Observation

I will observe persons of the ages of 12, 19, 20, 36 to see how the violence in the games in their age group affect them and how much violence and gore are in them. Are all the games they play violent? Do they always choose the most violent/gory? Take notes on each game and the player during gameplay, observe actions before and after gameplay. I was only able to observe males, because I could not observe any females playing video games. It was also a huge range of age, and I did not observe the actions of any younger people, along with the fact I didn't observe anyone older. Having more responsive subjects would have also been helpful, and adding an interview to the obvservations of them would have shed more light on their thoughts and feelings about the violence. More time observing different types of games would also made this more reliable. I feel that this was a decent amount of observation to get an idea of the effect of violent video games.
 * Question:** How does violence and the type of violence in video games affect different age groups?
 * Hypothesis**: I believe that the amount of violence at each age level will not affect the individuals agression or mental development.
 * Method**: Observation
 * Materials**: some type of method to record notes - I used my phone as a note-taking device since it was more discrete then conventional methods of pen and paper.
 * Participants**: Four males between the ages of 12 and 36.
 * Process:**
 * Validity and Reliability:**

__**Subject 1: 19 years old.**__ //Killzone 3 Demo - 20 minutes.// -shooting -blood Person was calm, not phased by the violence, seemed more concentrated on the objective, seemed used to fighting and shooting.

__//Demon Souls - 40 min//__ -physical fighting -swords -little blood -demonic beings Person only seemed annoyed when they died, seemed to enjoy the game more than the first, knew the ins and outs of the game.

__//Bulletstorm Demo - 15 min//__ -blood -guns -fighting -seemed more cartoonish in the style of gore -swearing by characters in the game Person enjoyed the different style of game, didn't care about the mild bloodshed, did not seem offended by the swearing but did not enjoy it.

__//Dead Space 2 - 60 min, 20 min, 45 min.//__ -violence -gore -guns -swearing -disturbing storyline -dismemberment of bodies/limbs -impaling enemies -exploding enemies Subject only frustrated by his character's dying, thought of the storyline as interesting, found it disturbing some, did not seem phased by the gore. Played this game more since it was the game he was trying to finish.

__//Dragon Age 2 Demo - 20 min//__ -mild bloodshed -fighting Enthused about the gameplay, didn't feel much towards the bloodshed. Changed options to turn off the blood on the characters.

Subject seemed calm, quiet, such as he was while playing games. Poked a sibling jokingly.
 * Before games:**

No change in behaviour, minus throwing a sock at a sibling. Conversed to a friend about the games. Did not bring up the violence, but focused mainly on the storyline.
 * After games:**

__**Subject 2: 12 years old**__ //__Call of Duty: Black Ops - 34 min__// -shooting -mild blood -swearing Subject was concentrated, raised his voice at the game, talked to surrounding people about the game, became annoyed at other players. Enjoyed the game but became annoyed more easily at it.

__//Zelda: Ocarina of Time - 27 minutes//__ -no blood -physical violence (hitting monsters with swords) Excited by the game and the glitches, shared his thoughts about the game openly, became unimpressed with a difficult boss but eventually defeated it. Loved the game and everything about it.

__//Donkey Kong Country - 60 minutes, 10 minutes (Joined by Subject 3)//__ -no blood -mild physical violence (jumping on crocodile's heads, hitting enemies with ponytail) Excited about the game, was competitve, was enthusiastic (making noises, laughing, talking), became annoyed when he met a part that he could not beat. Enjoyed playing the game more with a companion.

Happy, very rambunctious, ran around lots depending on the time of day. Early in the morning he was quieter, but still quite talkative. Later in the evening, he played with the dog or was cuddling with it, he would make noises and run around the house, sometimes going outside to play with friends.
 * Before:**

No change in behaviour, other than he would become more riled up after playing games later in the day. He would mess up things or try to annoy people (ie messing up a stack of cards or finding something to make noises with). Constantly wanted to do something - didn't like being bored.
 * After:**

__//White Knight Chronicles - 84 min//__ -physical violence (swords, magic, and bows and arrows) -very little blood, only when striking an enemy Enjoyed playing the game, was enthusiastic, became lost at some points and was annoyed.
 * __Subject 3: 20 year old__**

__//Donkey King Country - 60 min, 10 min (Joined by Subject 2)//__ -no blood -mild physical violence (jumping on crocodile's heads, hitting enemies with ponytail) Very happy while playing game, talkative, expressed past knowledge about the game, competitive. Enjoyed the game more with a companion.

He also played many random games on the computer, many were non-violent or only had some poorly animated physical violence.

Subject was talktive, happy to be around people.
 * Before:**

Play fought with the dog, watched a non-violent movie, although the movie was mature and had mature themes. Play fought with Subject 2 occasionally (this was seen on the days he didn't play games and on the days he had)
 * After:**

//__Call of Duty: Black Ops - 120 min__// -shooting -some blood -swearing Subject was calm and relaxed during game play. There was some annoyance when the internet stopped working or he was losing at the game. He yelled at the system at one point, but calmed down once the problem of the internet was fixed and he began doing well in the game again.
 * __Subject 4: 36 year old__**

__//Oblivion: Elder Scrolls IV - 120 min//__ -violence in the form of physical violence (swords and bows) and magic -very little blood, only shown when striking an enemy During this, there was no need for an internet connection, so the subject was calm and relaxed throughout the game. No frustration was shown. No annoyance. Seemed concentrated on the objectives of the game and not worried about any blood.

__//Fall-Out 3 - 20 min//__ -guns and physical violence -some blood shed during combat -more science fiction type of genre No change from the second game to this one - he seemed just as concentrated, not worried about violence, was concentrated on the objectives of the game.

Subject was busy doing other housework or had just came home from work, talked to family some, and chose video games as a type of relaxation and leisure time.
 * Before:**

No change, other than he was more tired and normally went straight to bed after gaming sessions.
 * After:**

__**Analysis and Conclusions**__ I believe that the amount of violence and gore in video games does not have as big of an effect on the overall population as the media makes out to be. I have read some articles about younger children, around the age of 8, getting access to mature games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops. A very small fraction of these younger children had grown up to be more violent than other kids, but if their parents are supplying them with violent, mature games that are meant for teenagers, then the parents should not blame the game. Sheltering children from the world cannot be helpful to their development, but exposing them to more violent games at such a young age could possibly change their path of development. If these children dont see reality when they are younger, they may not be able to face it in the future. However, exposing children to all the darkness of the world could have an incredibly negative effect on their mental stability and how they view the world. Looking at the males I observed, the violence they witnessed had hardly any effect on them at all. They understood the game and seemed to play it more for the storyline or the interesting game play, rather than, "Hey, look, it's so awesome that I just blew that guy's head off!" The most gory game that I watched, Dead Space 2, actually had an interesting storyline, despite it being a little disturbing. The twelve year old did not overly enjoy the gore and strangeness of the game, but even he could see past the violence and understood the game on a deeper level while watching the 19 year old play it. The 36 year old did not like the gore in the game either, but thought the game was interesting. The 20 year old had played the game before and was really interested in the story and what was happening in it. Perhaps exposing even younger children to violence in video games could have an effect on their development, but the likliness of it being the only factor seems incredibly unlikely. Seeing violence in more real forms would have more of an effect on them, not the animated violence they see in games. Even the violence in movies could be more devastational, since movies depict real people. The violence I witnessed through the week I spent around these people was not any different than the types I had seen in them any other time before, when video games were not played nearly as much as. More games were played during this break than normal. Play fighting was just the same as before, and at no point was gun fighting brought up, there was no sword fighting, and there was no other violence minus boys being boys -- some pushing and poking, and some play fighting that did not last very long or got out of hand. It seemed as though all subjects enjoyed games that contained violence as much as they enjoyed the ones that had very little blood and violence. Three out of the four did not always choose the most violent or gory game to play. Subject 1 played the most gory one, but only because he wanted to finish the game to see the story. Violence is not the deciding factor as to what game to buy or to play, although that may not always be the case. Some people are very against violence and believe it's bad to expose children to it on any level, and will veer away from those games. Violent video games may have had a more adverse effect on younger girls, but I do not know seeing as I did not find any young females to observe.