turn the essay to a presentation.

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Khalid Arab

Mrs. Leanne Hennessy

ENGL 1010

5 October 2015

Grand Theft Auto (GTA)

“Grand Theft Auto is an action video game series, it is primarily developed by RockStar

Games. It’s an open world video games where you can control your character to almost do

anything. The name of the series used in the U.S for motor vehicle theft. The games series is in a

simulator city of Los Angeles, and there where the action starts. The main story about three

characters: Michele, Frank, Trevor. They co-operate with the FBI to solve their problem. At the

end they find out that the FBI are using them; then, the three of them don’t agree with each other,

and the player has to choose who get killed or to make them friends again.

More children are engaging in video games particularly the ones that are ultra-violent that

sell the most. Research reveals that most of the video games include violence and around half of

the incidents of violence would lead to death or severe injuries in the "real" world. Violent video

games may raise kid’s violence. The biggest negative impact is the way they tend to

inappropriately solve anxiety through externalizing it. Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is one example

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of violent game. Therefore, violent video games like GTA are the cause of violent behavior in

children, because playing GTA associates kids to being less supportive and caring toward their

peers. Although some argue that violent video games are not linked to violent behavior, there are

many reasons why I think violent video games like GTA is the cause of violence in children.

First, GTA has time and again been blamed for increases in bullying and school

shootings. The reason is that GTA desensitize players to aggression; it also rewards players for

violence simulation and teach kids that violence is a suitable way to solve conflicts. Several mass

shootings perpetrators were involved in playing GTA. To support my point, I will give some

examples. One is the Columbine High School massacre. On 20th of April 1999, two youngsters

went on a shooting spree whereby they killed 13 people and wounded over 20 others and then

turned their weapons on themselves and committed suicide. The incident was the most horrible

high school shooting in the history of U.S and provoked a national debate on violent video

games. This is because it was later established that the shooting was inspired by GTA. In the

year 2011, Anders Breivik, who murdered 77 individuals in Norway confessed to using the

GTA game for training.

The other reason as to why GTA leads to violent behavior is the way the game

desensitizes players to real-life aggression. Research has found out that just 30 minutes of

engaging in GTA is enough to cause individuals to become less physiologically stimulated by

actual violence (Sherry, 410). Individuals who are desensitized to aggression are more prone to

commit an act of violence. Therefore, there is an underlying connection between exposure of

violent video game and a raise in violence due to a decrease in the response of the brain to

portrayals of real-life violence. Violence in GTA is already greatly desensitized. Pedestrians pass

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away, and after their dead bodies de-spawn the world returns to normal as if nothing occurred,

upholding the status quo as a serial of TV.

The other reason is, it teaches players bad language. There are many people who play

GTA online. GTA online is the ability to play the game with others by network, so they

challenge each other and be the best in the game. However, kids who play GTA online can play

with other adults, and adults usually say bad words and the others can hear it. It’s like teaching

others bad language. For example, before I learned English language, I heard bad words on GTA

offline and online, so I translated these words to learn how to communicate with others. I found

out that the word I translated was really bad, and I won’t let anyone plays GTA on my watch.

Again, violent video games exposure is connected to reduced compassion and lower

empathy. Empathy, the capability to comprehend and enter into another's feelings hinders violent

behavior. For example, the civilians in GTA never cry, mourn, or express their feelings. Since

they do not display compassionate actions, it is difficult to sympathize with them. They live just

to run yelling like Godzilla was trampling all over the city. GTA is occupied by crash test

dummies that respawn continually regardless of the number of times they die. Numerous studies

have revealed that kids who are highly exposed to violent media exhibit reduced ethical skills of

reasoning compared to their peers who are not exposed to violent video games. A meta-

investigation of 130 worldwide studies with more than 130,000 participants made a conclusion

that violent video games raise violent thoughts, aggressive behaviors, and angry feelings and

reduce empathic feelings as well as pro social behaviors (Anderson, 353).

The other thing is that GTA promotes and rewards violent conduct. The game supports

fighting as a way of handling conflict through rewarding the utilization of violent act with more

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weapons, going on to greater levels, and more. When aggression is given a reward in video

games, players show increased violent conduct than video games players where aggression is

punished (Carnagey, 882). The structure of reward is one differentiating factor GTA and

different violent media like television shows and movies, which do not give a reward to audience

nor permit them to participate actively in violence.

In conclusion, GTA is open world to have fun and do what you can’t do in real life, but

parents and adults should banned under eighteen players to play this game. Players should know

that video games are not real and con not compare to real life.

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Works Cited

Anderson, Craig A. "Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive

cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-

analytic review of the scientific literature." Psychological science 12.5 (2001): 353-359.

Carnagey, N. L. "The effects of reward and punishment in violent video games on aggressive

affect, cognition, and behavior ." Psychological science, 16(11) (2005): 882-889.

Sherry, J. L. "The effects of violent video games on aggression." Human communication

research, 27(3) (2001): 409-431.