Videogame Controversy/Violence

Right, so we have some tasks over half Term to get completed about Controversy and Violence with Videogames to link to the 'anti-shoot-em-up' that we have to design. I have just completed the section about 3 controversial Videogames. Here are the other sections...

3 Controversial Gaming Articles

Computer Games - Violence - Case Study: Mortal Kombat and Manhunt

VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES CAN INCREASE AGGRESSION

Violent Video Games Produce Violent Behavior

3 Articles Defending Violence in Videoames

Violent video games do not cause aggression

Violence and Video Games: Not a One-sided Argument

No strong link seen between violent video games and aggression

3 Flash games that feature Violence

Arny's Battle

A simple side scrolling shooter where the player attacks oncoming enemies and gains new weapons as they progress through the levels.

Killer McKay

Another side scrolling shooter, but this one doesn't feature violence to humans - it features violence of robots shooting each other.

Zombie Romp

A side scrolling Horror shooter that has Zombies, Ghouls and Bats attacking you from both sides and in the air. A similar engine to Space Invaders.

3 Non-Violent Flash Games

Monkey Island
The gamer plays as a cute monkey that literally jumps from each island grabbing the bananas. You use the mouse to jump and each jump is only a certain distance so the skill is jumping at the correct point so you can reach it without jumping too far.

Balloon Hunt
A simple game that requires the gamer to pop balloons with the scrolling hand, racking up points to a top score.

Slingstar
A simple puzzle game where the user plays as a Ball that has to bounce up through the level using the elastic slings.

Videogames, Violence, Murder... Is there really a connection between the virtual representation and the on street murder?

We pretty much have a big division of people who are apparantly convinced that Videogame Violence has severe psychological effects so drastic for gamers to be influenced to repeat what's in the game. And then we have another set of people (pretty much the geeky lot) that think that Videogames have no influence on gamers and that every person who plays Violent Videogames will be exactly the same before and after playing the game. Personally, I don't fit into either of those groups.

I think it's unfair to state one theory as greater than the other when there really hasn't been enough research to actually show a solid connection between a certain murder or violence and on street murder or Violence. Of course many people will straight away say that there have been many murders in real life and the two link together, but there is no evidence that it is true. That said, I don't want to go playing a ton of violent videogames because there is no proven link in between.

Ruling out Violence completely in Videogames would make the whole industry fade away as it is possibly the biggest key to selling games and when you think about it - Violence is a natural thing. It happens in nearly all species of animals, so taking it out of games would be unnatural. I think the only part that really does need to be considered is if a lot of the violence used is actually necessary and just to come up with new approaches for popular games.