Effects of violent video games in children

Playing violent video games is different from playing positive, constructive games. In fact, violent videogames have an even more powerful influence than violent television and movies, whose detrimental effects have been documented for decades

. While violent videogames may promote some complex problem solving and coordination skills as well, they have multiple negative effects

. Here are three related to moral functioning.

First, in violent video game play the player learns to associate violence with pleasure (rewards for hurting another character). This undermines moral sensitivity. Under normal conditions, human emotional wiring is designed to abhor violence and feel rewarded for helping others. Those who play violent video games build opposite intuitions that they take into the rest of life (I can see the effects in our society, can you?). Which intuitions would you rather your child have?

Second, children practice over and over the actions available in a game. The player practices violent behavior hundreds if not thousands of times, much more practice than normal activities receive. Whatever a person practices repeatedly becomes an automatic response. Violent games teach children how to behave like a criminal and to intentionally hurt others (e.g., burning people alive in Postal2). Is this what you want your children to be practicing for hours on end?

Third, video games can be addictive 

because they give immediate rewards for learning. Child and adolescent brains are typically susceptible to addictions as their brains are under development till the middle 20s. Recent brain research is suggesting that any addictive behavior (drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, violence) can harm the final stages of brain development in young adults, leaving them with a less than mature decision making system and diminished empathy for others.