Video games and their cultural impact

Violence in Video Games

The cultivation of violence in video games: causal or correlational?

Studies on media effects have always included the influential role that television and new media technologies such as the computer and Internet (ICTs). With the proliferation of both mass media, there is greater penetration of its content to children and the adolescent youth, who are frequent TV watchers and ICT users. Among the concerns of parents and scholars about the proliferation of this mass media is its unintended effects -- the cultivation of violence and development of violent behavior of the child through TV and ICT content. Focus is especially given to the youth who actively engage in video gaming, either through the TV, computer, or Internet. Parents and mass media research claim that video games harness an individual's violent behavior, resulting to aggressiveness and development of hostile attitude towards other people.

In this paper, the researcher intends to establish whether the claim that video games cause aggressive and violent behavior is indeed an empirical truth. The researcher has drawn from relevant literature contending that video games were causal factors resulting to violent behavior. However, a major finding from the research indicates that though there have been numerous studies linking video gaming significantly to the development of violent behavior, it was unfounded when researchers tried to determine whether this relationship was causal or not.

Based on the body of literature collated, the researcher then posits that the video gaming-violent behavior relationship is indeed significant, yet, it is vital to note that they remain correlated or related to each rather than causal. This means that while violent behavior develops with video gaming, this only happens among individuals who already have aggressive behavior and inclination towards violence. This assertion is discussed with reference to the literature found on this issue.

Wagner's (2004) article on the purported violent behavior generated from video gaming illustrates children as undergoing changes in behavior towards interacting with other people. According to the author, "[a]mong the effects of violent game playing are increases in physiological arousal and physically aggressive behavior, such as hitting, kicking, and pulling clothes or hair. Studies have also shown reduction in helpful behavior among youths exposed to violent games." These claims of video gaming effects demonstrate the urgency of putting a stop to exposure to video gaming particularly to children, who are most vulnerable with the agenda-setting effects of video games.

These claims about video gaming effects, however, are negated by three researches that aimed to support the claim whether individuals exposed to video gaming develop violent behavior or not.

In a study conducted on the video gaming-violent behavior relationship, it was found that aggression becomes the "primary emotional response" during video gaming. This suggests that rather than violence, aggression is the initial emotion felt among video gamers rather than feelings of violence. The development of aggression, in addition, was explained as a psychological process in which video gaming is often associated with "social learning," wherein an individual becomes 'embedded' in the story relayed to him/her through the video game "visually, auditorily, and physically" (Brody, 2000).

Another study went further its scope, going so far as to identify who are these children or individuals who are most likely to have aggressive and develop violent behavior. In Gaziano's (2001) survey of children who participate in video gaming, it was determined that children who have parents who feel a "sense of powerlessness" and turn this weakness into aggression towards their children contribute to the development of negative behavior among their children. These children of 'powerless, aggressive' parents were in fact cultivating their own versions of themselves in their children, who also grow to be "powerless and who attempt to assert power through angry, harsh, punitive attitudes and behaviors ... And other authoritarian characteristics." Hence, it goes without saying that children who have cultivated feelings of aggression are most likely influenced and affected by the violence portrayed in video games.