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Devin Whitman
Professor Stumphy
English 100
11 February 2015
How Violent Video Games Affect The Male Gender
On December 14, 2012, was the day that Adam Lanza picked up a gun and walked into a
school and shot 26 people, 20 of them children. We know this to be the Sandy Hook Shooting
but most don't know that this deranged man has been playing hours on hours of violent video
games and one of which is a video game of shooting up a school with an automatic assault rifle
(Good). Violence in video games affects the male population across the world in different ways.
We all know that this man was not in his right mind but with video games and especially a school
shooting video game. With a game like that it's like giving him the gun and the opportunity.
Video games have become a more popular activity for people of all ages. many children
and adolescents spending large amounts of time playing them. Video games are a multibilliondollar industry bringing in more money that movies and DVDs. Video games have become more
realistic and more violent. some games connect to the internet, which can allow children and
adolescents to play online with unknown adults and peers. Studies of children exposed to
violence have shown that they can become immune or numb inside when they see then horror of
violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior with greater
exposure to violence. Some children accept violence as a way to handle problems. Studies have
also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact

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on children. Children with emotional, behavioral and learning problems may be more influenced
by violent images (Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence).
Violent video games are more violent than watching violent movies or TV shows. It
affects the males brain more because instead of watching violence you are actually performing
the violent act. Also if the video game is in first person then the male with identify with the
character more easily than they would be if they were playing in third person. The video games
also reward violent behavior by giving points, money, or letting them go to the next level if they
perform the violent acts. This might make them believe that if they do this in real life then they
might get rewarded as well (Bushman).
The first defense that video game users use is the "I play violent video games and I've
never killed anyone". People have a hard time judging influences on events when the rate on
committing a crime because of a video game is somewhat low. Researchers have also found that
people get influenced by the media real easily. This effect is called the third person effect. Males
also say that violence in video games doesn't affect people because the entertainment industry
claims that violent games do not increase aggression but most of them don't realize that they are
saying that just to line their pockets from the video game sales. The typical male doesn't
understand the psychological process as well as they understand the biological process. Like if
you see a violent video game player kill somebody in real life. It's difficult to know what made
them do that but if somebody who smokes get lung cancer it's more believable for them
(Bushman).
Scientists have been studying and debating what the effects of violent video games have
on people. They said that American boys play them at some point in their life and girls play at a

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lower rate and are significantly less likely to play violent games that males will play. Lab
experiments confirm that in a study by Christopher Barlett, a psychologist at Iowa State
University. That research team that had 47 undergraduates play Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
for 15 minutes. Afterward, the team took various measures of arousal, both physical and
psychological. It also tested whether the students would behave more aggressively, by having
them dole out hot sauce to a fellow student who, they were told, did not like spicy food but had
to swallow the sauce. They were compared with a group that had played a nonviolent video
game. The group that played Mortal Kombat were more aggressive by far and also gave the
people much bigger portions of hot sauce (Carey).
An experiment done on college students. Researchers divided them into two groups. One
of the groups of college kids played video games and the other played non-violent video games.
Then the researchers measured how the students in each group felt and how they behaved
because they couldn't give them guns and knives and see if they killed each other. So, they
showed the college students violent pictures. One was of a man shoving a gun down another
man's throat and another was a man holding a knife to a woman's throat. What they found was
that the controlled group that played the violent video games had no response to the violent
images. As if they were numb inside. Then they had students play unpleasant sounds such as
fingernails scratching on a chalkboard, dentist drills, sirens, and other annoying sounds. They
could make the sound as loud as a smoke alarm, if they wanted to. Some students got mean in
the experiments. Everybody was more aggressive if they'd played a violent video game than if
they played a non-violent game. Also the ones that had no response to the photos of violence
earlier in the experiment, made the sounds for their opponent loud as they possible could (It's A
Duel: How Do Violent Video Games Affect Kids).

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There is a clear and an un doubtful link between violent video games and violent
behaviors from the video games user. Not all violent video game users with go out and shoot up
a school with innocent students because they played a video game, but some do. This doesn't
mean to ban violent video games but this means to regulate who can buy them and how many
hours are consumed by these violent games.

Works Cited

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Bushman, Brad. "The Effects of Violent Video Games. Do They Affect Our Behavior?" The
Effects of Violent Video Games on Behavior. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
<http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html>.
Carey, Benedict. "Shooting in the Dark." The New York Times. The New York Times, 11 Feb.
2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-theeffects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?_r=0>.
"Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence." Children and Video Games: Playing with
Violence. 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Fam
ilies_Pages/Children_and_Video_Games_Playing_with_Violence_91.aspx>.
Good, Owen. "'School Shooting' Video Game Also Found at Sandy Hook Killer's
Home."Kotaku. 26 Nov. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. <http://kotaku.com/school-shootingvideo-game-also-found-at-sandy-hook-k-1471998779>.
"It's A Duel: How Do Violent Video Games Affect Kids?" NPR. NPR, 7 July 2011. Web. 11
Feb. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2011/07/07/137660609/its-a-duel-how-do-violent-videogames-affect-kids>.