Student Answers – Frequently Asked Questions

Games are not just for fun they have an effect on the player. Studies have shown that games do have a positive side and that they promote learning as well as help heal. On the other hand games are known to become an addiction just like alcoholism or drugs and affect the mind in a negative way.

Research indicates that playing violent games like Doom or Mortal Combat increases aggression in players in both everyday settings and laboratory studies. Since games are interactive they involve participation of the player and this tends to influence thinking as well as intuitive reactions. This being so, violent games are more harmful than violence in movies or television.

Psychologists like Craig Anderson and Karen Dill have noted that aggression escalates in players who already have an in born tendency to aggressive behavior and that repeated exposure to violence is like a conditioning and over time, the person becomes trained or conditioned to be violent. Craig Anderson is dedicated to the issue and in depth information on different aspects of gaming can be found at http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~caa/ .

Violent games and the creation of violent behavior has received mixed reactions from researchers but when analyzed using meta-analytic techniques the result is consistent in that playing violent games leads to “ increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, increased physiological arousal and decreased levels of helping behavior.” It is an established fact that consistent exposure to violent games leads to delinquency, fighting in school and outside, as well as criminal behavior.

John Murray of Kansas State University found that gamers became less sensitive to violence after repeated exposure and that exposure to violence activated the amygdale a small part of the human brain that controls fight/flight impulses.

Studies show:

• Playing violent games teach the gamer that success can be had from being violent.

• That since gaming rewards violence, gamers tend to start believing that violence can be rewarding. The positive outcome of violence in games increases the impact in the minds of gamers especially kids.

• That playing games hone point and shoot techniques and soon a child or adult gamer will have no second thoughts in pointing and shooting should such a situation arise in real life. Repeated point and shoot actions in gaming helps humans overcome the hesitation or reluctance to point and shoot.

• That violence in gaming tends to teach gamers that violence is the way to solve differences or conflict. Repeated gaming increases a gamer’s aggression and tendency to fight, argue, and use physical force to win an argument or settle differences in real life.

Rene Weber of Michigan State University has presented an in depth study of violence and gaming in Media Psychology in January 2006. In the work she explores the influence of violent games on brain function and thought and concludes that although gaming has a positive side such as enhancing learning, social skills, and improvement of physical abilities it is imperative for society to examine in detail and thoroughly the negative side of gaming. According to statistics, of 70 odd top selling games more than 49 per cent contained serious violence and in the US every child and adult plays video and computer games for at least 30 minutes every day.

Gaming has two sides and one must be aware of the positive as well as negative affects.