Are violent video games responsible for violence in today’s society perpetrated by the youth?

I don’t know if I should add just video games or all forms of media such as movies and television. I have recently studied in my Mass Communication class that the Untied States Army used online FPS (First person shooter) games as a way to recruit the youth into the army.

We know one that the society is getting more violent and the youth have lost its innocence.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.mutex.gmu.edu/science/article/pii/S0140197112000875

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?_r=0

This is a research conducted by Alessandro Gabbiadini called Does exposure to violent video games increase moral disengagement among adolescents? The study focuses on the game Grand Theft Auto, a game that is notorious for violence. Playing video games like this may increase violence and lose a sense of “morality” as the player might think the game world is not “reality.” Therefore, the player can choose to go on a massive rampage against the civilians using guns and explosives to “terrorize” the city. The game allows the player to engage in violent acts such as drug dealing, murders, assassinations, robbery, and so forth. I feel that these kind of games can certainly have an effect especially on teens because they buy into these things. More gun violence games are coming out. These days, its a political argument on gun control; however, violent video games should be taken into account of these gun violence happening in society mainly because the perpetrators of these gun violence are the youth.

The following image is from the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The level was called No Russian, a scene where the player plays the role of an undercover American agent working for a Russian terrorist organization. The level is notorious for the NPC (Non-player characters) engaging in an act of mass killing spree at a Russian airport. The player may choose to kill or not to kill the civilians, it is up to them; however, the player’s ability to run is disabled throughout the massacre.

I feel that this research question can be very interesting considering this is a new phenomenon in our society. There is a surge of violence in today’s society and violent video games have to be one of them. They may not be the most responsible for violence in our society; however, I think they do play a part in shaping the youth’s mentality in the wrong direction.