Violent Video Games
The essay that I read for today was in support of the claim that violent video games promote aggressive behavior. As an avid video game player, I found the article interesting to say the least.
As I said, I am an avid game player. Halo would be at the top of the heap, but it is followed by Fable, a 3rd person fantasy game, Mass Effect, a 3rd person sci-fi game and Elder Scrolls, another 3rd person fantasy games. All of these have a large amount of violence to them, and are rated as such by the ESRB. And I can say that I am not an aggressive person because of the video games I play. I’m just Irish.
Seriously though, my friends and I have been playing Halo since the first installment. And while some of our sessions have become heated after a particularly intense game, or during the game during a kill or move that someone thought was questionable. There are sporatic shouts or jeers, and even the occasional pounding of a fist to a wall, or more likely the stomping of feet. But the aggression stops there. After the game is concluded, there is very rarely lingering aggression, and in the instances that it is, it only lasts a few minutes.
I would even go so far as to say that the actions expressed during video gameplay of this nature is similar to athletes during a sporting event. In baseball, there can even be physical reprecussions. When a player on Team A is hit by a pitch, it is considered the duty of the pitcher of Team B to intentionally hit the next batter for Team A. This is a practice that some of my friends and I disagree on, as I think it is stupid and potentially dangerous.
Obviously there are always exceptions. I do think that in some people, violent video games can trigger some aggressive properties, but at a person who is untriggered, it is hard for me to beleive that the majority of violent video game players are affected in this way.
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