“Violent” Videogames and People
Amidst the many
tragedies that have befallen this country in recent times, like the Sandy Hook
Massacre, many are quick to point fingers. People need to find something to
blame these tragedies on. One of the easiest scapegoats to pick on is violent videogames.
Violent videogames have received a bad reputation as something that increases
aggression and makes people want to commit crimes. This mindset is used to try
to say that videogames are bad and evil creations that make bad, terrible
people out of ordinary citizens. But the truth is, there is no solid proof that
violent videogames cause increases in the levels of aggression in people.
Violent videogames
have been criticized in the media as something that makes regular people more
aggressive than they already are. But no one has ever thought if this was
actually the reverse. Many more people play these “violent” videogames and do
nothing than those who play these games and go on massacres. Nobody has looked
at these videogames as an outlet for the frustrations that people feel. Ethan
Gilsdorf, a writer who works for COGNOSCENTI, says “Could it be that violent
video games are an important outlet for aggression? That, on the whole, these
games and “play violence” let us express anger and aggression in a safe way?
Perhaps violent video games aren’t only “not so bad,” but actually help keep
the real-world killings where they belong — in our imaginations, as harmless
fantasies.” Gilsdorf thinks that violent videogames are actually an outlet for
many people and that they are a great tool for keeping many people from
snapping and causing tragedies of their own.
Another problem
with the saying that videogames cause aggression is the possibility that
aggressive people are attracted to aggressive videogames in the first place. Kataku.com,
a website devoted to gaming news, compiled a list of 25 studies on videogames
and their effects, along with their conclusions. In one of them, a study of 76
subjects aged 12 to 16 had their heart rate and blood pressure checked in the
beginning. After that, the subjects played either a violent or nonviolent
videogame. The study found that “prehostile subjects showed no difference in
heart rate or blood pressure playing violent or nonviolent games.” While this
does not definitively disprove that videogames cause aggression, it is enough
to cast doubt on the assumption that videogame make people more violent.
Another study, this time of 117 college students, played one of three
videogames. The videogames had varying degrees of hostility in them. After the
session, the students filled out a Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory and Eyesenck
Personality Questionnaire. When the questionnaires were assessed, the
scientists found that “these was no linear pattern in aggressive affect change
across three games that contained varying levels of violence.” Studies show that videogames have effects on
people, but there is no definitive effect. Some studies show that people become
more violent with these games and others show that these games have no effect.
These studies are trying to answer the question “What effect do violent
videogames have on people in this society?” Sadly, not a single study has been
able to definitively answer this question.
Violent videogames
have been a scapegoat for the media to blame the tragedies that have happened
to this country. The media tries to use studies that show that there are
negative effects on people. But what the media doesn’t show is contradictory
studies that show that there is no effect on people. These studies are buried
and never see the light of day while the negative studies are thrust into the
spotlight for the country to see.
Violent
videogames do not have a negative effect on people. They have not been proven
to cause aggression in people. Yet they are blamed as making people more
aggressive because they are an easy excuse that makes sense to many
people. Videogames have received a
terrible reputation that they do not deserve because the government and the
media need an excuse to blame tragedies on that have no real causes.
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