DO VIDEO GAMES PROMOTE VIOLENCE?

WRITTEN BY WILLIAM S

Video games are played often by many people – most commonly children – and are career paths for the select few that take their love for gaming to the extreme. There are many genres for gaming, most commonly FPS (first person shooter) games, which gave eSports professionals popularity and riches An unfathomable amount of people have risen to fame through video games, some of them becoming multimillionaires because of their skill. On the contrary, for some, gaming has been their downfall – addictions, doxing (leaking someone ’ s personal information online), obesity, depression and sleep insomnia are common in the underbelly of this supposedly harmless hobby; topics as serious as violence have been blamed on video games There are multiple valid reasons why people think this, but the range of conclusions people have come to are too broad to extract a clear, definite answer out of the question

One subject was extremely common among most people who attempted who answer the question ‘Do video games make you violent?’ – video game genres. There are over 30 different genres for gaming, the most prevalent being FPS and action-adventure games. Both have copious amounts of combat and blood in them – it is no wonder why they have been the scapegoat for violence in gamers

Most games in these categories have mild to extreme amounts of gore in them, so it is no wonder that they are all rated ‘M’ or over.

It is not rare for video games in the FPS or horror genre to have this rating, but there are some exceptions such as Fortnite which has an age rating of 12 – a haven for the budding esports gamers This should give an idea about why video games can promote violence, but it will be covered in much more detail as you progress through the essay.

Chapter 1: Is the age of the player a factor of better or worse mental health while gaming?

The youngest person to ever game professionally is ‘Victor De Leon III’ (also known as ‘Lil Poison’) at only 6 years old His speciality was in the Halo franchise, which is one of the most well-known FPS games for having its own universe – novels, graphic novels, comics, short movies, animated movies, and feature films It is also an extremely harsh environment to children Due to there being a voice chat, players can say anything to anyone without it being censored, unlike games such as Roblox, where a strict chat filter is implemented to all accounts to bar players from using explicit language Children can take any kind of insult extremely harshly, even if told by a stranger – this could impact their mental health and make them quit playing the game It does not even have to be because of other players, losing to a mere boss fight can trigger the worst of tantrums

Hurt feelings are not the only downside of voice chat, however, as it makes it extremely easy to discover and leak other players’ personal information, such as their name or address (since there is not a filter stopping anyone who is uninformed about keeping your personal details safe online, all voice chats are a paradise for doxers) Although losing a game, even in an incredibly important esports competition, would cause most children to cry, kick, punch, or all the above, people of higher maturity tend to express their failure through verbal or even physical means downright terrible people in the façade of what seems like a friendly community On some rare occasions, you do not even have to be in their game for something bad to happen – during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, over 100 million Roblox accounts’ personal information was compromised (account passwords, email addresses and authentication codes) due to one of the Roblox staff accepting bribery to a hacker, who gained backdoor access to the customer support panel The incident has been resolved now, but it left much of the community in a state of fear of their information being stolen This is not the only issue of multiplayer games –there are many others Threats of violence, spamming, flaming (strong emotional statements that are intended to provoke extremely negative emotions), griefing (using the game itself in unintended ways to harass others), sexual harassment and hate speech are so common in multiplayer games that they have become the ‘ norm ’ On the bright side, they have multiple benefits that not only hone the players’ ingame proficiency, but also other skills that will be used later in life, such as:

There are plenty of viral videos on multiple websites (most commonly YouTube) of grown men punching a hole in their monitor and even more of screaming out some of the most horrible words a human could utter – but in every one of these videos, none have shed even one tear. Both sides have different reactions but they both make the loser express such negative emotions that they scream and cry for fifteen minutes or cost themselves hundreds upon hundreds (even thousands, depending on how avid the gamer is) of cash Since both reactions provoke an action of violence and outrage, it is correct to assume that the age of the player is not a factor of the player’s mental health while gaming.

Cooperation and teamwork

Communication skills (voice chat is always used in popular multiplayer games)

Social skills (they allow players to safely meet new people and make friends)

Chapter 2: Are multiplayer games dangerous or a great experience?

Multiplayer games are a wonderful thing, they make a lonely experience into a utopia with friends that you have never met before but will last for decades You could meet the best of people on any multiplayer game – or the worst There are countless amounts of hackers, exploiters (people who cheat in-game) and

Multiplayer games also do not have to be played with strangers, your friends from work, school or anywhere else can join you in-game so that you can be certain that you are not endangering yourself by playing with strangers. Although there are some benefits of playing multiplayer games, the negative points outweigh the positives, concluding that they are more dangerous than beneficial (mostly because over 100 million accounts were stolen – including the ones with maximised security)

Chapter 3: What are the best and worst video game genres to play in terms of mental health?

As stated in the introduction, there are over 30 different video game genres, FPS games taking 1st place and actionadventure games close behind in the fierce popularity competition. Both share some of the same qualities – a large map for you to experience, other players, weapons and violence There are some other genres, however, that are more refined than the rest but still did not manage to take the spotlight A prime example are ‘MMORPG (standing for ‘Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game’) games such as World of Warcraft or the Final Fantasy series These are all incredibly famous games of this genre that both the players and the developers have invested thousands of hours in World of Warcraft is considered one of the most addictive games in the world due to its plethora of weapons, locations, enemies, and bosses Considering 44% of World of Warcraft players suffer from a video game addiction and that there are around 4 35 million consecutive players on World of Warcraft per day, approximately 1,914,000 people on World of Warcraft alone have a gaming addiction. This proves that, while being an endless amount of fun, MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) games are undoubtedly harmful for your mental health – specifically gaming addictions

Moving on from the darker side of gaming, the ‘Puzzle’ genre – although not as exciting as the others – can expand the players’ intelligence through classic games/activities (e g online word searches or crossword puzzles) However, it is unlikely that many people play games from the genre due to the lack of action A suitable alternative are ‘Strategy’ games because instead of constant trial and error from the ‘Puzzle’ genre, you must use your brain to progress

A perfect example is Warhammer 3 – you build armies and go to battle with other players as a spectator While it does involve fighting, it is only basic animations of punches and bows being fired – and while it still sounds far duller than a typical MMORPG game, it has kept players occupied for hours on end Both genres are perfect examples of what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is in terms of mental health, and they can keep the gamer occupied for hours on end – just one has a hefty price to pay if you get too invested in them

Chapter 4: Horror games or FPS games –which one is worse?

Continuing from chapter three, horror games and FPS games are both extremely popular, fun, and exciting. Horror games force terrifying situations into the player and FPS games can cause the most levelheaded of people to crack under pressure and because of this, they are exceedingly popular, as seen by the graph below Although they sound like perfect ways to pass the time on weekends, there are multiple dangers of both genres Most horror games have a copious amount of blood and gore, and since age ratings are usually ignored, children have easy access to burning terrifying moments into their memory – as well as copying them Hundreds of YouTube videos, people have taped themselves playing horror games with heart monitors, most exceeding 125 BPM

This could be extremely dangerous for the player as a high heart rate can cause extremely serious issues, such as arrhythmias which can eventually lead up to a much deadlier version of itself –tachycardia – which can cause heart failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death FPS games can also be threatening because of the constant pressure the genre naturally puts you under. It has less severe effects as the horror genre and can still induce a skyrocketing heart rate due to the fastpaced nature, but instead of being chased around by a monster in an abandoned asylum, multiple players hunt you down to best everyone else As stated in chapter two, FPS games are multiplayer games, usually with a lot of in game harassment, so this is a massive downside considering there can be always dozens of victoryhungry players with their sights on you at most points in the game

Both games are equally as enjoyable and dangerous, but horror games are worse overall since it can cause extremely serious health issues and the sheer amount of gore can influence people (predominantly children) to simulate what they see in these inappropriate games. FPS games can be better than horror games, though still quite bad, because there is an option to play friendly matches with people you are associated with

Conclusion

There is enough evidence to prove that video games can cause multiple serious things along with just prompting violence in gamers, such as this graph for the USA which states that as the video game sales rise, so does the violent crime rate

Of Which Are Children

This includes arrythmias and tachycardia which can sometimes result in death

Mental health issues are not excluded as well, anger issues, video game addictions and – directed at children – tantrums can be the cause of losing a match or playing for too long and getting overly invested in a game

Not many video game genres are exciting enough to bring out these issues listed above (as stated in chapter three, the puzzle genre is a great example of not being as exciting as other games due to the lack of fast-paced action), but FPS games and horror games are because of their intensity and – although it sounds like a bad trait of a video game – anxiety inducing moments, which is a magnet to gamers looking for endless fun, thrills and excitement A major downside of these genres is that they usually involve copious amounts of blood, and in horror games, gore. This is especially bad for the children partaking in games like these because they are prone to tantrums and nightmares galore, over being chased by an entity or being killed by another player in game

Disclosed in chapter one, there is a plentiful number of videos roaming about on social media platforms of people punching holes in their monitors over FPS and/or horror games, a substantial portion