Edwardnihlman’s Proposal
For my research essay I will be analyzing the American government’s tendency to blame personality corruption on the developers of violent video games rather than the parents who buy the games for their children. Over the last decade or so, there have been instances of violent crimes committed by the youth that are rooted in inspiration from violent video games. While it is questionable whether or not video games have truly impacted these criminals, a bigger question is perhaps who should take responsibility for the actions of these people.
Most video game inspired crimes are committed by young, impressionable individuals. A major argument is that the content of the video games is what inspired them to commit a crime, so the developers of the product should take responsibility and edit said content. However, video games, similarly to movies, have a ratings system in place to advise parents what games their children should or should not be playing. In turn, this means that the only people who should hold responsibility for children’s increased aggression are the parents who allow it to happen.
Edwardnihlman’s Sources
APA Review Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and Aggression
The Essential Content of the Article: The article is an analysis of a study by the American Psychological Association. They explain that their research indicates that people who play violent video games have increased aggressive behavior and decreased empathy and sensitivity to aggression. It also states that while there may be an increase in aggressive behavior, there is no correlation between playing violent video games and committing criminal activity.
What it Proves: The information does not help for any particular stance, but does show that there is a correlation between violent video games and increased aggression.
22 Charts & Graphs on Video Games & Youth Violence
The Essential Content of the Article: This article contains tons of data and graphs detailing gamer demographics, video game sales, and violence trends among the youth.
What it Proves: The information here will be beneficial if any statistics are needed to prove a particular point, or just for a basic understanding.
A Timeline of Video Game Controversies
The Essential Content of the Article: This article gives a breakdown of important video game related controversies. Within it there are many related to the topic of video game censorship in response to tragedies inspired by games.
What it Proves: The timeline found in the article will help in citing the several instances in which the government tried to blame video games for affecting younger minds and causing them to commit crimes.
Why do we blame games for real-world violence?
The Essential Content of the Article: The article provides a study that shows one third of 2,278 US adults will let their child play any video game. The article discusses the lack of awareness parents have to the video game ratings, and how in turn the misinformation leads to them purchasing inappropriate games for their impressionable children.
What it Proves: This article proves that a substantial amount of parents put very little thought into what they are purchasing for their children, and can be seen as the true reason for these children committing terrible acts of violence.
The Essential Content of the Article: This article discusses how the ESRB rates video games. It explains the process of how each game receives their rating through meticulous speculation.
What it Proves: This article shows that the ESRB puts a lot of thought into the rating of each game to ensure that the right audience is playing the title in order to prevent things such as children playing extremely violent and mature games.
Rowan Counterintuitive 
I won’t forbid you writing on this topic, Nihlman, but I’ve only read one good student essay on violent video games. The world is so oversaturated with “debate” material on this topic that papers end up being nothing but parrot sounds or surveys of other people’s opinions.
I see you’re proposing a fresh angle that blames parents for ignoring the rating system, but unless you can imagine a way to quantify your claim, it will be no more valid than the several I’m going to think up while I’m writing this: that the real blame goes to [the game marketers who deliberately target young players] or [the retailers who ignore the warnings and sell them to kids anyway] or [the online vendors who don’t or can’t enforce an age limitation on download sales].
The one good essay by a student in my class two years ago didn’t rehearse the old arguments of whether watching violent games results in violent behavior. Instead, he examined the studies that purported to prove that conclusion. He deconstructed their research techniques and found that the tests never proved the connection. That doesn’t stop people who want to ban the games from citing the studies though. That was a worthwhile paper.
Think of a way to distinguish your paper from the thousands that have come before you, or avoid it.
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Are you saying my argument, that parents are to blame, is not possible to prove or that it might be rather difficult? Also, if I do choose to avoid this subject and do something different, should I completely revise this post with the new topic?
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I’m saying that if you can prove it, the proof would be no more valuable than proving that one factor that contributes to auto accidents is wet pavement. It seems a given that parental guidance labels are often overlooked both deliberately and through lack of attention. Would you offer as a remedy that parents should be more vigilant in monitoring their children’s gaming behavior? Do you agree that all sounds too obvious?
Tell me something more interesting. Are there child characters in violent games? Have the characters themselves evolved over time into more violent actors? Are there other indications in the games themselves that their makers are deliberately crafting storylines or action opportunities that would attract players “too young” to legally engage with them?
Any angle to avoid the very much over-argued “games lead to violence” debate, please. For your own sake and mine.
You don’t need a new post if you do revise. Simply revise this one. You’ve posted on time and there are never any penalties for revisions however radical.
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