Video games are becoming such a huge part of children’s lives, at an even younger age as years go by. And with new technology comes new concepts within the games, including new and more violence. Obviously, if the children are younger, they can become influenced very easily by violence that they see in front of them on a daily basis. But I don’t personally believe that the violence in video games is causing children to become more violent. Children might think that the violence they see is normal and okay, but I don’t believe they are acting on it. For a child to want to sword fight because they’ve seen it, or even pretend to shoot guns, is completely normal, and I believe the only amount of violence acted upon. Children aren’t beating their friends or even trying to kill them. I don’t think violence should be banned within video games, but maybe not include the excessive amount in every game. I do think the people planning on banning these types of video games and scenarios have their mind in the right place, I just do not see a need to rid of them completely.
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Before reading your post, I did not think about the idea that violent games could be especially influential on very young children’s minds. At a young age, people are more easily influenced by their environment and what activities they participate in. You were correct in saying violent video games do not cause children to become more violent. As we learned in class, there does not appear to be any correlation between the amount of time children spend playing violent video games, and how violent they are later in life. Like you mentioned, I also believe it is true children are not imitating the exact behaviors they see in video games, although it may translate to their play in some ways. Whether they play violent video games probably will not affect whether they will act in some violent ways when playing as that is just how a lot of children naturally play. Although this is true, Bobo, used in a study by Albert Bandura showed otherwise. When children saw adults acting violently towards Bobo, they in turn did the same. This is a scary concept as the violence in the videos of the adults interacting with Bobo the children saw was nothing close to the violence included in some of today’s video games. Even after taking this into consideration, like you, I also do not believe violent video games need to be banned completely.
Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2016). Exploring Psychology (10th ed.). NY, NY: Worth.
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Hi Allison! For your first impression response on learning, I think you shared some solid thoughts on the influence of violent video games on children. You pointed out that these games are incorporating more and more violence, crimes, and weapons, and with children as their audience, they could very quickly absorb the violence they are seeing. I agree with you that playful toy sword fighting and wrestling are not overly-aggressive interactions that I would blame violent video games for. Of course, there are other things to look at as well. For example, does a child who plays violent video games excessively engage in many more fights than a non-gaming child? There are many ways to evaluate the relationship, and as we’ve learned in class, it may depend on how you operationalize violence.
I like that you pointed out the counterarguments; though you don’t believe videogames are at the root of violent behavior, the creators could aim to use less violence then they feature. I think that is a smart acknowledgement. Even if violent videogames are not a direct cause of violent behavior, cutting down on the gore and crime could at least help to preserve the innocence of the young children who partake in gaming.
Overall, job well done!
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