Media & Video Game Violence

When video games first evolved, they were innocuous games such as Pong, a video version of ping-pong, but over the years, the technology has evolved to where today children, and adults, can battle realistic people and creatures, spill realistic blood and gore, mutilate their enemies, and become trained killers in the process (Vessey and Lee 607). President Clinton stated that: over 300 studies report that the boundary between

fantasy and reality violence, which is a clear line for

most adults, can become very blurred for vulnerable children. Kids steeped in the culture of violence do become sensitized to it and are more capable of

committing it themselves (Vessey and Lee 607).

The U.S. Juvenile Justice Act of 1999 was a policy statement issued by the Senate Commission on the Judiciary that encouraged responsible corporate behavior and parental empowerment, although not going as far as compulsory industry regulation.

Video game violence takes many forms, from slapstick to highly realistic violence, in is portrayed in fantasy, action, and sports games (Vessey and Lee 607). Real life consequences are rarely incorporated into the games. Females are often portrayed as passive and in need of rescuing, and over 20 percent of games portray violence against women. Defenders of the games suggest that playing violent video games gives youths an outlet for pent-up feelings, and others say they are prosocial because they see violence as an acceptable way for good to tri

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games (Van Horn 174). These are the children who are heavy game users, or young children who are more impressionable. Children with low self-concepts or low mental age are also at risk for these effects. Van Horn believes the problem is more with the parents who don't police the type of games their children play, or how long they play them, than the games themselves. In his testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation in May of 1999, Professor L. Rowell Huesmann drew a parallel between media violence and a disease such as lung cancer from cigarette smoking (Huesmann). He said the statistical evidence for a correlation between cigarettes and lung cancer was about the same as that between media violence and violent behavior: about 0.3 between use of the product and the affliction. In both cases the Surgeon General long ago concluded the substances were harmful and issued warnings. He said it is now time for parents and the government to exert more control, and train children not to be affected by the violence. Others, like Howard Fienberg, a research analyst with the Statistical Assessment Service, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank in Washington, D.C., states that countless studies con

Category: Psychology - M