Do Violent Video Games Hypnotize?

Do+Violent+Video+Games+Hypnotize%3F

_20151212_121411In today’s culture, violent video games are a big influence on people. Overall, violent video games are a huge problem. People all around the world play these type of video games. Even though there are restrictions on video games and who can play them, that law is commonly broken. If someone that isn’t old enough to buy that type of video game, the parent is allowed to waive the restriction and allow the kid to buy the game.

There are many reasons why people play violent video games. The main reason behind why people play violent video games are because they are supposedly believed to be the main source of relieving stress. This allows people with personal or family problems to relieve their stress while playing these games, instead of hurting someone in the real world.

Another reason for people to play these games is because they want to experience the act of doing something illegal that they wouldn’t want to do in real life. Like in Grand Theft Auto, you are allowed to steal cars, shoot people, and also make chaos. Allowing yourself to play these video games results in not hurting the human kind at that moment, but does hurt your mental state. Allowing your mental state to rise increases the chance that you will exhibit bad behavior. When you play these violent games your brain and body want to react to these things that you do in the video game, but if you have a strong enough mental state to do so you won’t allow it to happen. On the other hand, someone with a bad mental state might actually try to reenact what they did in the game or exhibit bad behavior.

There are many examples of how this does occur. “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on,” said Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University. For example in the Sandy Hook shooting that happened in 2012, the shooter was addicted to playing violent video games, like GTA, Call Of Duty, and Left 4 Dead. He thought he wanted to reenact those games.

Within those games there is the side where you can commit a hurtful crime or a non hurtful crime. First, stealing a car in GTA, isn’t hurting anyone physically, but is still committing a crime that you might not do in real life. Just because the violent game doesn’t affect you, it still hurts your state of mind causing you to think it is OK to commit a crime. Whether is it dealing drugs, stealing a car, or any other illegal activity, you know what is right and wrong to do in the real world, versus video games. Video games trick your mind by saying that because you can do something not so good in a video game you can do it in real life.

In an story from Times Magazine, Dr. Vincent Matthews, a doctor at Indiana University stated, “Behavioral studies have shown an increase in aggressive behavior after violent video games.” There is the factor that it is not just the video game, but your mind is not getting enough socializing. Aaron Dinapoli, an IHS Senior,  stated,”If video games are the thing the person does, yes it will affect the brain negatively because they’re not socializing with other society.”

Your mind needs to be healthy in three categories: mental, emotional, and social health. This means that you have to be in the right state of mind and to socialize with others so you aren’t lonely. If you are alone all the time then you resort to the worst. Just because violent video games have affected others doesn’t mean it has to happen to you. If you are wishing to stop bad behavior, or even aggressive behavior, there is an answer.  Dr Matthews said, “The brain changes don’t appear to be permanent, but documenting that the brain does change in response to playing a violent game — even just for two hours a day for a week — is a significant advance in understanding how young players may be affected by these games.”

So if you are wanting to decrease the chances, then limit the amount of hours or even minutes you play games. A major questions is that should violent video games be banned? Aaron Dinapoli stated, “No they shouldn’t be banned. The ERSB rating is supposed to keep kids who aren’t old enough from playing those games.” The ERSB rating is the intensity level of the game. A sticker on a game isn’t going to stop you. You are going to have to stop yourself from playing these violent games.