User:Joanne Chin Li Ling

Annotated Bibliography:Violent Video Games affect Children

Kinney, Debra. (1998) "The Effects of Violent Video Games on Children," retrieved July 28, 2005, from http://www.aug.edu/~lngtba/1101/PopMatters/dkinney.htm

Graphics that are available in video games allows children to have the sentiment of being part of the game. When children have this kind of sentiment, it allows them to take on violent and aggressive behavior into their lives easily. It is known that children learn and pick up new things very quickly. This is due to the fact that children learn by observing, imitating and interacting in the environment that surrounds them. For example, children before, had the tendency of imitating power rangers because they think that the power rangers are very powerful. Children dress up and had the intention to be like the rangers. In the movie, the purpose or the goal for the rangers is to fight against the enemies. Additionally, when children are allowed to observe and interact in the world of violent video games; they will try to imitate the video game displays (for example, the rangers). Moreover, the author gave an example of her son who played the “Army Men�? game. She stated that he became more aggressive towards the siblings. At times, the son would strike his sister by punching her with his fist. The author said that he has not done such a thing when he was seven or eight. In the article, the author also showed verification, by showing two children in the society who had been playing countless hours of a video game called “First Person Shooter�?. They were the children who were involved in the Columbine case. Furthermore, the author has her own point of view by stating that the violence cases are increasing among children in the society is mainly due to the violence of media or information that children are exposed to.

Joanne Chin Li Ling 21:21, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Kitchens, Professor. (2002) “Violent Influences of Video Games�? retrieved July 28, 2005, from http://personalwebs.oakland.edu/~hmarthau/project3.html

It is shown by the author, in this article, that the influence of the media is one of the key factors which exist in everyone’s life and it also plays a significant role in shaping behaviors of the society. It is commonly known that many parents today work and leave their children with childcares or activities which involve media. According to research, the article of Psychological Science showed that about 10% of children, who are between the ages of two to eighteen, play video games more than an hour a day. Surveys have been done as well, which showed that 59% of fourth grade girls and 73% of boys prefer violent games. In video games, there is fantasy which attracts players. Children who are still at a young age may not be capable in differentiating reality and fantasy. This could lead into big problems if the situation could not be controlled by responsible adults. Furthermore, it is believed that children believe things in what they can see. The video games play a big role in influencing children’s behavior if they are lack of stable or positive influences. Moreover, there are also other media sources which impart the same influence to children. This is due to the fact that violence has always been part of the society.

However, not everyone in the society thinks that violent video games will lead to violent behavior. For example, the president of the Interactive Digital Software Association does not agree that violent video games will bring out violent behavior. The president personally thinks that the issue has been carried excessively far, especially by politicians or individuals who do not really understand this industry. In addition, the president also stated that there is no evidence which shows that violent video game leads to aggressive behavior. Indeed, not every single individual will have violent behaviors after playing a violent video game. In the article, it also affirms that aggressive behaviors and violent media are based on General Aggression Model, which is also due to the day-to-day observations of people. If children play violent video games for hours continuously everyday, they will input the violent act of aggression in their memory. The author has made tests on whether violent video games will result aggression in individuals. The result of the test showed that violent video games increase aggression in males and females, children and adults.

According to research, it is also agreeable that video games could calm down an individual, especially college age individuals. The author has friends who play video games for hours. But, the aggressive behavior seems to increase in a small amount which is from the adrenalin rather than violence. Furthermore, in several violent video games, it teach players to steal cars off the street, throwing drivers right out of the car, the amount or varieties of weapons that are required to collect and also using fists to fight for weapons in the game. Additionally, it is commonly known in video games that people who are mad will fight back.

Moreover, the author in this article did a personal experiment on himself. He played a violent game for hours with his brother and roommate for three whole days. He tends to get frustrated whenever he did not aim his gun properly and could not aim at the target. His roommate also faced the same experience as he did. The roommate actually hit him when she lost the game, whereas the brother was much relax on killing numbers of people throughout the game and in the same time had an evil smile on his face.

Furthermore, the author showed his own point of view at the end of the article. He stated that individuals, especially children, who play violent video game for a long period of time, will tend to build aggressive behavior. This is the reason why the games are rated as mature. The author also pointed out on violent video games which would have great impact on young people who are still forming a line between right or wrong. This will allow children to continue to act violently if they could not differentiate what is right or wrong.

Joanne Chin Li Ling 16:28, 3 Aug 2005 (EST)

American Psychological Association. (2004) “Violent Video Games - Psychologists Help Protect Children from Harmful Effects�? retrieved July 31, 2005 from http://www.psychologymatters.org/videogames.html

According to the studies of psychologists, it is shown that violent games have stronger effects upon children’s aggression behavior. There are three reasons: (a) the games engage and interact actively (b) there are rewards in the games which shows violent behaviors (c) children play the game repetitively, especially when they lose the game. Furthermore, children frequently say that they favorite violent video games, compared to others. According to the content analyses, by the research organization Children Now 2001, majority of the video games contains violent actions. If children continuously play violent video games, there will be changes of attitudes or characters towards their love ones. For example, children will have less willingness in helping or caring their siblings.

However, psychologists found out that parents are much busy today whereby they spend less quality time with their children. As a result, if parents give limited types of games to their children to have fun with, the children would not build aggressive behaviors easily. On the other hand, research has caused the video game industry to improve the rating systems and also improve policies that regards in marketing mature video games to children. In addition, a number of states, countries and cities have considered in setting rules and regulations in order to prevent the sales of mature video games to children. This would be the similar rules of preventing the sale of cigarettes to children. Additionally, this will build or groom better children in the future.

Joanne Chin Li Ling 01:47, 4 Aug 2005 (EST)

Bruner, J., Coke, M, and Lloyd, B. (1994) Mind and Media: The Effects of Television, Video Games, and Computers, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-57621-7

The popularity of violent video games is due to the dynamic sound effects, visual graphics, and automatic scorekeeping which draw children’s attention. It excites them and it allows them to have the feeling that they are playing the game in real world. According to Daniel Anderson, he points out on video games which have violent content; TV programs have violent content; comic books consist of violent content; movies have violent content. Additionally, there has been long believed that violent media may input violent behavior. Furthermore, there is evidence which shows that violent video games breed violent behavior. Therefore, if children continuously play violent video games for hours, they are more likely to have a percentage of violent behavior. For example, when Space Invaders and Roadrunners were introduced to children, researchers found that these games raised the level of aggressive play in five years old children.

Violent video games could be the most harmful aspect in which it shows that they are solitary in nature. In this article, the author gave evidence. For example, a two person aggressive game seems to provide a releasing effect for aggression, while a solitary aggressive game may stimulate further aggression. Furthermore, children who have frustration at school work, they would probably play with the two person aggressive game. This may help the child to release stress or frustration in his or her busy school life.

Moreover, some children are actually alienated from arcade games because of the aggressive themes. It is true that violent video games are very popular today. But, there can be organizations which could create video games which do not have the violent theme. The Children’s Computer Workshop created educational software which includes action games format and non violent themes, such as Taxi. This is a game with goal in which the taxi needs to drive a passenger through a city as quick and as efficient as possible. Additionally, this game or some other games can be played cooperatively with another person. As this video game is presented, this type of video game would not bring violent behavior towards children.

Joanne Chin Li Ling 00:43, 5 Aug 2005 (EST)

Cesarone, Bernard. (1994) “Kids Sources: Video Games and Children,�? retrieved August 4, 2005, from http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content2/video.games.html

In the 1970s, different types of video games were introduced, especially to children. As days passed by in the years, children started to like to play video games as their free time activity. Adults were concern whether these video games have effect on children. During the early research, the effects were uncertain. In the late 1980s, Nintendo video game system was introduced as a new gadget to children for playing video games. However, the introduction of the new Nintendo system allowed a new research in examining the effects of video games.

Moreover, a number of researches advised that playing video games could affect children’s physical performance. For example, effect of triggering epileptic attacks which causes heart rate and blood pressures to increase. In contrast, there are also benefits of imaginative and social uses of video games, such as helping children in the area of physical therapy. In addition, it could also be a friendly tool for introducing computers to children. This will help children in the hand and eye skills and application to information.

In the years when video games were just being introduced, research and study have shown that it bring more positive effects to children rather than watching the television. In the 1983, Havard University failed to present any ill effects of children playing video games. In contrast, today’s research and studies have shown that children playing long hours of violent video games will build aggressive behavior. Evidence from research has proven the statement. For example, NCTV in the 1990s has done a research review. It showed that 9 out of 12 research studies consists the impact of violent video games on normal children as well as adolescents. The report clearly proved that violent video games provide harmful effects. In broad-spectrum, research suggests that there is a instant affiliation between playing violent games and increased aggressive performance in younger children.

Joanne Chin Li Ling 10:58, 5 Aug 2005 (EST)