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"The implicit connection between violent media and violent behavior is so old that, like a barnacle clinging to a hull, it's not easily dislodged."- Toppo, Greg. "Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?"

Many studies have shown that games are not causing players to be violent, but are making them less so. These studies state that players are so busy playing games at home that there's no chance for them to actually be thinking about going outside to commit grand theft auto type or randomly shoot people. This is a topic that has been discussed and many have compared it to other forms of media such as movies. Games have become more and more realistic giving the feeling that you are the character and you are the person in the game.
 * Violence in Video Games**

Some research has shown that games can cause individuals to be more aggressive and could in theory cause someone to kill another person if the game has caused enough rage and frustration. A game could also, in theory, have a main character so aggressive that the player learns and tries to be and act more like him or her. These can cause people to kill and in some cases have popped up, and these cases have involved a person dying. The cases involved, here, have games involved in the crime. These cases are all unique and have different stories. Some of the stories involve driving to a location and killing people to the parent raging out and killing a child. These instances can be seen as examples for video games causing people to kill. These cases could be considered outliers as these are not normal enough cases to actually be a normal case.
 * Research Supporting Video Games Causing Real World Violence**

There has been a long going discussion on whether or not the media is a reflection or a predictor of real world behaviors. A study conducted in 2013 by the Entertainment Software Administration compared the violence in video games available to children ages 12-17 versus government reported violence in the youth of the same age range. The results showed a substantial rise in video game violence but an equally opposing drop in real life violence. Similar studies that focus on media as causation for real world violence seem to show similar results and remain unable to draw a connection between a rise in media violence and an increase in real-world or societal violence.
 * Research Supporting that Video Games Do Not Cause Real World Violence**


 * Positive Examples of Violence in Video Games**



The project of Lucidity was originally created by a class of students in the Game Changer Chicago Design Lab. Its premise consisted of an African-American woman named Zaria who deals with being a victim of sexual assault. In an interview, a co-founder of the lab, Dr. Patrick Jagoda, described the process involved in the creation of the game. “When young people come in, they’re often dealing with intimate sexual health issues that are difficult to focus” (Agloro, 2014). In the design lab, students are brought in to discuss and design games about these sexual issues, as well as learn about how to address them. This environment provides a whole new perspective on the views of the adolescents when it comes to these topics, since there is more of a discussion between peers compared to a sex-education course. “Our design process is exciting from a sexual health perspective, because as teachers we’re not standing there and lecturing to them about sexually transmitted infections, condoms, and birth control… the young people will bring up questions they have, often very personal questions. Game design as a collaborative, shared project opens up a space where these questions are both asked and discussed” (Agloro, 2014). As a result of this workshop, the students have taken the ideas and discussions outside of the lab, and have spread awareness about the topic in other areas of their lives.

While violent content is present in many of the games that are considered controversial, it is not always considered to be the determining factor on aggression. In the results of the studies that were conducted, the factor of the competitiveness found in these games was a much greater influence on levels of aggression in children compared to the violent content present. “In general, violent video games tend to be more competitive than nonviolent games” (Carnagey and Anderson, 2005). With many of the studies that measure the levels of aggression in the participants, a modified version of the Taylor competitive reaction time test (TCRTT) is utilized, “in which the participant is told that he or she is competing with another participant to see who can push a button faster upon the appearance of a cue… and the winner chooses the intensity and duration of a punishment for the looser” (Adachi and Willoughby, 2011).
 * Competition Rather Than Violence As A Factor**


 * References**

Toppo, Greg. "Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?" //Scientific American.// Nature America, Inc, 01 July 2015. Web. 23 July 2016.

CNN. "__ Expert: Video Games Don't Trigger Violence. __" //YouTube//. YouTube, 18 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.

“10 Deaths Caused by Video Games” //Criminal Justice Degrees Guide//. Criminal Justice Degrees Guide, 2016. Web. 23 July 2016.

 Ferguson, Christopher J. “Does Media Violence Predict Societal Violence?”: It depends on what you look at and when” //Journal of Communication// 65.1 (Feb2015): pE1-E22. Article.

 AsapSCIENCE. "Can Video Games Make You Smarter?" //YouTube.// YouTube, 19 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Gilliam, Melissa, Patrick Jagoda, Erin Jaworski, Luciana E. Hebert, Phoebe Lyman, and M. Claire Wilson. "Because If We Don’t Talk about It, How Are We Going to Prevent It?”: Lucidity, a Narrative-based Digital Game about Sexual Violence." Sex Education 16.4 (2015): 391-404. Web. "Lucidity: A Game About Sexual Assault." Alexandrina Agloro. N.p., 07 July 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2017. Carnagey, L. N., & Anderson, C. A. (2005). The effects of reward and punishment in violent video games on aggressive affect, cognition, and behavior. Psychological Science, 16, 882–889. Adachi, Paul J. C., and Teena Willoughby. "The Effect of Video Game Competition and Violence on Aggressive Behavior: Which Characteristic Has the Greatest Influence?" Psychology of Violence 1.4 (2011): 259-74. Web.


 * Photos**

Turrell, Jimmy. Photograph. "Shooting in the Dark" //The New York Times//. The New York Times Company, 11 February 2013. Web. 20 July 2016.

"Lucidity: A Game About Sexual Assault." Alexandrina Agloro. N.p., 07 July 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2017.


 * Related Content**

Violent Video Games and its Audience