Are Video Games the Reason People Are

Becoming Violent?

The biggest debate is whether video games

like GTA and Call of Duty cause players to
react the crimes outside of the game, there
are many theories behind why people
become violent after playing these games.
Media have also portrayed in reports how
video games has increased numbers of
crime that mimic video games. Many
different psychologists have tried to prove
that video games cause violence but it still
has not been scientifically proven. The main
theory that psychologists believe causes
violence after people play too much video
games is due to the gamer having or
developing mental health problems. This is
due to the contents they are seeing as they
become emotionless and believe that killing
is the right thing to do.
Different psychologists have done many
tests to measure the violence of a gamer to
a person who doesnt play violent video
games. One of the tests consisted of
showing a number of candidates real life
images of murders and how they reacted to
the images, some found the images to
shocking while others laughed at what they
were seeing, however the end result of was
that more people were affected by the real
life images then what they would see in a
video game. Psychologists concluded that
they find video games less effecting to see
as its not real life and just a game as they
know its not real and its not right to kill
someone. Furthermore it is proven that 80%
of stress levels were increased by people
who dont play video games and only 12% of
people who play video games stress levels
increased. This theory links with how passive
audience members allow the hypodermic
needle to see things in a different way. As it

This is known as Use and Gratification

theory, because these gamers play video
games for their own entertainment or to kill
time, which is why the images to them are
disturbing.
Another test that was included was
psychologists try measuring aggression with
2 player games. The test consisted of 2
people going against each other in a video
game and the winner got to choose how
badly they got punish the loser with a static
shock. The test showed that most people
who won gave the loser a less severe
punishment then others
However other psychologists such as Ian
Livingstone looked deeper into what might
be causing people to commit crimes. Ian
Livingstone looked into peoples
backgrounds, as he believes mental health is
related with violent behaviour. He also thinks
a key thing to look at is the persons family
background if there from a broken home
such as abusive father or a death of parent
at a young age can cause such an effect.
This links with the use and gratification
theory as people may be looking at personal
identification as they may be able to relate
themselves to a character in the game as
they could have similar problems or
personalities. As his main theory is that
aggression is linked with depression. As his
investigation to measure aggression with
puzzle games such as Tetris and how they
were affected by the quick moving blocks
that werent exactly the right shape they
needed to clear the big block. Ian
Livingstone believes that many things are
related to aggression not just depression, he
also believes that frustration is linked with it

Mark Griffis is psychologist who looks at the

relation between addiction and video games.
Mark Griffis believes that addicts do not
receive that rewarding feeling when they win
a round in the game but will not receive this
rewarding sensation until theyve completed
the entire game. This is due to them playing
video games too much. Mark Griffis has
concluded that video games today are
becoming more addictive as they are getting
harder to complete as well as new and more
violent games getting released it makes
gamers want to buy more. Addiction to video
games is again related with the use and
gratification theory as the gamer playing
started off playing the game for their own
entertainment, to relax or to kill time.
However throughout this the gamer gets too
carried away with playing. This could mean
up to 3 hours extra a day before the
addiction occurs to then spending over 12
hours of playing video games. This is when
the hypodermic needle theory becomes to
form as an active audience member
becomes passive audience as they start
thinking the actions they are doing in the
video game are acceptable in real life.
An Oxford University study suggests that
playing violent video games is not likely to
be damaging to young childrens behaviour
than those considered harmless. The
research involved primary schoolchildren
found that the length of time young people
spend playing games, rather than their
content, could have an effect on their
behaviour or school performance and even
then only slightly. But it concluded that fears
that a generation of young people are
growing up with their development to be
exposed to violent video games are no more
likely to be borne out than previous moral
panics over television and other media.
Equally those who mainly played solitary
games generally performed better
academically and were less likely to display
aggression.
As psychologists believe that some video
games can be good for us. This has been
proven that some video games help children
and young adults do better a school tests, as
well as improve the memory. Psychologists
did a test on the public to see if video games
improved the memory, the end result came
out that younger people were more likely to
remember a pattern then before after doing
memory test video games. Psychologists also
did the same experiment on an older
generation as there memory isnt as well as
young adults, again the results showed that

The release of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the

crime that occurred at Washington Navy Yard
gunman Aaron Alexis was obsessed with Call
of Duty has led to yet another series of
media claims that video games cause
violence. However it is still not scientifically
proven that violent video games cause
violent behaviour but media reports are
using the hypodermic needle theory to link
violence with video games, by telling the
audience that videos games are bad, trying
to link murders with games such as GTA and
Call of Duty. But many scientists have done
tests to try and prove the theory that video
games cause violence such as Dr Mario
Vance, a psychological researcher. He
conducted a seven-year study that
monitored the anger levels of more than a
thousand volunteers from gaming
communities.
Dr Vance assessed daily reports from the
volunteers to see their aggression levels and
violent tendencies, and over 90% of
volunteers had an increase in anger and
violent whenever they viewed a news story
that associated video games and violent
behaviour. The remaining subjects were not
included as they were typically too busy
punching walls or screaming threats. From
this experiment it tells us that violent video
games provoke anger but not violence
towards others.

Overall the debate suggests that there is no

evidence of video game causing people to
become violent, as many theories have to
look at the persons mental state before
proving that it was in fact a violent video to
cause a person to commit a crime. However
it is proven in some cases that video games
increase aggression but do not make people
violet. It was shown that aggression levels

Grand Theft Auto V (five) (GTA) is an action

adventure video game released in 2013.
Grand Theft Auto are a franchise as they
have other games as well as this one. These
games include Grand Theft Auto San
Andreas, Vice City, Los Santo and Liberty
City. The game is based in California with a
story line following 3 main characters. The
open game allows the player to explore the
map and unlock new areas once completing
criminal missions. The first person game
allows players to experience the action first
hand as if it was them doing the crimes. The
game consists of criminal activities and
sexual content throughout which is one
reason why the game has age rating of 18
plus due to the content. Call of Duty is a
similar game to GTA with the age rating of 18
plus due to the violent content throughout.
Both games are big franchises Call of Duty
has multiple games such as Call of Duty
Ghosts, Black Ops, Modern Warfare, Zombies
and many more. The game allows the player
to explore around a location and shoot
people earning the player points.

GTA is one of the main video games that has

been known for violent crime. There is still a
big debate if video games are causing people
to act violently out of the game and copying
the game but in real life situation. This is
known as hypodermic needle where people
watch the media and believe that is the right
thing to do, as the media takes over a
pushes them to have that opinion. These
people who copy violent video games often
have health problems as most people know
from right and wrong. Hypodermic needle is
related to passive audiences, who are those
of a less mature mind who is easily
persuaded.
One of the biggest cases is when an 8 year
old killed his grandmother after mimicking
the game. But still many believe that video
games do not cause violence as it has yet
not been proven as violence has been around

The police further concluded that the game

directly contributed to the boys murderous
actions, saying investigators have learned
that the young boy was playing the video
game on the Play Station. The realistic game
that has been associated with encouraging
violence and awards points to players for
killing people, just minutes before the
homicide occurred. However I believe the
hypodermic needle is not relevant in all
situations, for insists the theory of
gratification can be used in this situation as
the young boy was probably playing GTA for
his own entertainment.

The young boy was looked at by doctors and

psychologists to see if the GTA was the
reason behind his violent act. These experts
all agree that there is a direct causal link
between video games and violence, and not
only that, now experts are saying that violent
video games may enable mass shooters to
do a better job in carrying out their killings by
teaching them to be better shooters. In
speaking about Washington Navy Yard
shooter Aaron Alexis, psychologist Brad
Bushman says it is possible that Alexis was
a more accurate shooter because of the time
he spent playing video games. I think that it
is right that there is direct link between GTA
and the violent act the young boy committed
as he is only 8 years old. I think this because
he is so young he is easily influenced
because at that age you are still learning
what is right and what is wrong. Also at the
age of 8 you still look up to your peers for
help to encourage you to go in the right
direction. The child shouldnt have been
playing the game, which is why games such
as GTA and Call of Duty have an age limit of
18 and above so young children do not copy
the content of the game.

Aaron Alexis who was a passive audience

member as he became delusional from
playing too much Call of Duty. Aaron Alexis
killed 12 people and fatally injured 3 in a
mass shooting at Washington Navy Yard. This
theory is called hypodermic needle. His case
is very similar to the young boy who shot his
grandmother. Both boys were easily
persuaded by video games and believed
what they were doing in the game was the
right thing to do in real life. Which makes
them a passive audience, I know that Aaron
Alexis was passive because he was addicted
to Call of Duty, however I dont know if the 8
year old was addicted but he is still a passive
audience member because he copied the
actions from GTA. This could mean that the
violent images of enemies being killed in a
horrific way was seen as normal due to both
boys. The boys may have seen their actions
as normal while they committed their crimes.

Additionally Aaron Alexis was diagnosed with

mental health problems before the shootings.
He was diagnosed with paranoia, insomnia
and schizophrenia. As he had started hearing
voices when he became addicted to Call of
Duty which links with gratifications theory as
he started playing Call of Duty for his own
entertainment which is how he got addicted
from enjoying the game so much, but this
links with the hypodermic theory that he
became a passive audience as he started to
enjoy kills. From his addiction he had become
desensitize and expects that all killings in
Call of Duty is the normal thing to do as he
was so used to killing numerous amounts of
people throughout the game. The reason
Aaron Alexis started hearing voices is linked
to his mental health problem of
schizophrenia as you hear voices telling you

Different video games have different

censorship. Violent video games have a
censorship of 18 and above, however gamers
under 18 are still playing these violent video
games. People believe contents in violent
video games should be monitored as children
as young as 8 are viewing the disturbing
graphics within the game. Some people may
also think parents should monitor and time
their children when they play these games
because the more they play these games the
more likely they are to repeat these actions
as they are only young. Some people believe
parents shouldnt buy their young children
these violent video games, as it was proven
by Oxford University that children playing
violent video games for more than 2 hours a
day can cause aggression levels to rise. As
children are still learning what is right and
wrong they must stick to the appropriate age
rated games as this could stop many children
causing trouble such as having behaviour
problems or even committing these crimes
such as the 8 year old shooting this
grandmother in the back of the head after
playing GTA. This shows that children are still
learning because the boy was easily
injected by the hypodermic needle that
shooting was ok to do as he does it
throughout the game. Which proves my point
that children must be monitored while
playing video games so they dont play 18
rated games.
Video games also have an age rating of 18
above because of the contents throughout
video games can have sexual content in as
well violence that children should not see,
because they are more likely to try and copy
this behaviour they see in games. In 2005
GTA was dropped from retailers due to
contents being too explicit as they had to
change the age rating to 18, this is due to
GTA having sexual mini games throughout
the actual game to score more points. This
gave people with authority a need to show
how inappropriate games such as GTA and
Call of Duty can be for younger viewers.
However recently a new legislation came out
to stop young children from copying the
content they see throughout the violent
video games the play. The legislation states
that no retailer can sell a game rated 18 to
anyone below the age otherwise they can get
fined up to 1000. Although parents still go
and by their children these games, some
parents may think that its their choice what
type of content they think there child, and