Psychologists and scientists are trying to find the link between violence and

video games. There are multiple theories as to why they believe there is a link.
Psychologists have done many tests to link aggression, stress and mental health
with violence after playing video games. The media connote these links and over
exaggerate them to make people believe this is what video games.
Psychologists do many tests to analyse whether video games cause stress levels
to increase, depression and aggression when played. These tests are usually
done by both people who play and dont play video games to get an accurate
sum of results. It is scientifically proven that video games are played by people
who are over 35 and over half are female. Psychologists look at the players
emotions to see if games trigger violence. The game they use to test this theory
lets each player decide the punishment of the loser. This can tell how aggressive
they are by what punishment they choose.
Another test to show if video games cause violence is that psychologists show
gamers and non-gamers graphic images of people being violent to see how they
react. Some laugh some cant watch and some can withstand what they are
watching. This shows how video games change the brains perception of violence
and how they emotionally recognise it. This also effects what they see as right
and wrong. From viewing these it shows stress levels increased by 80% for
people who dont play video games and 12% from people who do.
Mental health is a strong factor you must look at when studying violent
behaviour as this can also affect how the brain works. They think family
background is also linked with violent behaviour. For example when a boy is
young and sees his father hitting his mother he might think this is the right thing
to do when he grows up. This is called mimicking.
A new investigation is too see if aggression and depression is linked with
violence this involves getting players to play puzzle games such as Tetris. This
also helps psychologists to determine if frustration is linked with aggression
because the game gives them shapes which doesnt help them at all causing
frustration and then anger.
However its not all doom and gloom some psychologists believe that not all
video games are bad for us as some have been proven to give you an advantage
in certain tests or tasks such as the game underground which is proven to be
helpful with keyhole surgery. A test on the public showed how video games
helped people to remember more by playing remembering and tracking games.
Overall psychologists still havent scientifically proven whether violent video
games cause people to become violent as there is no current links apart from the
positive side effects.
In todays Video game Industry the media influence what we think of them and
whether violent video games cause people to be violent or not taking their
aggression from the game into real life situations. In the past few years we have
seen and heard stories of cases where teenagers have done terrible things due
to the effect of video games on their brain and why 18 rated games should only
be played by people above the age of 18 for these exact reasons. Scientists have
been doing a lot of research all over the globe as to why these games cause your
brain to act in a certain way. But there are many factors to say that these

allegations arent correct and only a very small sample of people have these
effects from playing game like Call of Duty and GTA.
Call of Duty has been a huge game series been going on for over a decade. The
most popular game ever made it gets millions of fans buying the game each year
with thousands of positive reviews and campaigns. It was originally made as a
story mode game or campaign based game but as interest grew they made it
available for multiplayer online gameplay. This is now the most popular part of
the Call of Duty franchise as you are available to customization in every aspect.
Guns, armour, Camos and Killstreaks. For a game like Call of Duty which is rated
18 people expect and look for violence when it comes to gameplay. Running
around and shooting people to gain XP and rewards is seen as a form of
entertainment which it is, thats the aim of the game.
Theories such as the Hypodermic syringe support this theory by saying that
when a passive audience get information from a source without question then
they will believe that and that is correct. The best example of this is Hitler in Nazi
Germany back in the 1940s. He was the only person to advertise and campaign
his theory of a Nazi way of living and this is why he had so many supporters
because they didnt know anything better. It is the same here with Video Games
on a persons brain. Young teenagers who play the game dont know that it is not
acceptable to mimic these actions in real life and therefore have the mental
capacity to do so without knowing it is wrong. An opposing view to this theory is
Use and Gratification, this says that you can question information before taking it
in so then you can choose between right and wrong. The Use and Gratification
theory to this shows that most kids see playing these games as a form of
entertainment or to pass time instead of Hypodermic syringe which encourages
the idea that if you
play this game then
you are going to kill
someone in real life.

All of these contribute to why people see the game as an addiction and to many
others the cause for some terrible tragedies. For example The Sandy Hook
massacre was blamed on Call of Duty and the affects the violence can have on

disturbed teenagers. Alex Lanza had a serious addiction to Call of Duty and said
that he used to practice killing people in real life by using the game to do so.
After playing Call of Duty for extremely long periods of time and for a very long
time period he entered a primary school and killed 26 people including 20
children before turning the gun on himself due to what Call of Duty made him
believe. This is an example of where the Hypodermic Syringe theory comes into
place. Newspapers such as the Daily mail said that the reason for these mass
killings were due to the boys obsession with Call of Duty and how they
manipulated him to think that he was still playing the video game when he killed
all of the innocent people. People who are known for these crimes are also known
to have mental illnesses and Hypodermic syringe encourages them to do this.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2249854/Sandy-Hook-school-shootingAdam-Lanza-spent-hours-playing-Call-Duty.html

Grand Theft Auto is a game made by Rockstar Games and has been a very
popular franchise for many years just like that of Call of Duty. In this third person
adventure you are able to complete a huge story mode and even play online with
your friends. In downtown Los Santos you have the ability to commit Heists, go
to a strip club, take part in street races and even fly Aeroplanes.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gta-5-14-year-old-boy-kills-father-brother-inspired-byviolent-character-trevor-1442418

A 14 year old boy from America was convicted of two accounts of murder after
he shot dead his father and killed his brother with a Machete after playing Grand
Theft Auto and idolising Trevor and mimicking the actions he took within the
game. Eldon Samuel has been charged with First degree adult murder when he
confessed he shot his father in their home with a .45 calibre Handgun before
killing his brother with a large knife. The boy told the police that his father used
to beat him and told him stories of zombies whilst on medication. His father
provoked Eldon to kill him after beating him as a young boy. He told the police
his father was still alive after being shot twice in the face and once in the head

and attempted to crawl to the room in which his brother was hiding. He revealed
to the officers he liked to play as Trevor who is known in the game to have anger
issues and often use of a trigger finger. This relates to the theory of uses and
gratification as he was inspired by the personal identity of Trevor and behaved in
the same way that he did. As he found that they had similar personalities.
Investigators later found out that Eldon shot his younger brother 4 times, and
was enraged that he was still alive and stabbed him multiple times with a knife
while finishing him off with a machete stabbing him over 30 times.
Many theories are put into place by the public, scientists and of course the media
about why these things happen. Hypodermic syringe supports this as it tells us
that video games influence people to make certain actions just like that in the
game. It says that when a passive audience collect information from a source or
in this case GTA they take in that information without questioning whats right
and wrong. Samuels thought that by shooting people and killing those in the
game made it acceptable for him to do in real life situations. However you have
to put into account the boy might not have been mentally safe to play these
types of games as most people can distinguish between whats right and wrong
when playing GTA.
Another big debate when it comes to violent video games is censorship. Violent
video games such as Call of Duty and GTA have a censorship rating of 18 and
above. However young children are still playing these video games even though
they have an age rating. Young children are being exposed to this graphic
content as their parents arent supervising what their kids are playing and
causes them to mimic things within the games. Due to parents buying these
violent video games for their kids its allowing children such as the case of Eldon
Samuel above to mimic these crimes into day to day life. As these children are
very young they dont know whats wrong and what is right making them easily
influenced by the media and more importantly the Video games. This is
otherwise known as Hypodermic Syringe.
As the world of technology is expanding so should the force of censorship. Better
graphics means more realistic gameplay and as we keep progressing with the
new next gen consoles young kids cannot be exposed to graphic images in
extreme detail and be okay with it. They are censored for a reason and therefore
should be kept that way but with more irresponsible parents coming into the
equation we can never ensure that the kids of today will be safe from violent
video games.