303485 2 1. Carll, Elizabeth K. Violent Video Games and Aggressive Behavior in Children Are Linked. Opposing Viewpoints: Violence.

Ed. Louise Gerdes. Greenhaven Press, 2008. 115-120. Print. Experts say, electronic media plays an important role in the emotional development, social behavior and intellectual functioning of children and youth. (Carll) Four basic things violent video games do are: encourage active participation, a lot of repetition, rewards, and identification. (Carll) Exposure results in increased aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal and decreased helpful behavior. (Carll) Industries make it so that the blame falls on the parents for a lack of an informed decision. (Carll) Actions like funding for research of this topic could help lessen violence exposed to youth. (Carll) The teachings of media literacy can also influence the decrease of video game violence. (Carll) Encouragement of industries to show that violent natures come with consequences can help fix this dilemma. (Carll) 2. Cooper, Roanna and Marc Zimmerman. Do video games influence violent behavior? Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center. 24 August 2011. Web. 28 September 2011. Recently the Supreme Court has decided to strictly enforce Californias law about the sale and rental of violent video games to individuals under the age of 18. (Cooper) Experts agree on three main points: 1) people who play violent video games would often choose to punish their opponents with significantly more gruesome tactics than those who

303485 2 played nonviolent video games; 2) Constant exposure to violent media results with higher levels of aggression; 3) Interactive media violence is more significant to ones behavior than non-interactive violent media. (Cooper) Proponents agree that, children who played more violent video games early in a school year changed to see the world in a more aggressive way and also changed to become more verbally and physically aggressive later in the school year. (Cooper) Violent media can indirectly affect violent behavior in individuals by increasing risk factors for it. (Cooper) Rowell Huesmann writes that, violent video game playing may be similar to other public health threats such as exposure to cigarette smoke and led based paint. (Cooper) Proponents towards this topic argue that violent videogames are just like smoking and leadbased paint, we have laws limiting the usage and sale of these products but we do not have those same laws for videogames. (Cooper) 3. Counterpoint: Video Games are Addictive and Promote Irresponsible Behavior. 2011. Point of View Reference Center. Web. 28 September 2011. Violent video games are very addictive and are the cause of many negative habits in todays youth society including aggression, antisocial behavior, lack of physical health and stereotypes. (Finley and Lee) There is an account of a couple in Korea who left their four-month-old daughter to play video games, coming back to find their baby dead, an act of child-neglect. (Finley and Lee) Video games also affect jobs, relationships, personal health and responsibilities of those addicted to them. (Finley and Lee) Companies disregard the negative factors of video games in order to make huge profits of

303485 2 approximately $6 billion a year. (Finley and Lee) Experts say that there is a part of the brain dubbed the reward center which reacts to feelings of pleasure be it from competition, the gain of money, drugs and also video games. (Finley and Lee) Newer gaming consoles like the Nintendo Wii create a more intense simulation with violence by requiring the player to mimic the actions of the character be it a positive action or negative action. (Finley and Lee) One expert says, video games serve as teachers and are extremely effective at programming peoples ideas and behavior. (Finley and Lee) Researchers state that, the vast majority of video games on the market, nearly 90 percent by some estimates contain violent scenes. (Finley and Lee) Many retailers do not have a policy of checking ID, which contradicts the point of having a national rating-system, and sell these games to minors. (Finley and Lee) Game makers target young children as potential buyers of these violent video games, encouraging the false idea of happy violence. (Finley and Lee) Video games encourage sexist ideals, the male character, who is usually very aggressive and the female who is often conducting in sexual activities. (Finley and Lee) Stereotypical roles are often portrayed in video games, for example, Asian characters are often involved with the mafia/martial arts and Africans are shown in gangs and violence. (Finley and Lee) 4. Firefight: should teens play violent video games? 5 September 2011. General OneFile. Web. 28 September 2011. Common first person shooter games like Call of Duty and Halo encourage violence

303485 2 through the system that the more opponents they kill, the more points they obtain. (Firefight) Many experts agree, that young people shouldnt be allowed to play them without parental consent. (Firefight) Professors of Iowa State University agree that there is, consistent evidence that violent games increase desensitization, aggressive thoughts, feelings, physiology and behaviors and decrease helpful behaviors. (qtd. in Firefight) Many agree that obsessive playing of a violent game reinforces certain ways of thinking and behavior. (Firefight) Proponents say that most video games do not send a positive message to adolescents. (Firefight) 5. Harding, Anne. Violent video games linked to child aggression. CNN.com. Cable News Network, 3 November 2008. Web. 26 September 2011. One expert says, about 90 percent of U.S. kids ages 8 to 16 play video games, and they spend about 13 hours a week doing so (more if youre a boy). (Harding) There is research to back up the hypothesis that children who play violent video games more often than their peers exhibit more aggression. (Harding) According to Dr. L. Rowell Huesmann, one of two ways that violent media can cause violent actions is imitation. (Harding) Children are able to comprehend that the world is a hostile place and that violence is an adequate way to deal with it from media violence. (Harding) This dilemma has worsened to the point that, playing games rated M for mature has become normative behavior for adolescents, especially boys. (Harding)

303485 2 6. Winter, Timothy F. The Government Should Stop Kids From Buying Violent Video Games. USnews.com. United State News, 10 May 2010. Web. 26 September 2011. Industries present arguments that video games are not the cause of violence without logical or moral support. (Winter) This problem is born from ignorance, many elders relating the gory violence of these video games to the comical violence of Tom & Jerry and Road Runner cartoons. (Winter) Courts are in support of the industries stating that it is speech, which is constitutionally protected. (Winter) According to Winter, there is a great amount of scientific research to back this theory up. (Winter) Video games present a unique problem as in it gives the play a choice to engage in violent activities, allowing for a better score in the game. (Winter)