Ever

since
video
games
become
a
popular

ARE VIDEO
GAMES TO
BLAME

worldwide phenomenon,
there has been a large
debate whether or not there
is a link between video
games and violence. Craig
Anderson was a university
professor who created an
experiment to see if he could
find a link between the two.
From his research he found
that there is suggestion that
playing violent video games
can in fact increase
aggressive behaviour. In the
experiment that he
conducted, contestants
would play 1v1 in a reaction
time game. The participant
who lost had to place their
hand in a bucket of freezing
cold water. Another
psychologist who has looked
into the link between
violence and video games is
Chris Ferguson who is
professor at Stetson
University. Ferguson is
completely against the idea
that children are becoming
more aggressive and violent
due to the time spent playing
video games; this is because

youth violence is at its

lowest for the first time in
forty years according to the
government.
There are a variety of ways
in which audiences perceive
media and how it effects how
they view certain things. The
reception theory for example
is theory created which helps
us understand how certain
people react to media. Based
upon three aspects,
dominant reading,
negotiated reading and
oppositional reading, this
theory explains how certain
absorb everything they are
seeing whilst some simple go
against it. This theory comes
with arguments for and
against when discussing the
relationship between
violence and video games.
When thinking about
dominant reading, the
audience will accept what
they are playing/watching
and will often reproduce it.
The negotiated reading is

slightly different, as well as

sharing the media they have
consumed, the audience can
sometimes take the
information and modify it to
fit their needs and reflect
their own opinion. Thirdly,
there is oppositional reading.
This is the complete opposite
to the dominant reading. In
this part, they go against
what they are being said.
Another theory which has
been around the base of the
debate is the uses and
gratifications theory. This
theory is similar to
receptions theory, as its all
about what the audience
does with the information
and how they use it to fill
certain gratifications.

Links between violence and

video games is always
exploited by newspapers and
the media. Giving a variety

of popular games a bad

name for themselves.
Despite all the claims,
research has shown that
there is no link that links
violence and video games.
Grand Theft Auto (GTA) IS a
popular game WHICH IS
HEAVILY
LINKED
TO
VIOLENCE AND SEX. There
have been a variety of
occasions when GTA has
been blamed for the reasons
as to why someone has
acted in a certain way. Take
Devin Moore for example,

who said at his arrest life is

a video game, everybody has
to die sometime. Devin
Moore was found guilty after
murdering two policemen
and a civilian police worker
Leslie Mealer. The way he
did what he did was related
exactly to a mission that is in
GTA. In the game you have
to escape a prison, kill
officers and escape in a
police cruiser. This is a prime
example of the hypodermic
needle theory in action,
Moore
literally
took
everything that happened in
the game and converted it
into real life, which is one of
many reasons as to why
video games are always
heavily linked with violence.
There are a variety of
reasons as to why this theory
is always debated about. The
link between violence and
video games is something
that has been experimented
for ages. However, some
may argue that is was not
the games fault at all. There
is a reason as to why all of
these video games are age
rated 18.
Another stand out case was
when 14 year old, Eldon
Samuel confessed to the
authorities about how he had
planned to murder his family

members after idolising the

character Trevor from GTA 5.
He was charged on two
counts of murder as he
murdered his father and
younger brother. It was
reported that he shot he
father three times, twice in
the face and once in the
brain before he moved onto
his brother who had hidden
under his bed. Using a
shotgun, he shot his brother
four times before stabbing
him multiple times with a
large knife and then with a
machete.
From
this
description of how he killed,
his family shows clearly that
his was a passive gamer and
it had been reported that he
enjoyed playing as Trevor,
who we know is an extreme
character in the game. In the
game Trevor reacted very
aggressively and violently,
and this is believed to be
why Samuel reacted in the
way he did. Samuel had
stated that his dad often
beat him and this was
perhaps why he reacted in
the way that he did. When
Samuel played GTA 5 he
would have been passively
playing, meaning that he
simply accepted whatever
happened in the game,
without even questioning
what he is doing. This is an

example of the hypodermic

needle theory, as this is
when a piece of media
injects a certain belief or
moral into the viewer/gamer
without realising. The way
that Samuel would have
viewed this is that he would
have unknowingly created an
idea in his head that violence
is ok and that it is the best
way to deal with your
problems.
Despite
being
linked with violence, its hard
to blame GTA 5 as the main
reason as to why he did what
did. Despite being an 18
game,
thousands
of
underage teenagers play
the same game and do not
have the same ideas planted
into their heads. I would say
that it is based upon the
individual that is playing the
game, and how they may
have been raised and what
their lifestyle is like; as a
vast amount of violence
related to video games have
been based around people
who have gone on to commit
suicide or acts of violence to
family members or close
friends.

http://www.dailymail
.co.uk/news/article2640431/Coronerprobes-Call-Dutyvideo-game-fourteenagers-regularlyplayed-went-killthemselves.html
Call of duty is another popular
first person shooter which is has
been widely related to cases of
mass murder and suicides. One
stand out case of was when 14
year old Callum Green hanged
himself after playing Call of Duty.
Which caused an outbreak of
discomfort for parents whose
young teenagers play the game,
despite the clear age restriction of
18.
A-Level student William Menzies
who was 16, suffocated himself in
his bedroom, where he frequently
played Call of Duty. William lived
with his parents John and Anne,
who had no concern other their
child. Their son was very hard
working with his studies and was
very self-contained, so came as a
shock when the news broke.