Violence and Addiction

I always thought that video games were addictive but now after the readings and lecture I have changed my mind, as with like everything people enjoy, they want to do more of it, and especially if players are immersed in the game they may be unaware that their behaviour may appear to be addictive to others. I also believed that video games caused violence and now I disagree with this also. I agree with the week nine reading that excessive play is a symptom of the problem not the cause. My friends disagree with me that video games do not cause violence and stated that some attacks on people in America are fully modelled around video games. It makes sense that the excessive game play can just be a symptom as it is likely that due to other influences in their lives and upbringing (such as anger, aggression, isolation as seen in Rob Covers reading) led them to ‘attack’ and if it wasn’t modelled around video games it could just have likely been modelled around other media forms such as TV shows, books, movies, songs etc. this suggests that video games are no more dangerous than other media forms and influences in peoples lives. Also the fact that millions and millions of people play these games and only a tiny percentage show negative behaviour relating in some way to the game, emphasis that the game is not necessarily the cause of the small percentages violent behaviour.