GAD Year 2 Blog

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Whoops!

I haven't been keeping up with my blog very well so here's a summary of the rest of the work I have completed for the studio project from Image 4.

These are all 3 of the images I completed after Image 4, all of which I am really happy with.

Had a rough few weeks recently, and to top it all off, I get a trapped nerve in my back which leaves me crippled for substantial amounts of time in the day. Fantastic. So this is the essay I put together in pain, unfortunately I cant sit at my computer for too long, so I just hope this is good enough...

How do Media Responses towards Violence in Video games create Controversy?

Through the years there has been much controversy about the influence that Video games, as well as the mass media has had on how people act with one another. There have been many negative views that Video games cause people to be violent, aggressive and more hostile. However, how true are these claims? The controversy stems from the Media itself, with newspapers and studies conducted by the media into whether Violence is cause by video games. These studies are then presented to the public to persuade them that Video games are the source of all problems in terms of violent behaviour from adolescents. But are these studies conducted in a way that goes towards their conductors favour? Legitimate studies conducted by Sociologists and Psychologists have found reasons to suggest that violent video games and violent behaviour have no correlation between them. What I will be studying is the controversy between the media and its audience on the case of violence in video games, as well as studying the effect the media has on the general reaction to games. I will study the rhetoric of a wide range of games, and compare the experiences different games can give to their audiences.

To examine the way mass media can influence how people view games, we have to first understand the sociological theories behind it. The first theory which was released around 1940-1950 was the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This theory suggests that like a needle, the mass media is 'injected' into the audience and the effect it has is immediate and overwhelming. 'The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change.’ [sic] (University of Twente, 2013) At this time there were various reasons to suggest the mass media was having a direct effect on the population. The main indicator was the steep rise of Propaganda and advertising. Being around the time of WWII, the use of propaganda to influence the actions of the masses was widely used and successful. Another use of propaganda was 'Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party'. (University of Twente, 2013) This is the earliest and simplest form of influence from the media; however, it is still relevant today, with this theory explaining panic caused by news stories such as epidemics and natural disasters. This also explains the fear caused by the media blaming violent behaviour on video games, as the audience then believes that anyone who partakes in games will become violent. Two Sociologists who expanded on this theory were Katz and Lazarfeld (1955) who introduced the Two Step Flow theory of Mass Communication. Their theory claims that the media moves in two stages. These two stages are split between opinion leaders and Individuals in social contact with an opinion leader. The opinion leaders are the receivers of the mass media’s information, and who interpret it to the rest of the audience. 'Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence.' [sic] (University of Twente, 2013) The opinion leaders interpret the media’s message to the individuals in social contact with them. Katz and Lazarfeld are simply trying to explain that our relationships with others also can determine how we interpret and gain influence from the mass media. They have claimed that there must be more than one step to how the population receives media, as one person may receive a media message and then go and pass the message onto someone else. In relation to how this can affect a person in terms of the mass Medias message on video game violence, the population will absorb information given by the media, and this will affect their views on video games.

The media has always been a key influence on how the population view different parts of society. Games are no exception to this fact, as they are the point of blame from the media in cases of violence, as well as other subjects such a childhood obesity etc. The media has always portrayed games as negative, and these ideas are passed onto the mass population. But do these views affect the population’s outlook on video games? Whenever encountered by cases of violence caused by adolescents, the mass media are always quick to blame video games. Dubious sources such as the Daily Mail even conducted studies to prove their point. Their results show a strong correlation between violent video games and violent behaviour from adolescents. 'Evidence suggests that long-term players of violent games may become more likely to react aggressively to unintentional provocations such as someone accidentally bumping into them.' (Daily Mail Online, 2012) The research conducted found that the teenagers who played violent video games showed rises in their aggression levels over the course of the study. It was a long-term study conducted by the Brock University of Canada, and their results concluded there was rise in hostile behaviour in these adolescents. However, if you look through the article, the Daily Mail goes on to blame video games for two violent actions. A young boy of age 14 hung himself after playing 'Call of Duty' which has disturbing scenes of soldiers trying to kill each other. Another is Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway after claiming he played 'Call of Duty' to train himself for the task. These two cases have been solely blamed on video games, however the investigation in these individuals’ family circumstances and mental health may explain much more. In essence, the Daily mail is twisting stories in its favour to encourage the mass population that video games are bad. Another famous shooting in Colorado committed by the Columbine shooters in a high school has been claimed to have been caused by the shooters playing violent games. 'The media revealed that Harris and Klebold played a lot of violent video games, including "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom," and "Mortal Kombat."' (Julia Layton, 2013). This is another case of the media finding blame in video games. If we look into the minds of these boys, we can see a clear mental instability which is a more reliable and realistic cause of their behaviour. ‘During the attack Eric made comments directed at jocks and claimed that he was getting revenge on people for mistreating him.’(Langman, 2009) Past experiences with bullying and mistreatment are more likely to have caused their violent behaviour against this school, than the video games they may have played.

Games can give many different experiences to the player than just messages of violence. The sheer amount of different genres of games there are on the market today means there is plenty of diversity to give unique experiences to the player. The role of the mass media in recent years has been to portray all video games as violent and harmful on adolescents. This however isn’t the reality. Games can fulfil all types of purposes in society, such as educational purposes as well as being used as political influences. Video games which contain positive messages are games such as Brain Training, Spore, Save the Whale game (Greenpeace), as well as family games such as Dance Central and educational games. Brain Training encourages players to keep their minds active by completing puzzles and mathematics on a daily basis. Spore is a SIM game in which players can create their own world and race, and help them survive and evolve. Save the Whale game is a game made by Greenpeace to promote saving the whales from being hunted and captured. Family games such as Dance Central merely have the rhetoric to encourage families to play together and compete with one another. The rhetoric of these all these games is to teach players without them even realising it, with even games such as Portal teaching the player physics and science. The mass Medias opinion on games is that the rhetoric of all games is to subconsciously teach people to be violent. However, when you study others it is clear that there is a mixture of genres and messages, which can be found in all types of media.

After examining the effects of the mass media on audiences, we can conclude that the message received by the audience on video games is always a negative one. The point of blame by newspapers and the government itself in terms of violent crimes by adolescents will always lie on the shoulders on video games. In terms of violence, we can claim that a person’s genes and mental stability can determine whether a person acts violently from playing video games. In cases where video games have apparently influenced a person’s actions, such as the Sandy Hook shootings, we must realise that when a person commits these actions there is usually an underlying mental health issue. 'Social isolation and precipitating mental health issues, particularly in the Sandy Hook situation, have been other contributors to the criminals of the recent shootings.' (Andrew Hung, 2013) The lack of sufficient evidence to claim that video games do cause violent acts means that there will never be a true correlation between the two. However, in light of mass shootings in the USA in recent years, the government is looking for someone to blame and video games will always be on their radar. The ultimate conclusion of games is that there is a wide range of experiences that this media contains. The view that all video games contain violent messages in some way is flawed, as the substantial amount of positive messages found in games as well as the use of rhetoric to subconsciously teach players outweigh the negative feedback from the mass media.

Thursday, 9 May 2013

Feedback from my First draft

So this was the feedback from my first draft:

Basically, I need to change most of my essay. So this is my new title:

How do Media Responses towards Violence in Video games create Controversy?

Tuesday, 30 April 2013

First Essay Draft

This is my first essay draft:

Looking from a sociological and psychological perspective, can Violent Video games encourage Violent behaviour?

Through the years there has been much controversy about the influence that Video games, as well as the mass media has had on how people act with one another. There has been many negative views that Video games cause people to be violent, aggressive and more hostile. However, how true are these claims? Studies conducted by Sociologists and Psychologists have found a key correlation in the relation to violent video games and violent behaviour, especially those by adolescents. The development over the years of the video game industry has given this market a diversity in its games, leading to many dark and horrific games making the market. These certificate 18 games have made their way into the hands and minds of young children, and this may have had a major impact on violent behaviours as they grow up. The studies I will be looking at by famous Sociologists and Psychologists will analyse whether Violence in Video games can effect a persons behaviour, and I will also conduct research into real life cases of violence supposedly caused directly by games.

Video games, ever since they were released have had some element of violence portrayed in them. Violence in video games will always be inevitable, however, does this violence influence people to imitate their in-game actions in the real world? Real-life studies have been conducted into this theory, and most of the results show the same correlation. 'Evidence suggests that long-term players of violent games may become more likely to react aggressively to unintentional provocations such as someone accidentally bumping into them.' (Daily Mail Online, 2012) The research conducted found that the teenagers who played violent video games showed rises in their aggression levels over the course of the study. The influence of the violence in these video games has evidently shown in the actions of individuals such as a young boy of age 14, who hung himself after playing 'Call of Duty' which has disturbing scenes of soldiers trying to kill each other. Another is Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in Norway after claiming he played 'Call of Duty' to train himself for the task. Another study conducted by the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University examined the effects of desensitization to violence. 'No research has experimentally examined violent video game effects on physiological desensitization, defined as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world.' (N Carnagey, C Anderson, B Bushman , 2005) They monitored the heart rate of participants as they played violent video games, and then showed them real-life violence. Participants who had played the video game had a lower heart rate when watching the real-life violence than those who had not played the video game. This shows a strong link between video games and a desensitization to violence. This desensitization can cause adolescents to commit acts of violence with no thought as they feel no sensitivity towards their actions. The blame for adolescents behaviour in recent years has always been put onto video games, with major shootings being put down to people being influenced by certain games. 'The rise in dramatically violent shootings by teenagers, many of whom apparently play violent video games, is helping the argument that video game violence translates into real-world situations.' (Julia Layton, 2013) A famous shooting in Colorado committed by the Columbine shooters in a high school has been claimed to have been caused by the shooters playing violent games. 'The media revealed that Harris and Klebold played a lot of violent video games, including "Wolfenstein 3D," "Doom," and "Mortal Kombat."' (Julia Layton, 2013).

To examine the way mass media such as games can effect how we act in society we have to first understand the sociological theories behind it. The first theory which was released around 1940-1950 was the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This theory suggests that like a needle, the mass media is 'injected' into the audience and the effect it has is immediate and overwhelming. 'The mass media in the 1940s and 1950s were perceived as a powerful influence on behavior change. (University of Twente, 2013) At this time there were various reasons to suggest the mass media was having a direct effect on the population. The main indicator was the steep rise of Propaganda and advertising. Being around the time of WWII, the use of propaganda to influence the actions of the masses was widely used and successful. Another use of propaganda was 'Hitler's monopolization of the mass media during WWII to unify the German public behind the Nazi party'. (University of Twente, 2013) This is the earliest and simplest form of influence from the media, however, it is still relevant today, with this theory explaining panic caused by news stories such as epidemics and natural disasters. Two Sociologists who expanded on this theory were Katz and Lazarfeld (1955) who introduced the Two Step Flow theory of Mass Communication. Their theory claims that the media moves in two stages. These two stages are split between opinion leaders and Individuals in social contact with an opinion leader. The opinion leaders are the receivers of the mass media’s information, and who interpret it to the rest of the audience. 'Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence.' (University of Twente, 2013) The opinion leaders intepret the media’s message to the individuals in social contact with them. Katz and Lazarfeld are simply trying to explain that our relationships with others also can determine how we interpret and gain influence from the mass media. They have claimed that there must be more than one step to how the population receives media, as one person may receive a media message and then go and pass the message onto someone else. In relation to how this can effect a person in terms of violence, if we examine a recent story of a 14 year old boy. This boy befriended a 13 year old boy while playing online on Gears of War 3. The two met in person, and their relationship evolved into something more aggressive through the game. In April 2012, while meeting again, the 14 year old boy cut the throat of his friend, killing him. Because of their violent interpretation of the game and their friendship being based around this violence, the message received by this media effected them both negatively and ended up with the death of one of the boys. If the two boys had never met and gained this violent and aggressive friendship through the messages of the game, would the older boy still have gotten the idea to kill?

However, even looking over studies and cases of violence, there is no substantial evidence that proves that these games directly affected these actions, and are video games really to blame for individuals behaviour? A Secondary school student from R.A. McMath, claims there is no correlation between violence in video games in violence in real life. 'In an essay he wrote on the subject, Yeung, who plays games such as Call of Duty and Left 4 Dead 2, points out that many of the shooting games that are popular in North America are also played in foreign markets. However, while mass shootings have been spotlighted in the United States for the past few years, such acts has decreased in those other countries, Japan and France in particular.' (Andrew Hung, 2013) Therefore, if the violence was directly caused by the video games, there would be a substantial rise in violence in other countries as well, but this is not evident. A study found in the New York Times also explains that the correlation between the sales of violent video games and the rates of violent crime is not what is expected. The rates of violent youth crime is actually seen to have lowered in contrast to the rise in violent video game sales. 'We found that higher rates of violent video game sales related to a decrease in crimes, and especially violent crimes' (Dr. Michael Ward,2013) If there was an increase violent crimes committed by youths in relation to the increase of sales, this would indicate a possible link, however there isn't. One obvious cause of violence, is mental health problems, as well as some people claiming it is in our 'genes'. If a perfectly normal, sane person plays a violent video game, does this mean they will go out and mimic the actions? No, as the violent crimes figures would be sky high. A recent post on Gamasutra's website examines the reasons behind why people commit violent crimes, and how video games aren't to blame. 'There’s no reason to believe the aggression videogames cause is any different or more severe than aggression from any other source.' (Michal Kasumovic, 2013) Violence at its core is triggered in people by a variety of different things, whether it is from alcohol consumption or sports, there are many triggers that can cause aggression. Video games can also be one of these triggers. A study conducted into the long term effects of violent video games in adolescents, supported that exposure to video games for as little as ten minutes can enforce aggressive behaviours. 'But when researchers consider other social factors linked to adolescent aggression, it seems increased exposure to family violence and negative peer influences and less communication with their parents have greater effects. Violent videogames, it seems, may be an indicator, but there are clearly deeper issues at play.' (Michal Kasumovic, 2013) Looking into aggression, there are dependencies they determine whether as a person we react to certain scenarios. Some people would react violently to someone who is victorious over them in a game situation, however others would not. This would suggest that psychologically we are all different in terms of how we react in situations, which can explain many of the violent crimes committed by adolescents. 'In the same way, there may be a subset of individuals that are at a greater risk of the influence of violent video games. As videogames have many benefits, rather than demonising them, shouldn’t we use videogames to try and identify these individuals?'(Michal Kasumovic, 2013) For a prime example, in the case of a 20 year old boy, Adam Lanza. He murdered his own family after apparently playing the game 'Dynasty Warriors'. However, looking into the case Adam had a severe antisocial disorder, as well as being alienated by his friends after his parents split up. If Adam did not have these underlying mental issues along with family trauma, there is a significant chance that he would not have acted violently in any way.

After examining the effects of the mass media on audiences, as well as studying real-life cases of violent crimes being possibly motivated by violent video games, there is no definite conclusion. For example, we can claim that a persons genes and mental stability can determine whether a person acts violently from playing video games. This is true, however, there is no way to determine whether a persons mental instability stems from playing too many violent video games for a prolonged amount of time. We cannot isolate the cause of violent behaviour as they stem from the persons interpretations of the world and the messages they receive from the media. One person may feel extremely aggressive while playing a violent video game, and could be extremely calm in the real-world. The cases where video games have apparently influenced a persons actions, such as the Sandy Hook shootings, we must realise that when a person commits these actions there is usually an underlying mental health issue. 'Social isolation and precipitating mental health issues, particularly in the Sandy Hook situation, have been other contributors to the criminals of the recent shootings.' (Andrew Hung, 2013) The lack of sufficient evidence to claim that video games do cause violent acts, means that there will never be a true correlation between the two. However, in light of mass shootings in the USA in recent years, the government is looking for someone to blame and video games will always be on their radar.

Sophie Woollard

2029 Words

CS Essay Idea

Basically my Title and Idea for CS is this:

"Do games change the way we act in the real world in relation to violence to Animals. A Case For and Against."

I want to split my essay into two parts, 1000 words for the case, on the way games have influenced how people act negatively towards animals, and cases to prove it as well as law suits from the PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) against games companies that claim to encourage violence to animals. The second 1000 words would be against the claim, backing up that games do not change the way we act in the real world, with cases to back this up and outragous stories by the PETA against games companies. I will also look at procedural rhetoric in the games I study, and investigate whether they have a hidden message which encourages cruelty to animals in some way.

In my essay I want to complete an argument about whether games change how people act in the real world to animals, and come to a solid conclusion backed up by evidence to support it.

Monday, 29 April 2013

Change in CS Idea

After Struggling with my Animal Cruelty essay, I decided to change my idea slightly. This is my new title:

Looking from a sociological and psychological perspective, can Violent Video games encourage Violent behaviour?

This is the research I conducted into this idea:

Past research shows that violent video game exposure increases aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, physiological arousal, aggressive behaviours, and decreases helpful behaviour. However, no research has experimentally examined violent video game effects on physiological desensitization, defined as showing less physiological arousal to violence in the real world after exposure to video game violence in the virtual world.

http://lol.medieraadet.dk/upload/mulige_aasager_social_hensynsloeshed.pdf

Evidence suggests that long-term players of violent games may become more likely to react aggressively to unintentional provocations such as someone accidentally bumping into them, they added.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2214346/Violent-video-games-make-teens-aggressive-girls-affected-boys.html

Sociological study on the influence of media on adolescents.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/01/26/perceptions-of-media-influence-on-self-and-others/

Mass media effect

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED246460&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED246460

Max Weber on violence

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Monopoly_on_the_legitimate_use_of_physical_force.html

The columbine shootings

http://www.howstuffworks.com/video-game-violence.htm

Decrease in shootings in foreign countries who play the same games.

http://www.richmondreview.com/lifestyles/206047261.html

Study on teens