Violent Video Games and Increase of Aggressiveness - Research Proposal Example

Violent Video Games and Increase of AggressivenessVideo games have acquired an ever-increasing position in the lives of modern individuals, including both children and adults. Studies show that the video game industry’s leader, Nintendo, sold an average of three games every second of the 12 years from 1983 to 1995, for a total of one billion games sold. (Dill and Dill, 1998, p. 410) For comparative purposes, that statistic amounts to; one game for every teenager on earth, or one game for every person in all of North America, Europe, and Japan.

Every industry trend points to continued growth, indicating a significant amount of time, money, and attention of consumers being invested in the video gaming industry. Many of these games are violent in nature, some with parental warnings regarding violence, blood, and gore. Examples of such video games include titles like Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat and Sega’s Primal Rage. All of these games intertwine a character-driven story line with adventures and quests, including personal combat which require the player to fight with, and kill, various adversaries in an extremely violent way.

While earlier versions of such games, such as Quake or Doom, were more plot-driven and less gratuitously violent, many of the more recent industry offerings (known as “first person shooter” games) have escalated the combat element in favor of increasingly difficult opponents, more sophisticated weaponry, and an unhealthy focus on domination. As Bok points out, “players are rewarded for slashing, gouging, or shooting their opponents.[and are able] to see with the eyes of the killer holding the gun.

” (1999, p. 37) In fact, other researchers have determined that in the most popular games, harming other characters is the primary activity and that killing occurs at a high rate. (Cicchirillo and Chory-Assad, 2005, p. 436). These games are so prevalent that one study determined that 89% of such games contain some violent content, with half of them resulting in fatalities to other characters. (Children Now, 2001, p. 110)The link between video game violence and behavioral violence has already been established; the idea of playing such games was even “implicated as a possible contributory factor in the [then] recent schoolyard massacres at Columbine High and Westside Middle School.

” (Smith, 2003, quoting Gegax, Adler, & Pedersen, 1998) In fact, the American Psychological Association has adopted a resolution which recommends the reduction of such violence after noting that “experts’ findings indicate that exposure to video game violence increases youth’s aggressive thoughts and behaviors. (CQ Researcher, 2006, p. 950)This research will seek to determine the degree of influence of violent video games upon selected college students. It will attempt to assess any causal relationship between violent video game and evidential behavioral aggression.

In seeking to answer the posed question of a relationship between violent video games and corresponding behavior, the study will attempt to correlate any exposure to video game violence with an increase in aggressive behaviors. ReferencesBok, S. (1999). Mayhem: Violence as Public Entertainment. Reading, MA: Perseus Publising.Chicchirillo, V. & Chory-Assad, R.M. (2005). Effects of Affective Orientation and Video Game Play on Aggressive Thoughts and Behaviors. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 49, (4), 435-451.

Children Now. (2001). Fairplay? Violence, Gender and Race in Video Games. Los Angeles: Authors.CQ Researcher. (2006, November 10). Do Video Games Make Kids More Violent? Congressional Quarterly Researcher, 16, (40), 948-1049. Dill, K.E. & Dill, J.C. (1998). Video game violence: a review of the empirical literature. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 3, (4), 407-428.Gegax, T. T., Adler, J. & Pedersen, D. (1998, April 6). The boys behind the ambush. Newsweek, 21-26.Smith, S.L., Lachlan, K. & Tamborini, R. (2003). Popular Video Games: Quantifying the Presentation of Violence and Its Context.

Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, (1), 58-72.