Should Teens Play Violent Video Games? Pros and Cons

This article discusses the pros and cons of allowing teens to play violent video games. It analyzes the psychological effects of violent video games on teens and their ability to differentiate between virtual experiences and real-life situations. The article cites various studies and research reports to support both sides of the argument. It concludes that teens should not play violent video games until a certain age or under parental guidance.

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Student by (Name)
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Should Teens Play Violent Video Games?
Introduction
The issue of whether teenage children should be allowed or restricted from playing
violent video games has over the recent past created a heated debate. This is because a group of
the world population believes that violent video games increase results into aggressive behavior
among the teens while the side of the group believe that violent began a long time before the
development of video games1. The argument of by the side which believed that violent video
games should not be allowed has been supported by a various psychologist. However, other
researchers also believe that video game should be allowed so long teens play with boundaries.
The content of this paper, therefore, analyses both arguments and conclude on whether the teens
should be allowed to play violent games2.
Should Teens not play violent video games?
Violent video games have become so popular among the teenagers in the United States
and across the continent. Based on the current rate of teenage children associated with violent
video games, the issue of whether teens should play violent video games or not has come to the
1 Breuer, Johannes, Jens Vogelgesang, Thorsten Quandt, and Ruth Festl. "Violent video games and physical
aggression: Evidence for a selection effect among adolescents." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4
(2015): 305
2 Breuer, Johannes, Jens Vogelgesang, Thorsten Quandt, and Ruth Festl. "Violent video games and physical
aggression: Evidence for a selection effect among adolescents." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4
(2015): 305.

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public’s attention. Various psychological and crime control organizations have come up with
various research studies giving reasons as to why violent video games should not be allowed to
the teens. Indisputably, teenagers should not be restricted from playing violent video games
based on the approved psychological effects of the video games on teens3. The Task Force on
Violent Media came into conclusion that exposure of teens to violent video games has a link to
aggression behaviors among teens, thoughts of resolving issues with violence and without
empathy.
I concur with the view that violent video games increase aggression behaviors, thoughts
of violence and feelings among children as revealed by according the American Psychological
Association's report. According to Dr. Phil McGraw explanation, teens should not play violent
video games because violent video games leads to desensitization among teenagers making them
see violence and aggression as the most appropriate way to resolve conflicts at the expense of
prosocial behaviors such as peaceful conflict resolutions, offering help to others in need as well
as the ability to understand others4. .
3 Calvert, Sandra L., Mark Appelbaum, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sandra Graham, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall,
Sherry Hamby, Lauren G. Fasig-Caldwell, Martyna Citkowicz, Daniel P. Galloway, and Larry V. Hedges.
"The American Psychological Association Task Force assessment of violent video games: Science in the
service of public interest." American Psychologist 72, no. 2 (2017): 126.
4 Engelhardt, Christopher R., Joseph Hilgard, and Bruce D. Bartholow. "Acute exposure to difficult (but not
violent) video games dysregulates cognitive control." Computers in human behavior 45 (2015): 85-92.

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Moreover, teens should not play violent video games based on the way a child may
perceive virtual experience and real life. It has been noted by various crime experts and
psychologist that violent video games perform the first-hand role in the killing process. This is
because teenagers cannot control themselves to think outside the video games because of the
uniquely human brain development. Violent video games give teenagers the first person role in
the video game killing process. Video game developers give children the main character in the
video game adventures an experience which becomes more meaning and deadly to teenagers in
real life situations.
This experience becomes, even more, meaning and worse for children and teens, who
usually have rich imaginations. “If teenager would impassively watch violent video game, the
effect would be less compared to acting as a character who controls the game adventure by
murdering people and destroying what's in the character's path. This situation gets real and
meaningful to children and teens as their brain forms new connections with violence every day
as they learn and memorize what is going on in their favorite games5. Video game developers
with the current technology are currently developing violent video games with amazing graphics
which makes it difficult for children to differentiate between virtual experiences and real daily
life. The inability to differentiate between real life and virtual experience has increased
aggression among children as they also tend to bring their violent video game roles into real life.
5 Ferguson, Christopher J., Hayley Barr, Grace Figueroa, Kimberly Foley, Alexander Gallimore, Rachel
LaQuea, Alexandra Merritt et al. "Digital poison? Three studies examining the influence of violent video
games on youth." Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015): 399-410.

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Also, violent video games should not be allowed to teens because of its direct rewards to
violence and aggressive behaviors. Violent video games are organized into stages where
achievement of one stage leads to reward. Some developers of violent video games reward
players with gold stars for “nice kills” such as head short and nice comments like “I did it” This
results into will let them become custom. According to a psychologist, a feeling of success
should come with the accomplishment of positively challenging and difficult tasks. However,
most violent games directly reward violent behavior such as killing and destruction.
Such rewards send negative messages to teens who may reflect the virtual experience in
real-life situations. Likewise, modern violent games do not merely make teen players destroy
virtual reality characters of the fellow players online, but correspondingly grant players with for
successful acts of violence which are also rewards as already mentioned. These points usually
make teen violent video game players more efficient in killing, unlocking new cruel and more
aggressive ways of murdering, and tactics of violent conflict resolutions which some teens end
practicing in real life. Sometimes, players will be even praised directly, verbally6.
Furthermore, teens should not be allowed to play violent video games as the majority of
them may not be able to differentiate between good deeds and wrongdoing as presented in the
video games. Impressionable teens playing games like the “call of duty” on most occasions end
up copying every aspect of the game since they do not know what is wrong as right. Disrespect
6 Greitemeyer T, Mügge DO. Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-analytic review of the effects
of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2014
May;40(5):578-89.

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to women as the majority of the violent video games present female characters as week
characters. Also, most of the ultraviolent games portray aggression and violence towards women.
The impressionable teenagers end up copying such characters with violence and aggression
directed to women. Children also learn aggressive conflict resolution mechanism since video
games show children that they can only express themselves physically when they are angry.
Research has revealed that majority of the teens push of grab fellow teens when angry instead of
expressing their emotions in polite manners trough words. To some parents, this is as a result of
the virtual experience teens acquire from the violent videos. The only solution of reducing such
behaviors is by preventing children from playing violent movies but allow them to play other
games without violence.
On the other hand, some of most current studies have found positive contributions of the
violent game on teens which contradicts the negative effects of violent games. These current
research reports support the argument of the other side of the public who support of violent video
games. The current report released by Psychology of Popular Media Culture indicates that
violent video games help teens with fun as well as help them get relieved from stress. This report
shows that with parental guidance, violent video games may help boys spent their fun time most
healthily compared to parties and other unhealthy activities7. This supports the fact that teens can
7 Hasan, Youssef, Laurent Begue, Michael Scharkow, and Brad J. Bushman. "“The more you play, the more
aggressive you become: A long-term experimental study of cumulative violent video game effects on
hostile expectations and aggressive behavior”: Corrigendum." (2018).

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play violent video games as long as they can draw the line between virtual experiences from the
video games and real-life situations.
The teens should also play violent video games help teens with hands and eye
coordination. Violent video games also help teen with spatial skills and fine motor development
as currently revealed by psychologists. In most of the violent games, teen players are associated
with shooting, running and body twist at the same time. Violent shooting games in this manner
require teen players to maintain the position of the characters, which directions to move the
visual character, movement speed and gun aiming. To successfully achieve game requirements,
the player is required to coordinate the hands with the help of the brain. Moreover, the player
must also use the eyes and hands leading to an improved visual-spatial ability. Based on violent
video games requirement and coordination skills, it is important for teens to play violent video
games to develop spatial skills, iconic abilities as well as proper visual coordination. Various
scientist suggests that teens are playing violent video games end up to be perfect surgeons and
pilots as a result of eye, hand and brain coordination. It is therefore recommended for teens to
play a violent video game.
Similarly, playing violent video games help teens with the development of proper
resource planning, resource management, and logistics. This is because most of the violent video
games present players with limited resources such as limited number bullets in a violent shooting
game. Researchers show that teenagers playing violent video games develop resources planning
and management skills in real life8. Violent video developers claim that limiting the number of
8 Kattenberg, S. J. "Biopolitical Games: Identifying Obscured Mechanisms in Applied Games." Master's
thesis, 2015.

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resources within the games help players to think deeply about how they can use the limited
resources like bullets in the video games and real-life situations.
Apart from the already mentioned benefits, violent video games require the player to
perform some tasks ant the same times leading to the development of multitasking abilities, the
ability to manage multiple objectives and simultaneously track various shifting variables. Violent
video games present teenage players sudden situations which forces them to become flexible and
immediately change their play tactics9. To successfully achieve the objective of the game, the
player of a violent game must learn to stay focused, simultaneously track shifting variables as
well as multitask. Since teens can reflect virtual experience in real life, it is crucial for them to
play violent video games10.
Finally, the researchers have also reviled that, teens should be playing violent video
games as it helps with the development of quick thinking capabilities, fast situational analysis,
and decision making. Violent video games present players with a technical situation where
players have to make quick decisions almost every second to meet the game objective of the
mover to the next level11. According to Rochester university research, violent and action game
9 Kattenberg, S. J. "Biopolitical Games: Identifying Obscured Mechanisms in Applied Games." Master's thesis,
2015.
10 Markey, Patrick M., Charlotte N. Markey, and Juliana E. French. "Violent video games and real-world
violence: Rhetoric versus data." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4 (2015): 277.
11 Verheijen, Geert P., William J. Burk, Sabine EMJ Stoltz, Yvonne HM van den Berg, and Antonius HN
Cillessen. "Friendly fire: Longitudinal effects of exposure to violent video games on aggressive behavior in
adolescent friendship dyads." Aggressive behavior (2018).

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players make the most correct and accurate decisions per every unit of their time. This reason
together with the others suggests that teens should be allowed to play violent video games.
Besides, violent video games pother non-violent video helps teenagers with computer skills
which they can apply in real life.
Conclusion
The issue of whether teens should play or play violent video games is challenging and
still require more psychological and moral research. The content of above has highlighted and
discussed various advantages or reasons as to why teens should not play violent games such as
the development of aggressive behavior and desensitization. On the other hand, the paper has
also discussed various benefits associated with violent video games such as the development of
eye-hand and brain coordination. According to my understanding of the argument, teens should
not play violent video games until a given age or play violent video game under parental
guidance.
Bibliography
Breuer, Johannes, Jens Vogelgesang, Thorsten Quandt, and Ruth Festl. "Violent video games
and physical aggression: Evidence for a selection effect among adolescents." Psychology
of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4 (2015): 305.

Argument1
0
Breuer, Johannes, Jens Vogelgesang, Thorsten Quandt, and Ruth Festl. "Violent video games
and physical aggression: Evidence for a selection effect among adolescents." Psychology
of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4 (2015): 305.
Calvert, Sandra L., Mark Appelbaum, Kenneth A. Dodge, Sandra Graham, Gordon C. Nagayama
Hall, Sherry Hamby, Lauren G. Fasig-Caldwell, Martyna Citkowicz, Daniel P. Galloway,
and Larry V. Hedges. "The American Psychological Association Task Force assessment
of violent video games: Science in the service of public interest." American
Psychologist 72, no. 2 (2017): 126.
Engelhardt, Christopher R., Joseph Hilgard, and Bruce D. Bartholow. "Acute exposure to
difficult (but not violent) video games dysregulates cognitive control." Computers in
human behavior 45 (2015): 85-92.
Ferguson, Christopher J., Hayley Barr, Grace Figueroa, Kimberly Foley, Alexander Gallimore,
Rachel LaQuea, Alexandra Merritt et al. "Digital poison? Three studies examining the
influence of violent video games on youth." Computers in Human Behavior 50 (2015):
399-410.
Greitemeyer T, Mügge DO. Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-analytic review of
the effects of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin. 2014 May;40(5):578-89.
Hasan, Youssef, Laurent Begue, Michael Scharkow, and Brad J. Bushman. "“The more you play,
the more aggressive you become: A long-term experimental study of cumulative violent

Argument1
1
video game effects on hostile expectations and aggressive behavior”: Corrigendum."
(2018).
Kattenberg, S. J. "Biopolitical Games: Identifying Obscured Mechanisms in Applied Games."
Master's thesis, 2015.
Markey, Patrick M., Charlotte N. Markey, and Juliana E. French. "Violent video games and real-
world violence: Rhetoric versus data." Psychology of Popular Media Culture 4, no. 4
(2015): 277.
Verheijen, Geert P., William J. Burk, Sabine EMJ Stoltz, Yvonne HM van den Berg, and
Antonius HN Cillessen. "Friendly fire: Longitudinal effects of exposure to violent video
games on aggressive behavior in adolescent friendship dyads." Aggressive
behavior (2018).