Effects of computer games on their audiences.

1.) http://www.psmag.com/navigation/books-and-culture/violent-video-games-bad-behaviorevidence-mounts-74372/
2.) http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html
3.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26049333
The first page that I visited started off by saying that there had just been a survey asking 37,000
participants about video games, the result was that they found out it makes people more aggressive.
They also did another one in Italy, this one found out that it also decreased self-control and
increased cheating. This leads me to believe that they think that video games do make kids more
violent and do not even consider the idea that the games are only a small percentage hast make up
for kids behaviour. The next quote comes from the article Participants who played a violent video
game for only 35 minutes exhibited less self-control, cheated more, and behaved more aggressively
than did participants who played a nonviolent video game. From this I can see that they believe
that kids are made more violent if they played violent games then those who played nonviolent
games for a longer period of time. From the article so far we can gage that the audience they believe
for violent games is active as they think that kids are taking the aggression and bad behaviour out of
the game and using it in real life.
The article then went on to explain an experiment that they did in Italy, where 172 high school
students were asked to practice for 10 minutes on a game, then some were asked to play a violent
video game (Grand Theft Auto IIIor Grand Theft Auto San Andreas) or a non-violent one (Pinball 3Dor
Mini Golf 3D) for 35 minutes. They had a bowl of M and Ms with them when they were playing the
game and were told that they could have as many as they liked but were warned that they might not
want to eat to many to fast for their health, this was a test to see about their self-control, the more
candy they consumed the worse there self-control was. They then completed a survey designed to
measure their level of moral disengagement, a few other tests followed this. The results were that
the kids that played the violent video games were the ones who stole and cheated the most and
behaved the worst, compared to the kids that played the non-violent games who were the complete
opposite of bad.
They also have found out that individuals who have high moral disengagement were far more
affected than those with low moral disengagement. From this website I can conclude that they
believe that kids who played violent video games can have their behaviour effected by it but also if
they have a high morel disengagement they are then more likely to do worse things after playing the
games.
The second page that I visited started there article out with a quote, in the quote the person warns
that violent films can effects kids behaviour he says that there is a time to act about it an ban them
and that, that time has come, the quote was from the Surgeon General in 1972. The website then
goes on to talk about 3 different ways that violent video games are worse than violent films, first of
they start talking about how with video games the audience is active but with TV they are passive,
then they say that when it is a one player violent game the player identifies them self with the killer
and then when they are in third person when playing a violent game that the person controls their
actions, but compare that to a violent TV programme people can identify with the characters as
easily or not at all thus making them safer.

The article also goes in to talking about whether video games are good for you, they state that video
games can be good as they allow people to let out there pent up anger in a nonviolent way to others
or to them selfs but to made up people and creatures in a game.
Thousands of questionnaires and tests have been done to see if this is true, but the studies showed
that violent video games increased aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, and physiological arousal in
people, so with this information you could be right in believing that violent video games are not
good for you at all.
The article also goes in to how people deny that the violent games they play make them aggressive,
so they talk about how people who play the games cerates self-denial. The article in total states that
because people play the game in an active way this means that the games effect their behaviour and
so make them more violent and aggressive. I can conclude from this website that kids who play
violent videogames have their behaviour changed by the games but also the games might provide a
way of letting anger and aggression out without hurting others.

The third page that I visited started out by saying that violent games can hold back kids morel
maturity, the article stated that it weekend there empathy for others. They also talked about how
kids can have a lack of empathy if they play violent video games, this is a worry as it can mean that
they lose emotions, they dont learn the emotions that they need to empathise meaning that the
generation will find it hard to use them. The article then went on to talk about how emotions can be
delayed in kids if they play violent video games, this is quite a scary thought as emotions and
empathy are part of the building blocks for self-stability so but losing these or having them delayed
could mean that the kids could develop mental issues when they grow older even to the point of
doing something that can never be undone.

The article also stated that kids could lose their sense of right and wrong, this links in with the others
but also connects to people fears that by playing the games kids could then go on it to the real world
and commit some of the acts that they do when playing the games out on the general public.
The article then says that to help kids to feel things and connect with others while putting them on
the right track is to get parents to make their kids to some charity work, thus making them more
emotional stable, help them to create empathy for thows that they are helping but also to help
there people skills and make new friends, they would have not had the opportunity to do throws
things if they had just stayed in front of a TV playing the games.
In conclusion this article makes it seem like the games effect not only there thoughts but also there
emotions and mind, making the kids more emotional unstable, and so more violent and
unpredictable. The article would indicate that they believe kids would play the games only to get lost
and for entertainment.

In conclusion to all of the articles I would say that they all connect to one another but the third
article makes it seem like it has worse after effects than the others where are the first two talk
mostly about the tests that they took on kids to see what the results would be.