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Research PaperSkye TimminsMarch 13, 2018Violence in Video Games??? People have been playing video games ever since the beginning of the 1970’s, and they have definitely made their mark on our society, culture, children’s development, addiction, and more. Over the years, thousands of different types of video games have been made with different characters, stories and missions. Video games have brought many controversial conversations to the table, but one of the most talked about is the extreme violence shown in many of the popular video games in our world today. The conversation of violence in video games affects the brain in many ways including brain development, mental illness, stimuli addiction, and learning. There are studies, experiments, and many opinions that contribute positives and negatives to all facets of each topic. One of the weighty topics debated in the conversation about violence in video games is how it affects the brain development of children. Many of the people participating in this conversation are parents, older siblings, psychologists, doctors, and other experts. One of the significant psychological affects violent video games have on a child’s mind is something called desensitization. Desensitization is brought up in Russell A. Sabella’s “Negative Potential of Video Games” study. She explains how desensitization is a treatment which therapists use to help clients deal with extreme fears, help med students calm down during surgeries, and is also used during battlefield training to help train soldiers for traumatic events. Desensitization is a useful and verified technique to help adults who need to act and keep calm in violent or emotionally turbulent situations; however, violent video games are creating the same desensitization effect on children’s brains. In Sabella’s article she also says, “A child who may be at some level desensitized to violence, they may not have strong negative reactions to violence in the real world which may lower their motivation to help or intervene during a violent incident. Lowered sensitivity to violence may also lower the inhibition for being violent as well.” In Jeanne H. Brockmyer’s “Violent Video Games and Desensitization”, she posits violent video games may desensitize children to traumatic events such as mass shootings, and she argues that experiencing virtual war at such a young age could potentially cause children to look at violence as a solution. She also deliberates whether this virtual violence may lower empathy in critical situations. Experts like Sabella, Brockmyer, and every day parents worry for children and about the effects of the violent video games their children are playing, and worry how the games may affect the children’s development and psychological well-being. While there are many elements in video games which seem troubling for children, there are also arguments claiming video games can have beneficial qualities for child development. In Lisa Weber’s “Positive Effects of Video Games on Children” she points out five different positive effects of video games; two of these arguments relate directly to the main topic of this paper. The first is critical thinking. She hypothesizes that in video games children are given problems they are supposed to solve, which develops problem solving and effective thinking in critical situations. Even though she doesn’t point out which kind of video games specifically apply, her argument can be related to violent video games because of the stressful and critical situations the children’s characters are placed in and the problems they are made to solve before the avatar is shot or killed. The second applicable argument she makes is video games are an emotional outlet. She points out that video games give children an outlet for feelings they keep inside all day. She specifically brings up violence in video games and argues a game “gives introverted kids a chance to exert a dominant behavior or ‘try on’ a personality they do not use in their everyday lives. Additionally, both violent and non-violent games can have a relaxing, almost meditating effect on children.” She argues violent video games may have a positive effect on our children and comes to the conclusion that parents and others in authority should not take these games from children, that we should let them explore as it helps them “understand the difference between reality and fantasy”. More beneficial qualities of violent and non-violent video games are pointed out in “The Benefits of Playing Video Games” by Isabela Granic. In this article, Granic deliberates studies and expert opinions and states that “Playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children’s learning, health and social skills.” She talks about how the violence in video games can peak cognitive skills, problem-solving skills, and potentially social skills. Granic, who is a PhD from Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, specifically focuses on shooting video games and states, “A 2013 meta-analysis found that playing shooter video games improved a player’s capacity to think about objects in three dimensions, just as well as academic courses to enhance these same skills, according to the study.” Here she points out that violent video games have the potential to enhance teaching and the schooling system because they stimulate the brain.Beyond child development and the effect on the growing mind, one other controversial conversation on violence in video games covers the ‘stimuli addiction’ resulting from video games. The science and the psychology behind this topic brings multiple strong arguments to all facets of the debate. The experience of playing a video game creates something called ‘stimuli addiction’. This idea explores the science behind the mind and the “happy drugs” it makes, dopamine and glutamate. When these two mood regulating chemicals are released in the brain it causes a rewarding or happy feeling. Practically, the chemical tells us that what we did was good, and we should do it again. Dopamine can be released at any time, no matter how dangerous or scary the situation or action may be. For example, when you eat your new favorite ice cream and it is something you have never tasted before, it makes you feel happy and excited. It entertains your mind and sets off dopamine and glutamate to show that what you’re doing is something you enjoy, no matter what the consequences will be down the road. This extreme stimulus is a huge component in addictions, and helps explain why people can’t stop certain behaviors. The mind has a similar reaction when playing video games. Experts also compare drugs to video games in Kristi A. DeName’s “Video Games: Are They Really a Source of Addiction?” which states “…the user escapes reality by immersing herself in the virtual world, similar to how a drug addict will use heroin to escape from an emotionally painful situation”. Here DeName explains how when a player uses a new game they like and they experience a win, the mind lets off huge amounts of dopamine and glutamate to give the feeling of conquer and reward, similar to when a user would use heroin for the first time. Another study by expert Ted Thornhill goes in depth as to how he believes that first-hand violent games can be more addicting than other games. In his study, he discusses researchers’ and experts’ findings specifically related to “Call of Duty” and “Battlefield”, and their effect on how these specific video games make the player feel. In this article, they talk about how these and other violent games give the player the power to “play God”. The power to cause harm, control and kill gives the player a new feeling of dictatorship and they become power hungry, leading to the release of extreme dopamine and adrenaline and in the end, potentially addiction. Also in Ted Thornhill’s “Why First Person Violent-Games are so Addictive?” Thornhill quotes, “When designers of video games get the formula right, when the games they make challenge players’ decision-making powers sufficiently and give them a crucial sense of control, a Nirvana-like state Csikszentmihalyi describes as a ‘flow’ is achieved”. In this quote, Thornhill gives an insight of how the player feels when they get the feeling of being God in their own virtual world. He believes that video games give our body the adrenaline and adventure that the original ancestors had in their everyday lives, which modern office life will never satisfy in us, and that is why many revert to violent video games. Although actual studies on this topic are scarce, Dr. Andrew Campbell who has run the Brain and Mind Research Institute Clinical Centre at the University of Sydney since the early 1980’s, has also specialized his studies in video game addiction. In “Game Addiction: The real story, by Laura Parker”, the author talks about Campbell studying how this addiction happens, how the gamer’s brain is affected, and recites personal experiences by self-confessed addicts. Campbell explains that video gamers usually have low self-esteem and when violent and non-violent video games give them the power to win or to level-up it boosts their ego and sets off dopamine in their brains, which acts like a drug. Campbell quotes, “In the case of video games, players do not feel as much of a ‘body’ response to winning, but more of a mental sense of satisfaction that impacts their ego and sense of self. They want to continue feeling this, and so return to the source--the game itself.” Just like the experts discussed previously, he cites video games as the source of the feeling the gamer wants to keep having, just like a drug. While some participants in this topic believe that video game stimuli addiction is a credible illness, other participants think otherwise. There is a different side shown in Lindsay Dodgson’s “Being Hooked on Video Games isn't Necessarily an Addiction — Here's Why”. In her article she claims that specific studies show being addicted to video games might be impossible, and commonly mistaken for a mental illness that needs to be diagnosed via the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders/ DSM”. Although this argument isn’t as commonly used, she takes advantage of a study from Cardiff University to back her argument on the topic and simplifies results, “The researchers asked 2,316 people over 18 years old who regularly play games online to fill out a questionnaire about their health and lifestyle. Only nine of the participants fit the criteria for an internet gaming disorder. When they were questioned again six months later, none of them met the requirements for the diagnosis”. This study shows a small relation between gamers and an actual addiction. This study proves that it can be extremely difficult or rare to actually be addicted to a video game, and more likely the behavior relates to a mental illness or short-term obsession that will cause little to no harm. Other participants on this topic also believe that video game addiction is an uneducated diagnosis, when the behavior could be diagnosed as a minor mental disorder, habit or obsession, nothing believed to be harmful. In The New York Times News a small article titled “Video Games Aren’t Addictive” uses the American Psychiatric Association to disprove the video game addiction theory. Here the authors, Christopher J. Ferguson and Patrick Markey, argue that while the other side is saying video games make the brain release the same amount of dopamine as a drug, the reality is that video games only make it release the same amount as, for example, eating a slice of pizza. Ferguson and Markey use statistics from the APA to show how rare and illegitimate a video game addiction is, stating “Using the American Psychiatric Association’s own metrics for ascertaining psychiatric disorder, the study’s researchers found that at most 1 percent of video game players might exhibit characteristics of an addiction and that the games were significantly less addictive than, say, gambling.” They mention it is possible for a habit to start with video games, almost like a safe place, but their main focus is proving that being addicted to video games is not a credible diagnosis. Violence found in video games has many controversial arguments, but the topics that were possibly the most controversial were effects of violent video games on child development and stimuli addiction. Violent video games can cause desensitization, anger issues and breakouts, stimuli addiction or obsession, and other negative effects. However, arguably video games can also provide children with critical thinking skills, motor skills, an emotional outlet, and escapism. Video games can also bring a new and more insight into brain activity and psychology. In conclusion, the conversation on the violence in video games has many valid arguments on both sides, and no opinion or point should remain unnoticed. Works CitedGranic I, Lobel A, Engels R (2013) Video Games Play May Provide Learning, Health, Social Benefits, Review Finds. In: American Psychological Association. . Accessed 20 Mar 2018Sabella, Russell A. “Negative Potential of Video Games.” , , 29 Apr. 2010, reference/article/negative-potential-video-games/.Weber, Lisa. “Positive Effects of Video Games on Children.” How to Adult, Leaf Group Ltd, positive-effects-video-games-children-16317.html. DeName, Kristi A. “Video Games: Are They Really a Source of Addiction?” World of Psychology, Psych Central, 6 Aug. 2015, blog/video-games-are-they-really-a-source-of-addiction“Apecsecadmin.” Apecsecorg, Asia-Pacific Economic Blog, 7 May 2015, pros-and-cons-of-violent-video-games/ Thornhill, Ted. “Why first-Person violent video games are so addictive: Psychologists reveal Shoot-Em-Ups make us feel like we're 'playing God'.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 28 Nov. 2013, dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2515101/Why-person-violent-video-games-addictive-Psychologists-reveal-shoot-em-ups-make-feel-like-playing-God.html.Dodgson, Lindsay. “Being hooked on video games isn't necessarily an addiction - here's why.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 2 Nov. 2017, being-hooked-on-video-games-isnt-necessarily-an-addiction-this-study-explains-why-2017-10?r=UK&IR-T.Brockmyer, Jeanne H. “Violent Video Games and Desensitization.” , , 17 May 2010, reference/article/violent-video-games-desensitization/.Parker L (2009) Game Addiction: The Real Story. In: GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. . Accessed 20 Mar 2018Ferguson CJ, Markey P (2018) Opinion | Video Games Aren't Addictive. In: The New York Times. . Accessed 20 Mar 2018 ................
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