Columbine High School massacre, Essay

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones. Other feedback may come via haptic peripherals, such as vibration or force feedback, with vibration sometimes used to simulate force feedback. In the early days of cartridge consoles; they were sometimes called TV games. It has been shown that action video game players have better hand-eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than nonplayers. Researchers found that such enhanced abilities could be acquired by training with action games, involving challenges that switch attention between different locations, but not with games requiring concentration on single objects. It has been suggested by a few studies that online/offline video gaming can be used as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of different mental health concerns. In Steven Johnson’s book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, he argues that video games in fact demand far more from a player than traditional games like Monopoly. To experience the game, the player must first determine the objectives, as well as how to complete them. They must then learn the game controls and how the human-machine interface works, including menus and HUDs. Beyond such skills, which after some time become quite fundamental and are taken for granted by many gamers, video games are based upon the player navigating a highly complex system with many variables. Learning principles found in video games have been identified as possible techniques with which to reform the U. S. education system. It has been noticed that gamers adopt an attitude while playing that is of such high concentration, they do not realize they are learning, and that if the same attitude could be adopted at school, education would enjoy significant benefits. Students are found to be â€Å"learning by doing† while playing video games while fostering creative thinking. Video game development and authorship, much like any other form of entertainment, is frequently a cross-disciplinary field. Video game developers, as employees within this industry are commonly referred, primarily include programmers and graphic designers. Over the years this has expanded to include almost every type of skill that one might see prevalent in the creation of any movie or television program, including sound designers, musicians, and other technicians; as well as skills that are specific to video games, such as the game. All of these are managed by producers. 97% of 12-17 year olds in the US played video games in 2008, thus fueling an $11. 7 billion domestic video game industry. In 2008, 10 of the top 20 best-selling video games in the US contained violence. Violent video games have been blamed for school shootings, increases in bullying, and violence towards women. Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence, reward players for simulating violence, and teach children that violence is an acceptable way to resolve conflicts. Video game advocates contend that a majority of the research on the topic is deeply flawed and that no causal relationship has been found between video games and social violence. They argue that violent video games may reduce violence by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play and by providing a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings. The controversy over violent video games resurfaced following the massacre of 13 people at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, CO on Apr. 20, 1999. The two teenage shooters were revealed to be avid players of weapon-based combat games Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Following the shooting, 176 newspaper articles across the country focused on the allegation that video games were the cause of the tragedy. On Oct. 7, 2005, California passed a law that required violent video games to include an â€Å"18† label and criminalized the sale of these games to minors. The law was blocked by the US District Court for the Northern District of California and was struck down in Feb. 2009 by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals citing First Amendment protections and the inability of the state to demonstrate a link between violence in video games and real-world violence. As of Dec. 2008, six other state statutes and two city ordinances concerning the sale of violent video games to minors have been stricken down on similar grounds. On June 27, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Association that the California law banning the sale of violent video games to minors violated free speech rights. In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, â€Å"A state possesses legitimate power to protect children from harm†¦ but that does not include a free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which children may be exposed. † Several games have garnered significant media attention, including 2004’s JFK assassination reenactment JFK Reloaded, 2005’s Columbine shooting reenactment Super Columbine Massacre RPG! , and 2006’s Rape Lay, a Japanese video game where the player stalks and rapes a mother and her two daughters. Prior to the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which went on to gross $550 million in the first five days after its Nov. 10, 2009 release, leaked footage of the game stirred enough controversy that publisher Activision issued a response defending the game’s violent imagery. Some cons to the question â€Å"Does Video Games promote violence are the following: Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71. 9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49. 3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled. Another con would be violent video games provide healthy and safe opportunities for children to virtually explore rules and consequences of violent actions. Violent games also allow youth to experiment with issues such as war, violence and death without real world consequences. In conclusion I have learned throughout this research that video games in fact do have a major impact on young adolescents in today’s time whether it’s positive or negative. I’ve also realized that for one some kids may act out because of theses sometime violent games and that for two they may improve in their behavior by these games as well. There isn’t really a yes or no answer to this research topic ,but maybe parents should just get games more appropriate for their child’s age . Work Cited â€Å"Video Games ProCon. org. † ProConorg Headlines. N. p. , n. d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Video Game. † Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. â€Å"Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence. † Children and Video Games: Playing with Violence. N. p. , n. d. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.