Waging+War+and+Children+through+video+games

BY: Kevin Gold and Kurt Zimmerman
 * Waging War and Children through Video Games

Lived Experiences:**

Kurt - When I was in elementary school I had a friend that I would play Goldeneye, the James Bond video game. This influenced my friend and I to play with BB guns. It is interesting that a video game can have an effect on how boys, or girls, are interested in weapons and the way war is fought.

Kevin- Growing up, I wasn't really introduced to the idea of "becoming one with war", other than reading about it in history books. It wasn't until my freshman year of high school when 9/11 occurred, that it became real to me, and apparently to the creator of video games as well. I watched numerous of young boys play games enticing them to kill and destroy the enemy during a battle. I would hear talk of kids playing such games and how they would want to join the military just to be able to fight in a war and use big guns to kill people and that disturbed me.

Research Questions:

(Keywords: video games, children, fear, hurt/pain, violence, reality)
 * Does playing video games cause children to not be afraid of getting hurt, because they can't distinguish the violence from real life?**

American Academy of Pediatrics. (2009). Policy statement - Media Violence. //Journal of the Academy of Pediatrics, 124//, 1495-1503.

Evidence shows that media causes violence and aggression. Children can be desensitized from playing violent video games and experiencing other violent forms of media.

(Keywords: Dominate, Domination, Dominating, Child, Mind, Video Games)
 * Is there a sense of domination of the child's mind through video games?**

Hastings, E, Karas, T, Winsler, A, Way, E. (209). Young Children Video/Computer Game use: Relations with school performance and behavior. //Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 30//, 638-649.

Examines the amount of video or computer games played by children and relates the data to their overall behavior patterns and performance in school. Results labeled children in a negative area in reference to the way they act and how low their school competence is.

(Keywords: Children, video games, difference, reality)
 * Are children able to decipher the difference between the real world and the world as seen through video games?**

Hutchinson, D.(2007). Video games and the Pedagogy of Place. The Social Studies. 1-7

Focuses on the construction of placement in virtual worlds in particular video games that appeal to children and youth with notable exception on "edutainment".

Case Study- Through a case study, we could ask youth and adults, as well as people familiar with the effects on video games and their portrayal of violence (i.e military) questions on how video gaming effected their decisions on joining or not joining the military or just engaging into violent activity.**
 * Our Research: