Have you ever been enraged by a video game that just made you want to punch someone? Yes? No? Maybe so?
A subject that comes in-and-out from time-to-time is whether or not video games have a correlation with real-life violence. No, I’m not talking about people punching each other in the arm for constantly beating their friends in games. I’m talking about taking the aggression from games to use it towards others in an aggressive, hateful manner.
Now I think we all know a few people who can lose their minds in the simulations, but has anyone ever actually seen someone cause harm to someone and then blamed the game?
A few William Peace University students had a few comments on this subject.
“As people we are naturally prone to violence,” said Cole Winnett, a senior at WPU. “Violence is all around us through wars, movies, music, and many other things. To say that it is the cause of violence is blaming video games instead of the masses of media around us.”
Winnett wasn’t the only one to disagree with this belief.
“I feel like video games are a relief from violence,” said Joshua Anderson, a junior at WPU. “Games like Grand Theft Auto gives you the freedom to do stuff without any consequence. You kind of feed that need for violence through that game; almost as if the game was a filter.”
Jacob Jones, a senior at WPU, says otherwise.
“Violence in video games technically has a relationship on how people react in real life, on how they grew up,” said Jones. “If there only outlet was violent video games and they didn’t have a strong connection with their family, then they’re more than likely to have violent tendencies. There is a correlation yes, but it also depends on other external factors.”
Chris Baker, the volunteer coordinator at WPU, compared the situation to other types of traumas and how gaming can be used as a coping method.
“During the civil war, the way people coped with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was moving out west. During WWI a way of coping with PTSD was drinking. During WWII the way of coping was also with drinking, with the addition to drug use. In the Vietnam War, the way of coping with PTSD was with the use of marijuana and other opiates. Why can’t a way of coping with the current wars today be with video games?”
