The majority of the articles I've read have focused on the negative aspects of violent video games. They say that video games cause aggressive behavior (which, after a while, gets pretty repetitive and annoying). Other articles argue that it causes people to become desensitized to violence and they are less empathetic to their fellow humans. However there are some articles that point to a positive effect of playing violent video games; some video games improve a player's visuospatial cognition. I thought this was very interesting but there aren't a lot of articles on this subject. A meta-analysis made a point to say that most articles on the subject of violence in video games is biased.
Based on the information I have presently I would say that video games have both negative and positive effects on the people who play them. While they can lead to increased aggression and desensitization to violence the same video games can also help people raise a player's visuospacial cognition. However I still need to research further into the subject to make a more informed decision. I'm curious to know more about the positive effects of violent video games and I have yet to read the gender-specific studies I have compiled. Will there be a difference in how violent video games effect female gamers? I have also found a handful or articles about players in other countries (Germany for example) and am unsure whether or not to include these in my research essay. What should I do? Any ideas are welcome!
I think you should check out Gerard Jones' book "Killing Monsters" as a source for the report, as it not only talks about the history of violent media in general and why it can actually be a good thing, but also talks about the problems with a lot of those classical media violence studies you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you should talk a bit about the ways that videogames affect the way we perceive and react to violence, as I think that that is the more common problem, especially with the popularity of games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield which have fed on this climate of gung-ho nationalism that flourished after 9-11. Bob Chipman AKA the Game Overthinker has a lot to say about this in several episodes of his show.
So there's two sources for ya.
This is a really interesting topic. I think researching the positive effects of playing violent video games would be a good way to make some really powerful points. As for your uncertainty whether you should include gamers from other countries, I personally think it would attribute an entirely different dimension to your research topic. Perhaps you could even compare and contrast the effect of violence in video games on American gamers and gamers from foreign countries.
ReplyDeleteI think that the topic that you have chosen to do is really good because video games can have a great impact on people especially kids and teens. I think focusing on the positive and negative effects on any type of video games especially violent games is good because it is something that is enjoyed by a lot of people of all different age types. I think that it is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting topic. I like your research question and how gender plays a role in violent video games. In your essay, you should describe what visuospatial cognition is and write a little about it. I think it’ll be very interesting if you did include the culture of video games from another country. You can compare and contrast the United States and Germany fir instance. Overall, sounds like you have a great start on your final paper.
ReplyDeleteI think that it’d be good to include research from other countries and cultures because comparing and contrasting the effects of video games in different areas could help gain better insights about our own culture. You could also look at other aspects of gaming in order to fully study the effects on teens. Does the type of violent video game affect the effect it has on teens; for example, do multiplayer games affect teens differently than single player games?
ReplyDeletejust narrow down your research to effects of violent video games on american teens. gaming int he U.S is very popular and i think you will run across articles that have something to do with making a connection to a violent game and a school shooting. i have researched this topic many many times and a friend of mine happened to land an interview with a machinima respawn gamer (basically a pro gamer). in all of my research and findings i came to the conclusion that effects depend on the individual. overall i think you found a great essay to work on and it would be nice to see some positivity spread around about violent games.
ReplyDeleteRemembering what the teacher said in class try to focus on the effects of violent video games on one gender instead of both females and males. I like how you wanted to not just focus on the negative aspects of playing violent video games. I really don't see anything wrong with violent games because violence basically surrounds us in other forms as well. I think it It would be interesting to compare the foreign gamers to Americans. Do talk about what visuopatial cognition is because I had no clue to what it was till I looked it up. You seem to be steering at the right direction for writing the research paper.
ReplyDeleteI read a paper recently in my sociology class regarding this topic. I wish I could remember what it was called... but it seemed to make it pretty clear that most people claim videogames cause violence in children, but I don't think there's any real concrete evidence. Correlation, not causation, or something of that sort. I can't remember exactly. But I do remember the paper mentioning that people find scapegoats to place the blame on things when they can't think of anything better or they don't want to admit the truth. The paper also mentioned that the game called Doom was pretty much the start of the whole "do violent videogames create killers" debate. I think there was also a big spike in school shootings at the time? But I'm not sure. Maybe those could be some things you can look into though.
ReplyDeleteI like that you don't have just one point of view on the subject. I agree with you, video games can be violent, but they are not always bad. Sure some people may become aggressive while playing video games, or even after playing them 20 hours straight. But not all kids go out and shoot people because they play a video game where they are killing their opponents. I see a lot of articles saying violent video games cause bad effects on those who play. But that may not be true. There could be other factors to it, such as they were mentally ill to begin with (if they have something psychologically wrong with them), they play them for hours on end almost if not everyday, and other factors. Your topic is good, but a little broad. You may want to pick a gender like Alle ali was saying. Or maybe talk about both genders, but same ages roughly and compare. Overall good choice, I think it will be interesting to learn more about it.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jocelyn! Your topic is really very interesting and it related to development of popular culture. Video games are interesting forms for entertainment; that is why teenagers like to play these games. I think that violence in video could impact mentality of teenager. Sometimes young people don't see the difference: where is a life and where is a game. They can imagine that the heroes in games are good and brave and they could think that the violence is the heroism. So they could remember it like a positive, not negative. But the teenagers must recognize that violence is very negative and it is not appropriate for modern society. How it is going to be better? I think that it shouldn't be games with violence or somebody should help the victim and punish violators.
ReplyDeleteTatiana