VIDEO GAMES ARE KILLING US

STUDIES HAVE BEEN CONDUCTED TO SEE HOW MUCH OF

AN EFFECT VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES HAVE ON YOUNG
TEENAGERS AND THEIR VIOLENCE

Violent games have become more and more

popular within the last 10 years, especially
with the younger teenagers. Two of the
most popular 18 rated games are Call of
Duty and Grand Theft Auto. These games
however popular they are, can be classed as
one of the most controversial video games
in the recent market. Grand Theft Auto has
pushed the limits of acceptance with all their
games, having huge amount of blood,
violence, sex, language. Grand Theft Auto
has been one of the biggest causes for
media panic in the gaming industry.
Studies are constantly being completed to
find data on whether playing violent video
games make people angrier. Craig
Anderson is a physiologist at Lowa State

University who had spent much of his life on

how crimes committed by teenagers and
violence in video games can relate.
Throughout the studies he conducted he
found out that teenagers do become more
aggressive and agitated when they play
violent video games. However, you still cant
relate this study to crimes committed. Chris
Ferguson is a psychology professor at
Stetson University and is completely against
the whole idea that games make children
more physically violent. Firstly, because
youth violence is at its lowest for 40 years
according to government Statistics.
Ferguson also stated that all the research
conducted linked to increased aggression
was problematic. Many of the studies used
outcome measures that had nothing to do

with real-life aggression and failed to

control carefully for other important
variables, such as family violence, mental
health issues or gender.
Grand Theft Auto can supposedly lead to
violent crimes in the real world. A 14-yearold boy who ended up killing his father and
brother. The media say that he was
following in the lines of one of the main
characters in the Grand Theft Auto game,
Trevor. The 14-year-old boy shot his father
3 times, twice in the face and one shot in the
brain. He then moved onto his brother who
was hiding under the bed. He shot him 4
times with a shotgun and after finding him
to still be alive he picked up a large knife and
stabbed him multiple times before finishing
him off with a machete. We can see instantly
from this that the 14-year-old was a passive
player when it came to the game. The 14year-old, Samuel stated that he enjoyed
playing as Trevor in the game. Trevor was
one of the extreme characters in the game,
he was very quick to get angry and he was
extremely violent with everything he does.
This supposedly inspired Samuel to do what
he did in the way he did. This would mean
that a lot of the times he played he would be
passively playing. This meaning that he was
accepting of everything that was done in the
game, he wouldnt care that people are
dying left, right and centre, he wouldnt
question any of the morals that are being
broken in the game. This also a key case of
the Hypodermic Needle. This is where a
certain piece of media would inject
subliminal messages into the audience,
injecting the ideas into peoples minds. With
Samuel here you can say that he was being
injected with the idea that being violent gets

problems solved, and because it was Trevor

he was playing as, Samuel could have been
manipulated into having these violent
outbursts when something very small
wouldnt go his way.
It is very easy to blame Grand Theft Auto for
what Samuel did. He got these sudden
angry tendencies, he enjoyed playing as one
of the most violent characters in gaming and
he played the game more and more each
day. It is easy to see why Grand Theft Auto
could have been the cause of the deaths.
However, you cannot blame the whole
situation on Grand Theft Auto, firstly
Samuel should not have been able to play
the game seeing as its rated 18 and at 14
youre very impressionable about what you
see each day. In addition, there are millions
of people who play the game each day, and
I am sure there is thousands of people who
enjoy playing as Trevor. None of those
people have done a crime to the extent of
what Samuel did. So you would have to
think that Samuel might have had a mental
disability because of how immersed he got
into the game. You could definitely say that
Grand Theft Auto was what helped Samuel
to do the crime, but you cannot blame the
whole incident on the game. These boys
that commit the crimes may have been born
with issues but because of this exposure to
the heavily violent games made them to go
and kill.
Call of Duty, just like Grand Theft Auto is an
18 rated game that focuses heavily on blood
and violence. Call of duty has caused media
panic in multiple different situations. The
story focuses on the Suicides of teenage
boys and whether you can blame the deaths
on call of Duty. John Pollard Looked into

recent suicides of boys who played a lot of

call of duty. William Menzies, 16, suffocated
himself in his bedroom. Callum Green, 14,
hanged himself after playing the game.
Both of these boys were considered normal
with no disabilities or mental problems.
Callum Green didnt drink or smoke, he was
a straight-A student, and hadnt shown any
previous signs of self-harm before playing
the game. Call of Duty is known for its
realism and competitive aspects. It can get
very addictive, very quickly, making people
get more and more immersed into the game.
These games can be related to the reception
theory. This is where audiences would have
different views on a certain piece of media
because of their lifestyle. The age, gender,
ethnic group, class are all aspects that can
change the way someone would look at a
text. These boys could have related to the
game in different ways and get affected in
such a way that they couldnt take it
anymore. The boys could have interpreted
the preferred meaning in such a way that
they accepted everything that happened
and started relating to what happened in the
game.
Violent games have been related to many
horrific crimes in the news, but I think that
everyone just jumps to conclusions.
Whenever theres a crime with teenagers,
video games are looked at instantly,
however that cant be the only option for
someone to do what they did. Millions of
people play violent, bloody, 18 rated games
every day and just because a few people
have done crimes based of video games,
that doesnt its the only option. This is what
media and news have called moral panic. So
theres a panic within young people and

making the parents scared of the games,

because they think that it would lead there
young impressionable children to do crimes.
This is still just a theory and so it hasnt been
proven that playing violent games links to
crimes committed by teenagers 9 times out
of 10 there are going to people other
reasons behind the crime, but because the
media wants to create a panic to the
audience, they choose a very simple answer,
making parents scared of their children
playing violent video games. Do I think that
violent video games are the cause of certain
crimes, no, however that doesnt mean I
dont think the games had an influence on
the person.
18 rated games aim to have graphic,
detailed, effective violence. This is what
audiences want from an 18 rated game, they
want to have a realistic experience where
the games played seem like real events. The
audience want an action packed game, with
an effective script to make the game as
enjoyable as possible. Audiences would
interpret games in 1 of two ways. Actively or
passively. An active consumer of media
would be where whatever they see they
would question. They would want to know
why something happened or why
someones opinion is that. A passive
consumer is someone who would accept
everything that gets given to them.
Whatever they see and hear, they would
accept and be manipulated into believing
certain theories. This works into the uses
and gratifications theory. This is where
audiences would consume media for a
certain purpose. This could be to entertain,
to train or to educate. Active audiences,
would purposely consume a certain media

because it benefits the in a certain area or

they enjoy that form of media. Audiences
could consume the media subconsciously
because it had been drilled into their head so
they keep on consuming the media without
questioning anything they see, hear or read.
Censorship is one of the problems that could
cause these children to commit crimes.
Most violent games would be classified as 18
or 15 rated but everyday youll see parents
buy their 12-year-old Grand Theft Auto. It is
extremely easy for underage children to get
hands on a violent game. The hardest aspect
to consider is that you cant do much about
this problem. A lot of the problem revolves
around the parents, they should be the ones
who get games for the children and make

sure that they dont play games that are too

old for them. Parents need to become more
aware of how dangerous it can be for
children to play violent games.
http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/07/videogames-dont-make-kids-violent/

GTA use of sex and violence

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gta-5-14-yearold-boy-kills-father-brother-inspired-byviolent-character-trevor-1442418
Call of Duty linked to 4 deaths
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2640431/Coroner-probes-Call-Duty-videogame-four-teenagers-regularly-playedwent-kill-themselves.html