Introduction
With the technological boom, corporate and business authorities have started playing with the psychology of young and fragile minds by targeting the most vulnerable and weak parts of their existence and consciousness. One of these psychologically victimized aspects of the human race is the negative provocation of the sexuality and violent instincts of the human mind. Both of these psychological aspects are essential parts of existence as every human being need authority, dominance, and ultimate pleasure. Many find this pleasure in the negativities of social life. Making use of these wild and survival instincts of human beings, the cruel corporate authorities are making a financial profit of millions of dollars annually. One such industry that uses provocative sexual and violent material to sell is the gigantic industry of video games. The worst is that underage children are highly attracted to these products and are becoming more and more psychologically violent and abusive against the weak and the opposite sex (Tompkins, 2003).
Video games are a core part of the media that targets a diverse range of audiences that including children as well. However, video games are becoming a major source of social and domestic violence due to their violent content, aggressive playing skills, and obscene materials that are inappropriate for the majority of the target audiences (Tompkins, 2003). Regardless of the statistical pieces of evidence showing violent incidents inspired by videos games and enraged video gamers involved in social crimes like drag racing and one-wheeling, there are certain groups who claim video games to be harmless with no significant impact on overall social psychology (Kitzinger, 2004). In order to reduce and overcome this impact, it is important that the parents and the media censorship board must consider the type of content that is being exposed to vulnerable minds through video games.
Researchers and reports have indicated that video games are one of the prime components adding to fixation and aggression (Kitzinger, 2004). However various studies have found that video games do not add to these issues (Kitzinger, 2004). Moreover, there are few if any efficiently demonstrated studies to bolster these reports, and the video game industry has become a simple focus for the media to be responsible for some contemporary issues. Additionally, numerous studies have proposed conceivable constructive outcomes of video games on parts of communal and mental and psychological development (Tompkins, 2003). It has been presented that video game players have obviously better hand and eye coordination and visual aptitudes (Kitzinger, 2004).
Adolescents and children are the individuals which are for the most part engaged in video games. The young minds of players are vulnerable and more likely to be negatively affected by the negative contents of video games. Therefore, this might be because of the technological developments which have presented new generations with more realistic games which underline violence (Tompkins, 2003). As to this contention, there are two extremely inverse sides, the first argument is made by the developers and marketers related to the game development who contend that gaming is secure excitement with no connection to violence and the other is critics who contend that violent media promotes and develops aggression (Gentile et al. 2004).
Studies and observations committed to this issue are tremendous, with “numerous scientific studies inferring that significant introduction to violent video games builds the danger of aggressive behavior in specific youngsters. Along these lines, children start to believe that violence is ordinary behavior as delineated in the games. Furthermore, the possibility of violence in video games can be like that of domestic violence, where youngsters who are presented to violence either become wrongdoers or casualties as they believe that what they watch is the standard.
The studies led found that “in some cases, limited introduction to video games improves the probability of physically and verbally aggressive behavior, contemplations and feelings promptly while playing the game. While huge scale longitudinal studies provided uniting evidence connecting successive presentation to violent video games amid childhood prompts aggression further down the road, including physical ambushes and spouse abuse” (Anderson et al 2003).
Different studies also highlight an association between playing violent and obscene games and bullying incidents at schools. The users who tend to “played M-rated games, commonly adolescents, were observed to be more prone to be accounted for bullying different individuals in the school community” (Thomas 2008). Tragically these negative outcomes are genuine as they are influencing the behavior of youngsters in schools, thusly making more aggressive youngsters within the society.
An examination by Anderson and Bushman (2001) found that for 54 autonomous tests of the connection between aggression and video game violence, there seem, by all accounts, to be predictable examples in the results of playing games that have violent substances. Playing violent games upgrades aggressive practices, increments aggressive feelings, increments aggressive insights, diminishes social practices, and increments physiological excitement. There were 1462 respondents in this study. These impacts are strong and have been found in youngsters and grown-ups, in guys and females experiencing considers. This is to say that the vast majority of the cases have found a relationship yet this is not all-inclusive and numerous studies don’t discover any connection.
Distribution inclination supports the connection between violent video games and violence, violent video games and violent criminal action don’t have a connection relationship. Violence carried on by the individual may really be a symptom of family violence (Cooper & Zimmerman, 2011). Ferguson’s meta-investigation upheld the conclusion that violent video games don’t expand violence in players; rather it has a positive effect (Cooper & Zimmerman, 2011). Video games with violence are connected with expanded visuospatial cognizance (Cooper & Zimmerman, 2011). Visuospatial discernment is identified with visual revolution, visual memory, visual consideration, and the capacity to dissect objects in their surroundings. Violent video games don’t cause violent conduct, yet it they may provoke existing violent propensities.
Furthermore, the exposure to violent video games had no connection to aggressive demeanor. Moreover, the impact of video games on individuals is hard to break down because there were different strategies, systems, and evaluations used to gauge violence. A suggestion for the connection of violent video games to violence has developed in connection with high school shootings and the expanding pattern has turned into the motivation behind why research examines affirm that violent video games are to be faulted.
The violent substance in video games does not promote violence in all the players. However, individuals with psychological tendencies toward “violence” are more likely to be triggered by the violent content of video games.
Individuals who are hereditarily arranged to violence, respond violently subsequent to playing a video game with violent substance because the individual is expressing what was observed in the digital media. In any case, violent video games alone did not expand the violence in the player; it basically impacted the individual with a high in violent inclination to choose to act violently. Therefore, it can be said that no connection was found between violent substances video games, and violent acts or practices.
The respective paper will analyze the psychological perspective of sexuality and violence as an integrated part of human existence. The first part of the paper will present research on the elements of self-consciousness that spurs the elements of sexuality and violence to be discussed in the later part of the paper.
To analyze the impact of the objectives of the research, real-time cases and scenarios involving sexually explicit and violent video games as the foundation will be used.
Primary and Secondary Theories
It is the human psyche to do its utmost to satisfy his inner self or the unconscious self. As described by several psychologists including Freud, Jung, and Roger, the purpose of life is to get the internal satisfaction that is later reflected in the consciousness of the individuals. Since pleasure is often associated with the explicit and carnal desires of the human mind, individuals often drift towards the usage of drugs and pills to drift within their unconscious state and satisfy themselves at that particular level. However, such a practice poses a serious threat to society. The same argument will be discussed later in the respective paper.
Sexual Behavior and needs of any individual are one of the basic driving factors behind motivation and social, psychological, and personal satisfaction and progress (Kitzinger, 2004). There have been several theories that describe the sexual development of the human mind as the pivot of future successes, satisfaction, and even achievement of humanism.
Methodology
Participants
For the purpose of this research study, twenty-five participants will be randomly selected. These participants were undergraduate students. These students were contacted through email for their voluntary participation in the study. They were briefly introduced to the purpose of the study as well so that they know what to expect. However, the identity of the participants was kept anonymous when compiling the results. The participants will belong to the age groups of 13-22 years old including both male and female participants.
Instrumentation
The data will be collected through a carefully designed survey questionnaire. The questionnaire will have closed-ended survey questions that can be responded to on the Likert scale. The participants will have to fill out the questionnaire online. They will be sent an invitation to fill out the questionnaire through email. The filled-out questionnaire will be anonymously collected and analyzed for result development.
The procedure of Data Collection and Analysis
The data from the questionnaires will be quantitatively analyzed. The results will be graphically composed and analyzed for further representation. The questionnaire will focus on various aspects of this study i.e. demographics of players, psychological analysis of the players, duration of playing games, etc. Various charts and graphs will be used to represent the percentage of the results received from the participants. However, throughout the procedure, the identity and gender of the participants will be kept anonymous. Once the results have been compiled, the original data will be discarded so that it may not be misused by any malicious user. Furthermore, this will also ensure the privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of the participants.
Results
A total of twenty-five undergraduate students participated in this study. The distributed questionnaire had three main sections for which the scores were compiled. These three sections were:
- The rate of playing video games
- The percentage content of video games having violence and aggression
- Personality assessment of the respondents through indirect questions
- Personal opinion of respondents about the impact of aggression in video games
The rate of Playing Video Games
We hypothesized that the majority of adolescents have grown up playing video games up to a certain level. The evidence from the questionnaires confirmed this hypothesis. According to the results, 98% of the male respondents and 85% of the female respondents confirmed that they have been playing video games for at least 3-5 hours per week.
Violent and Aggressive Content in Video Games
We hypothesized that the majority of the popular and commercial video games do have a certain level of violence, aggression, and obscenity. The respondents also confirmed this hypothesis. 87% of the respondents confirmed that without aggressive elements of video games, they don’t enjoy playing them in a competitive mode. Also, 82% of the respondents confirmed that obscenity of a certain level is added in the video games in order to add glamor to the games.
Personality Analysis of Respondents
The personality assessment of the respondents was done using indirect scenario-based questions that were designed in accordance with the diagnosis criteria set by DSM-V for aggressive-minded. This revealed mixed results. 64% of the respondents had mild to normal levels of aggression. While 12% had highly aggressive personalities.
Personal Opinions of Participants
Unlike the results from the previous section, the opinion of the respondents also confirmed our main hypothesis. Almost 92% of the respondents believed that violent media and violent video games do contribute to building up aggression and violence in the players. However, at the same time, the respondents also confirmed that it depends on the type of video games and the stretched number of hours that determine the mindset and psychology of the players to be aggressive or not.
Discussion
Video Games were initially developed for instructional, learning, and entertainment purposes. As the technology progressed, these video games also started maturing and becoming more surreal. They became one of the major market shares in the field of Information Technology and Development. Due to its rapid commercialization and significant scope of enjoying large profits, the developers started using elements like violence, fights, battlefields, car racing, and a certain level of obscenity to enhance its target consumer base (Bushman & Huesmann 2006). These elements further made video games more addictive for the young developing minds. While sales of these video games soared, the cases of resultant violence and aggression amongst young video gamers were also reported. It has been often argued that Violent video games are creating a negative impact on the psychological stability of adolescents by making them hyperactive, aggressive, violent, and emotionally unstable.
The violence shown in video games has soared immensely in the last few decades because of their commercial demand. Violent and aggressive video games with ‘R’ ratings by the censorship boards have the maximum market demand and higher profit margins. As a result, video games are deliberately instilled with violent and obscene material to increase their viewership and customer base. As a result, video gamers tend to become more psychologically unstable (Bushman & Huesmann 2006). As per an estimate the video games like Need For Speed: Carbon, Counter-Strike, Halo, etc. have shown more bloodshed and violent aggressiveness to a 12-year-old child than it is ever required (Bushman & Huesmann 2006).
Despite psychological and scholarly researchers confirming the negative impact of violent video games, no practical measures are being taken by the concerned authorities to regulate the development of video games. Instead, they are being termed “Freedom of Speech”. “In 2001, 2003, and 2004 the United States Court of Appeals struck down the legislation to ban the sale of violent video games to minors. Games depicting violent images are speech products protected by the First Amendment” (Calvert & Richards 2005). This clearly shows that the obscene and violent content of video games will continue to taint young minds. Labeling the video games with Censorship ratings will not be enough. It is the responsibility of the parents and the authorities to ensure that their child is not being exposed to any form of inappropriate content at an inappropriate age.
The issue of violence and aggression ignited by video games was also raised in the American Senate in 2000 for the first time (Anderson & Bushman 2001). However, strong lobbying by the Video Game developers and Industrialists, restricted the issue to be effectively discussed and regulated. These industrialists claimed that “the issue has been vastly overblown and overstated, often by politicians and others who don’t fully understand, frankly, this industry. There is absolutely no evidence, none, that playing a violent video game leads to aggressive behavior” (Anderson & Bushman 2001).
As per an estimate (Anderson & Bushman 2011), Americans spend more than 40 hours a week on some sort of video game. Children belonging to the age group of 2 to 18 years old tend to play an average of 7.5 hours of video games weekly (Anderson & Bushman 2011). Most of these video games being played are addictive because of the high level of aggression and violence that exposed an 8-year-old to more than 1000 virtual murders and killings (Anderson & Bushman 2011).
While the researchers, socialists, and other concerned authorities are claiming to have observed a negative impact of video games on the psychological development and stability of young minds, there are arguments made by the developers and gaming industrialists that claim otherwise. One of the most common arguments made by these industrialists is that video games cannot be regulated because it will be an unwanted and unpleasant curb on the Right of Speech and Expression as granted by the US constitution (Ferguson 2007). And every individual has the right to entertain themselves in an appropriate manner. The second argument that is often presented to support violent video games is that they are already regulated by the US Board of Censorship and are labeled for appropriate audiences and age groups (Ferguson 2007).
Remaining it is the responsibility of parents to control what their children are playing if it is appropriate for their age group and psychology. Some psychological arguments are also presented to support violence in video games. For example, one may argue that aggression and violence are innate personal characteristics that cannot be instilled and developed (Ferguson 2007). They can be due to improper upbringing or disturbed psychology since birth (Ferguson 2007). Video games do not develop aggression in an otherwise peaceful child (Ferguson 2007). Such counterarguments are often presented to justify the sales and development of aggressive and violent video games. However, none of these arguments can be considered viable from moral, ethical, social, and logical points of view.
Furthermore, there may also be the argument justifying the video games that they can also be used for educational purposes as they have the tendency to sharpen the mind, making it more responsive and rapid. Critically evaluating this specific argument, it can be stated that there is no denying that video games are indeed influential and effective for young minds. And this is where the entire problem begins. Video games with obscenity and aggressive content not only taint young minds but also direct their aggression in the wrong direction which may include abusiveness, rage, domestic violence, an attempt at dominance, etc. Therefore, in order to secure young minds from the harmful and negative impacts of video games, it is important that their content must be regulated and censored accordingly.
The part of violent media including video games that are relevant to this study is the substance because of the way that the violent substance is presented to clients can conceivably be a variable that prompts violent and aggressive attitude (Anderson et al. 2010). Albeit momentum researchers finish up violent effects that are similar to the relationship between games and aggressive attitude as like that amongst smoking and cancer. However, this comparison illustrates the possibility that introduction to violence in video games may not generally essentially prompt aggressive outcomes; in like manner smokers don’t generally develop cancer. The odds of video games bringing on violent behavior in adolescents are expanded significantly.
One of the most gruesome cases of violent video game impact on adolescents named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. Later investigations revealed that these two youngsters were involved in the massacre at the Colorado High School in the late 1990s by opening firearms. The investigators and researchers made a persuading association between the homicide and the persistent playing of video games with reports uncovering that these culprits spent extended periods of time playing video games like Mortal Kombat. Furthermore, these criminals also had an interest in playing different violent games, which viably played a central part in their violent demonstrations. One of the shooters – Harris had really altered a variant of the game Doom and set it on his site. In his variant, there were the involved culprits, additional weapons, and different characters in the game that couldn’t shoot back. These individuals actually intended to showcase their variant of Doom to honest schoolmates demonstrating how the violent substance in games played could impact the behavior and activities (Ferguson et al. 2011).
In spite of the negative associations, a few specialists have come to a different hypothesis, unequivocally contending that video games have no connection to violence. As of late Modern Warfare 2 has been censured for its violent substance yet “it is not going to bring about an adjustment in grown-up behavior” (Ferguson et al. 2011). The teacher clarified that “there is no conclusive evidence or research to demonstrate that violent video games make grown-ups carry on any more violently” (Ferguson et al. 2011), including that “more youthful gamers, commonly less than eight years old have a tendency to be more impacted by games.
They typically attempt and copy what they have viewed on the extra large screen. However, grown-ups, which this game is guaranteed for, have effectively shaped their intellectual sensibilities and won’t ordinarily begin acting distinctively in light of a video game” (Ferguson et al. 2011). In spite of the fact that these legitimizations sound sensible, they ignore the straightforwardness with which children can get too violent and grown-up-rated games. At present video games cannot be guaranteed to a particular gathering of individuals in light of the fact that the odds of a child getting a critically violent rated game have expanded because of the weak requirement of oversight controls implemented in numerous nations.
Regardless of the claims or arguments made by industrialists in favor of video games, the effect of video games is clear as it is influencing a large number of individuals around the globe day by day.
Conclusion
Considering the impact of video games that are promoting enraged over speeding and driving, illegal car racing, emotional aggression, and personal violence, it is important that the video games must be carefully scrutinized and evaluated before they are released to a specific audience. It is highly important that parents, guardians, and concerned authorities need to ensure that their child is not being exposed to unnecessary virtual violence.
Every technology and invention has both negativities and benefits. It is the knowledge of the individual playing them which plays a fundamental part in his decision. It can influence his life either by aggravating them better or. Indeed, even items like sustenance, are there in the business sector to satisfy their dietary needs. Be that as it may, individuals eat them according to taste in obscure sum prompting stoutness and different illnesses. Along these lines utilizing things as a part of points of confinement and control is the fundamental subject that should be taken after. Video games are produced according to our decision and taste. It is us that get highly obsessed and compulsively associated with this virtual world and make these games impact our extreme nature. Things like the Video game were dependably there and will dependably there be it is only their legitimate and controlled use which we have to learn. Numerous future games will be there to instruct us and numerous will be there to impact us. It’s simply our choice where we and our youngsters need to go.
Therefore, it can be concluded that in order to satisfy both the audiences i.e. Pro-video games and the opponents, certain regulatory recommendations can be presented. This will create a win-win situation for both sides. Similar to the way movies are censored for different types of audiences, video games can also be censored and their different versions can be released. For instance, the same version of the video game that will be for the players of the age group 13-15 will be more strictly censored as compared to the version intended for 18-23 years of age group. This will secure all the involved sides without harming the interests of any perspective.
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