Issue #5: Do Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior? One of the biggest controversial issues in today’s society is whether or not video games encourage violent behavior. Two sides of the argument are from Craig A. Anderson (an expert on the effect of violence in television and film) and Henry Jenkins (from PBS kids). One side says exposing children and adolescents (or “youth”) to violent visual media increases the likelihood that they will engage in physical aggression against another person. (2003). Now the other side says, the primary audience is not children, that the violence is not increasing in society and that concerns about isolation, desensitization, and violence are overblown. Now starting with the people who say yes, that video games encourage violent behavior have really good facts to back up their argument. Some facts are violent games require you to be one with the character you’re playing. That’s a very good fact, because games like Call of Duty for instance, requires you to play as a soldier in first person, the only thing you see is the gun you decide to pick up. Another game I can think of is the Grand Theft Auto series of games, you play as once individual and you do missions with him where you have to kill. The story modes are really lengthy and you tend to gain a kind of personal relationship with the character even though it is just a video game. You start getting mad when the character gets mad and from personal experience (I play Grand Theft Auto everyday) I even get carried away and start talking like the character, I pick up his little sayings.
Another fact I agree with is that computer graphics have made video games seem very realistic. Which is totally true, modern gaming PCs have dedicated chips for rendering video, allowing for graphics verging on photorealism. (LA Times). In the movie we watched in class, the video games Doom and Duke Nukem were so pixelated, almost static characters and buildings. In those games when you shot and killed someone, there was barely any bloodshed, you could not see guts spilled to the grown, blood pouring out on the ground, or the person that you killed body was shaking like it was a real life person. Modern games like, God of War, Call of Duty, and the Grand Theft Auto series all display gruesome, visually clear killings.
After reading the article on both sides of the issue, I found some pretty unique opinions. One opinion from the yes side of the controversy was, when playing violent games you tend to have a rush, more like adrenaline which changes your mood. Another opinion from the same side was a person will physically hurt someone of they are playing violent games. These two opinions, are very unique because they both pretty much are saying video games can intertwine with reality. Which was a one of the questions I asked during my student lead discussion, and was also asked to Craig A. Anderson during an interview he had for FAQs on Violent Video Games and Other Media Violence.
Examining both sides of the arguments, I found quite a few fallacies. On the no side with Henry Jenkins, he stated “there are ninety percent of boys and forty percent of girls who play video games”. This was an unsupported claim because there was no source to back that statement up. Now According to the USA Today polls, there are approximately forty five percent of girls and fifty five percent of boys play video games. (Female Gamers Gaining Ground). Another fallacy I found was on the yes side with Craig A. Anderson this time and it was that various entertainment media industries have lots of money to spend on trying to convince the general public and political leaders that there is nothing to worry about. There is no sources supporting this statement either.
All in all, Craig really impressed me as being the most empirical in presenting his thesis. He proved to be way more experience, he has studied this controversy for over ten years. He did not just study video games itself, he has studied the violent effects of television and films. So he knows what traits to look for when conducting experiments based on violence. What really stood out to me was the way he answered questions.
He did not bring up experiments all the time, he used kids as his focal points in the article. Kids are our future, and he pointed out certain points that can be really harmful to our children, and that being exposed to violent video games will have violent aggression, because the person you are playing as in the game are doing violent acts. I feel he also makes a good point that the aggressive thoughts will increase with the amount of time you keep playing the game and which in turn increase their emotions when they play other violent games. When you play video games, especially violent ones, you will react just as if the character would react in the game given the situation.
Craig and Henry, are very creditable authors and now what they are talking about. Like Craig’s article for instance, is kind of an academic journal to me. He introduced his argument and made concrete points to why he believes video games encourage violent behaviors, then he critiqued existing research, which is what academic journals do. Craig has a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University, 1980. His credentials match perfectly with the controversy topic. His main interests are social and personality psychology, with a strong amount of cognitive psychology. His recent studies focus directly on aggression, especially on the harmful effects of violent media entertainment. Henry Jenkins’s PhD, Communications, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1989 is very credential to the presentation. He a member, on the advisory board, of the international Game Designers Association Committee of Violence in 2000. When I reviewed the materials in these article, I feel that I am stuck in the middle of the controversy. Each side has very feasible explanation that can also easily be countered by one or another. According to the National Television Violence Study (1996) determined that 73% of violent video games reward violence as an effective way to handle conflict. Studies conducted by Bandura and Berkowitz have found that rewarding violent behavior is conducive to learning. (Parents & Teachers). I believe that video games do encourage violent behaviors, but only in the heat of the moment. I feel in that moment you will display violent attitude or behavior but it will not be harmful to another human being. For instance, if you are mad due to the fact that you are being killed in a video game, you might say something bad verbally, or throw the controller. Here is when the no side comes into play and why I give side with them; just because you are playing a video game does not mean you are going to get up and go to a school and shoot a mass about of people.

AMD says new graphics chip makes games seem real. (n.d.). - latimes.com. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2008/06/video-games-tha.html
Mitchell, B. (2013, June 12). Women make up almost half of today's gamers. USA Today. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2013/06/12/women-50-percent-gaming-audience/2411529/

Norcia, A. (n.d.). Parents & Teachers: Violent Video Games & Aggressive Behaviors. Parents & Teachers: Violent Video Games & Aggressive Behaviors. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.pamf.org/parenting-teens/general/media-web/violentgames.html