Violence in Video Games Essay

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The 20th Century has seen the advancement in technology which has come along with both negative and positive effects. Heated debates of whether video games have positive or harmful effects to those who play it more so young children and male adults have ensued. These debates have not been conclusive of whether video games have negative or positive effects on the gamers. Video games played from Playstation 3's, Xbox 360, laptops, and computers have made access to video games possible to the lovers of the game. Critiques, however, hold divergent views over the subject with those arguing against it presenting strong arguments on the harmful effects video games carries along with it. Institutions like the government, for example, consider video games as harmful to its populace because it kills the nurturing of noble careers such as engineering, doctors and scientists who opt to play video games at the expense of their careers. It also sees a looming problem of having an obese nation resulting from physical inactivity by the players.Nations all over the world are crying over its populace, which it sees, sinking into an abyss of low moral standards and unbecoming behaviors caused by excessive playing of video games. Children, on the other hand, have not been spared the axe by video game critiques. They argue that video games are not suitable for children in that they nurture impoliteness and make them behave weirdly at school or home. Violent nature and increased aggression among male adults have also been blamed on video games. Video games have been condemned from all angles and its contents believed to have harmful effects to children and adults alike. However, it should be noted that the same violent video games carry positive effects on the gamers. This is just an overview of what this research paper is going to address. It will narrow down to the effects of violent video games on children and adults, some of the positive effects of violent video games, and finally recommendations on the subject.Effects of violent video games on ChildrenOver the past years, the society at large especially parents and children welfare organizations have asserted that violent video games are unsuitable for children. The same groups have equally put up spirited fights to curb access to violent video games by children. Calvert, Sandra & Tan, Siu-Lan, argue that the contents of video games have harmful effects, which it passes, over to players (p, 126). Violence the video games contain, for instance, is detrimental to children. Critiques believe that it instills negative thoughts, aggressive thoughts and behaviors, and isolation among children. The interactive nature of the game also heightens further these effects on children. In some of these games, instead of punishments, characters get rewards for the ills they perform. For example, a character who kill, stab, shoot is regarded as a hero rather than facing condemnation. "Mortal kombat", one of video games versions is a perfect example of a game where violence is at its peak. In Mortal Kombat, the plot contains blood gushing scenes where the characters use weapons such as blades, edged fans, bladed hats, and swords to strike each other. Similarly, spine breaking and explosion of torso, soul stealing, and cannibalism among other ugly acts characterize Kombat II. The use of characters like Kano, Kung Lao, Scorpion, add to the authenticity of these games and children think that trying out one of the actions their celebrated characters acted has no harm. More often than not, these characters seem temporarily disabled or unaffected at all by the violence. Such scenarios receive different interpretations from children. They get the impression that since what the characters in the game do not actually injure or seriously injure their opponents; they would also try the same with their colleagues in real life and not hurt anyone seriously. This arises due to the failure of these video games to convey
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