fact it might be only dependent on the content of the video games. However, due to
some of the factors that cannot be controlled in an experiment such as how the persons was
raised or the personal belief of the individual. There is great difficulty in determining with great
accuracy whether video games are actually affecting young children or if some children are
simply more easily influenced than others.
Are Video games bad for all people or does it depend on the persons beliefs and how they
were raised?
As stated before in a study of age, beliefs seem to be a complicated and random factor. But when
an experiment that focuses solely on backgrounds and beliefs then one can actually get some
pretty accurate results, such an experiment conducted in 2013 published in the Journal of
community & applied social psychology. By choosing people of the same age and exposing them
to the similar content and the only variable being the background of the person and how they
were raised (according to questions done by the researchers) then it was found that an
individuals background can in fact sometime affect how the content is perceived, but it does not
really affect how the person acts afterwards. Backgrounds and beliefs do not affect violent
behavior after paying video games.
Conclusion
The video game rating system might be a bit outdated but, since it was established the content of
video games has been regulated to a point where there is not much controversy. Although some
people might think it needs to be updated there is just as many people who think it is fine as is.
The main issue for this is because some people think video games becoming a bad influence on

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

people causing them to become violet and aggressive. There are various studies who focus on
different factors and not one had been able to prove with absolute certainty that violent video
games do affect people in a bad way. However, this does not mean the opposite is true. Studies
have also not proven that they do not affect people.

Bibliography

Running head: The effect of video games: A review of literature

Clemente, M. Espinosa, P. (2013). Self-transcendence and self-oriented perspectives as

mediators between video game playing an aggressive behavior in teenagers Journal of
community & applied social psychology.

Cheryl K. Olson, Lawrence A. Kutner Lee Baer, Eugene V. Beresin, Dorothy E. Warner, and
Armand M. Nicholi II (2009) M-rated video games and aggressive or problem behavior among
young adolescents Applied Developmental Science, 13(4), (188-198)

Should the ESRB be more strictly and/or be re-evaluated? (n.d.) retrieved from
http://www.debate.org/debates/Should-the-ESRB-be-more-strictly-enforced-and-or-reevaluated/1/ on July 10, 2015.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WPKPN7W (survey)