A recent study at Swinburne University of Technology tested 120 children aged 11 to 15 and revealed that only the children prone to worrying, neurotic behavior, and predisposed to aggression were likely to be violent after playing video games. Teenagers, or older minors, are exposed to violence everywhere. According to a US Secret Service study, only 12 percent of school shooters were attracted to violent video games, while 24 percent read violent books and 27 percent were attracted to violent movies.
Violence is something that is inherent in all human beings, and traces of it can be found anywhere. Thus, violent video games do not affect children that have not been predisposed to violence. In the most extreme situation, and also the most unlikely, video games will make violent children more prone to expressing their violent behavior, not causing or inciting it.
The affirmative side may argue with lab testing results, experiments, and studies, that video games cause violence. These must be ignored and disregarded because of the following: The minor's experience of playing a video game at home, where it is regularly played, cannot be replicated elsewhere such as in a lab.
When being observed in a lab, one is not familiar with the surroundings, has a spotlight on him/herself, and is also being forced to play the game. The minor is not getting to choose the game, may not be playing with the same vigor for a goal he/she may want to achieve at home, or may not feel up to playing the game. In other words, the exact feelings of actually playing a video game at home can't be replicated. Thus, results achieved in an experiment or study cannot and should not be taken into consideration.
The statement that video games cause violence is absolutely false, and is in fact the opposite. Video games actually promote minors socially and can serve as a fast way to relax and de-stress. After all, we buy games to have fun and not because we have feelings of hatred towards others. Video games are a form of entertainment and are synonymous with things such as listening to music, watching movies, reading books, sports, etc.
Such as with all the preceding, video games also do not have any long-term effects on personality and general nature. Our society is one where there are multiple stresses and many chances for aggression to develop; minors are not exempt from this. Various things such as school, peers, and sports, cause these types of feelings. Video games are a solution to that problem. By playing, children can take out their pent-up aggression in a way that doesn't harm anyone; any violent thoughts are channeled into the video game, and by the time the children are finished playing, feelings of calmness and satisfaction replace the violent ones.
In addition, some video game companies are switching focus away from traditional adventure games to ones that promote education. Video games have been proven an effective way to reinstate what is learned in class in an interactive and fun way for the child. Therefore, video games actually help reduce violence, not incite it.
As video games increase in gore, reality factor, and ability to capture feelings such as pain, more and more people have been saying that they are producing an adverse effect on safe societies. However, this is not the case. The crime rate among minors in the United States is at a 30 year low, coincidentally around the same time take-home video game consoles were first introduced to the general public. The number of major catastrophes among minors has been steadily decreasing in this same 30 year time period as well. Statistically, this proves that crime-related violence actually is relieved by playing video games.
Family life is the main deciding factor of how much violence a child is prone to after playing video games. Children from some homes are exposed to it by parents/guardians, bullies at school, etc. These people have had first-hand experiences and are more prone to commit violent acts after game play. In fact, a drunken father has a better chance of inflicting violent ideas upon his child than a video game. This is because a child looks up to his/her father as role model and perceives everything about him to be true.
By the time minors reach the age where they play video games, they have formed a sense of morality and ethics that quell the violence, whether they be based on what was taught by the parents or if they were conceived by the child altogether. Therefore, video games do not actually motivate rationally thinking minors to commit anti-social acts of violence. They just allow outside forces such as role models, bullies, etc. to cause more violent ideas.
Video games are complex devices that have both benefits and negative consequences. Causing and inciting youth violence is not among those consequences. Labs are used to prove that video games cause violence, but they do not correctly replicate the act of playing games and therefore should be disregarded. The concrete fact that crime rates of youths are on an obvious downward spiral must also be taken into consideration.
Minors they may be, but children aren't ignorant, and the majority haven't been exposed to violence. Therefore, to them, playing video games is just that: playing. It is a social event that affects children in positive ways. A good time is had, bonding with others occurs, and pent-up aggression is released harmlessly. Therefore, we conclude that video games do not incite violence in minors.
