Many mainstream video games primarily rely on violence for their gameplay and often do not feature a story or overlying plot, making the only objective to kill enemies in order to reach the end of a level. When individuals with aggressive traits control a character in a video game, the freedom to perform violence without consequence desensitizes them from the harm they cause to others in that virtual world and therefore their real experiences. Violent video games can cause behavior problems in those who have certain personality traits and therefore are susceptible to this desensitization. The lack of empathy exhibited in many youth is largely being caused by unjustified violence in videogames. In Acting Like a Tough Guy: Violent:-Sexist …show more content…
Games glitch and teammates make mistakes, causing conflict in the virtual game lobby. As a result, players frequently engage in heated discussions through message or voice chat during the games. Single player video games can also be very isolating with captivating storylines requiring hundreds of hours to complete. The same people drawn to these games are often not very interested in socializing to begin with, which means providing these individuals with seemingly endless leisure makes it easy to stay home in their free time for several weeks without social interaction. While the constructive value of certain games can be argued, the majority of video games are intended purely for …show more content…
2). A previous study inspired this experiment with finding that “...the more boys identified with violent game characters, the more aggressive they were after the game was turned off” (Gabbiadini, Alessandro, et al. 2). Participants in the experiment provided demographic information and were assigned to play a game from one of three categories: violent-sexist, violent-only or a game without violence. Players, both male and female, were given a task to complete in their time playing the virtual game, and after a practice session, they played for 25 minutes. Prior to and following the experience, they answered prompts such as “When I am playing, it feels as if I am my character” and “Boys should be encouraged to find a means of demonstrating physical prowess” (Gabbiadini, Alessandro, et al. 5). This study found that males who played a violent-sexist video game experienced more masculine beliefs following the experiment, whereas males who played the violent game did not experience a change in attitude or opinion. From the women participating, there was no correlation between masculine beliefs in any of the three video game conditions. This study matches with previous research stating that video games can influence outlook on other people based on their