Last Name 1 Student’s Name Brady Allen English 102-3 6 February 2009 Argumentative Research Paper Proposal: Do Violent Video Games Potentially Lead to Real-life Violence? Video games, be it console (Playstation, XBOX, etc.) or computer-based, are commonplace in the American household. Through these games, some say children and teens often learn some valuable life skills and develop hand-eye coordination and argue that the problem with child and teen violence is not a result of these games, but rather a deterioration of the family unit and failure to keep an open line of communication between children and parents. Others say that kids’ obsession with the fantasy of video games disrupts their view of reality and can cause inappropriate behavior, including the carrying out of aggressive or violent acts. Often, this debate hinges around the idea of children being desensitized from the violent and deviant acts they simulate in a video game versus the crimes they can commit in real life. Yet another angle is this: some parents believe competitive and sometimes aggressive behaviors are traits they want their children to have exposure to because they view these characteristics as vital tools for later situations in life. They explain that the ability to play violent video games provides a potential outlet for the frustrations of being a teen, thereby allowing their children to experience violence through a game, rather than pursue real life crime or acts of deviance. All sides to this argument make legitimate and valid points. However, there is a middle ground that needs to be considered: that violent video games or video games that glamorize lawbreaking and disrespect can act as accelerants; kids who already have issues and instability of mind can be influenced or warped past the breaking strain by such content. There is evidence that violent video games cause increased aggression in their player base, which can lead to real life crime because some teenagers cannot distinguish between virtual reality and actual reality, because they are at a crucial point in life where mental and social development is shaping their personalities and roles in society, and because they sometimes feel they have no one to turn to, so they become obsessively engrossed in this “alter” reality that becomes a virtual role model. Some questions that need to be addressed in relation to this topic to further shape the working thesis: Do players of violent video games have increased aggression over those of less violent video games, and are the games the cause or just what more aggressive personalities migrate toward? Do these games truly help with life-skills? Does the play of violent video games desensitize teenagers to potential real-life situations, making them less apt to value human life? What type of violence is exhibited by these teenagers that apparently show increased aggression? What have some U.S. states done to prohibit the sale of violent video games? Can th ...

1. Last Name 1
Student’s Name
Brady Allen
English 102-3
6 February 2009
Argumentative Research Paper Proposal: Do Violent
Video Games Potentially Lead to Real-life Violence?
Video games, be it console (Playstation, XBOX, etc.) or
computer-based, are commonplace in the American household.
Through these games, some say children and teens often learn
some valuable life skills and develop hand-eye coordination and
argue that the problem with child and teen violence is not a
result of these games, but rather a deterioration of the family
unit and failure to keep an open line of communication between
children and parents. Others say that kids’ obsession with the
fantasy of video games disrupts their view of reality and can
cause inappropriate behavior, including the carrying out of
aggressive or violent acts. Often, this debate hinges around the
idea of children being desensitized from the violent and deviant
acts they simulate in a video game versus the crimes they can
commit in real life. Yet another angle is this: some parents
believe competitive and sometimes aggressive behaviors are
traits they want their children to have exposure to because they
view these characteristics as vital tools for later situations in
life. They explain that the ability to play violent video games
provides a potential outlet for the frustrations of being a teen,
thereby allowing their children to experience violence through a
game, rather than pursue real life crime or acts of deviance.
All sides to this argument make legitimate and valid points.
However, there is a middle ground that needs to be considered:

2. that violent video games or video games that glamorize
lawbreaking and disrespect can act as accelerants; kids who
already have issues and instability of mind can be influenced or
warped past the breaking strain by such content. There is
evidence that violent video games cause increased aggression in
their player base, which can lead to real life crime because
some teenagers cannot distinguish between virtual reality and
actual reality, because they are at a crucial point in life where
mental and social development is shaping their personalities and
roles in society, and because they sometimes feel they have no
one to turn to, so they become obsessively engrossed in this
“alter” reality that becomes a virtual role model.
Some questions that need to be addressed in relation to this
topic to further shape the working thesis: Do players of violent
video games have increased aggression over those of less
violent video games, and are the games the cause or just what
more aggressive personalities migrate toward? Do these games
truly help with life-skills? Does the play of violent video games
desensitize teenagers to potential real-life situations, making
them less apt to value human life? What type of violence is
exhibited by these teenagers that apparently show increased
aggression? What have some U.S. states done to prohibit the
sale of violent video games? Can the video game rating system
that is already in-place be tweaked to help resolve this issue?
Are their detailed psychological and sociological studies on
this, and how were they carried out and controlled? What
demographic does the crime associated with violent video
games come from? Is there a surge in crime rates among teens
that correlates with violent video game sales? The sources
included here seem to have answers to many of these questions.
Works Consulted
Blake, Bill. "Go Ahead, Steal My Car." Chronicle of Higher
Education 27 June 2008: B6+. Print. This

3. article suggests that the basis and reasoning is faulty for the
belief that video game violence has an effect on real life, teen
violence.
Carnagey, Nicholas L., Craig A. Anderson, and Brad J.
Bushman. "The effect of video game violence on physiological
desensitization to real-life violence." Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology 43.3 (May 2007): 489-496. Web. 23 Jan.
2009. This discusses multiple experiments conducted in which
violent video games are utilized to test the desensitization of
actual violence.
Ferguson, Christopher. "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: A
Meta-analytic Review of Positive and Negative Effects of
Violent Video Games." Psychiatric Quarterly 78.4 (Dec. 2007):
309-316. Web. 23 Jan. 2009. This article attempts to fully
explore violence in video games and the suggestion that it
increases aggression in the game players.
Fox, Robert. "Video Games, Violence Linked." Communications
of the ACM 43.7 (July 2000): 9-10. Web. 29 Jan. 2009. This
article supports the idea that video games are linked to real life
violence. It also suggests that the short term aggression caused
by them may have a long term impact.
Giumetti, Gary W., and Patrick M. Markey. "Violent video
games and anger as predictors of aggression." Journal of
Research in Personality 41.6 (Dec. 2007): 1234-1243. Web. 23
Jan. 2009. This article cites an experiment done to draw a
relationship between video game violence and aggression. This
experiment concludes that violent video games have the
capacity to increase aggression.
Herold, Charles. "Game Theory; Fighting on the Screen, Out of
Harm's Way." New York Times (24 Mar. 2005): 5. Web. 29 Jan.
2009. This article suggests that the violence that is being
attributed to video games should be redirected to other various
influences and deficiencies in society, such as “the glorification

4. of war.”
Jagodzinski, Jan J. "Video Game Cybersubjects, the Ethics of
Violence and Addiction: A
Psychoanalytic Approach." Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society
11.3 (Dec. 2006): 282-303. Web. 28 Jan. 2009. This discusses a
psychological approach that brings to light the “myths
surrounding video game violence and its addiction.”
Kirsh, Steven J. "The effects of violent video games on
adolescents: The overlooked influence of development."
Aggression & Violent Behavior 8.4 (July 2003): 377. Web. 28
Jan. 2009. This article defines the GAM (General Aggression
Model) that is referenced in numerous other articles relating to
this topic and incorporates it into their own belief that video
game violence does lead to aggression from the game player.
Kushner, David. "Blood and Pixels." Rolling Stone (03 Nov.
2005): 37-37. Print. This article addresses the measures that
California has taken to prohibit the sale of “ultra-violent” video
games to individuals under the age of 18 without the consent of
their parents/guardians.
Olson, Cheryl K., Lawrence Kutner, and Eugene V. Beresin.
"Children and Video Games: How
Much Do We Know?" Psychiatric Times 24.12 (Oct. 2007): 41-
45. Print. This article discusses “patterns” of game play that
could facilitate deviant behavioral trends among teens. This also
suggests potential steps parents can utilize to approach video
game play by their children.
Smith, Barry K. "The Fight Over Video Game Violence: Recent
Developments in Politics, Social Science, and Law” Law &
Psychology Review 30 (Spring 2006): 185-199. Web. 28 Jan.
2009. This article addresses political situations surrounding
video games and violence. It goes on to suggest that further

5. measures should be taken to inform and educate people of the
potential adverse affects of video game violence.
Vastag, Brian. "Does Video Game Violence Sow Aggression?:
Studies Probe Effects of Virtual Violence on Children." JAMA:
Journal of the American Medical Association 291.15 (21 Apr.
2004): 1822-1824. Print. This article addresses the notion that
video games may or may not lead to increased aggression. It
goes on to cite video game sales increasing while youth crime
rates are decreasing. Political issues of this topic are addressed
with examples of some places in the United States passing laws
attempting to control the purchase of violent video games by
youths.
��This paragraph presents the “arena of debate” in a balanced
and objective way;, including multiple sides to the issue; it
provides context and background.
�This paragraph now ENTERS the arena of debate by stating
opinion and providing a concise thesis statement with
qualification/good reasons.
�The third paragraph includes a list of a good number of
focused questions that need answered in order to be well
informed and maybe reshape and support the working thesis.
�This entire list is in MLA format and correctly includes solid
annotations. It would benefit from a wider variety of sources,
including books and possibly good Internet sources, but there is
a nice variety of popular and scholarly journals and magazines.

6. �Annotations start right at the end of each works consulted
entry.
�Each annotation is in the student’s OWN WORDS. They are
usually around two sentences long and SPECIFICALLY related
to the working thesis statement in the proposal.
Eng2100
Argumentative Research Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
for RWT ex 11 (x5 – 20 points)
Very Strong
Strong
Average
Somewhat Weak
WeakProposal: concise context/background that presents a
balanced and objective perspective (specific multiple
opinions/”arena of debate”)?
Proposal: concise statement of opinions leading to focused
“working thesis” with specific qualifying statements attached?
Sense of who the target audience would be for your argument,
and of counterargument?

7. Proposal: a good number (10-12) of thoughtful and balanced
research questions that show an understanding of what needs to
be researched for a fairly written argument?
Proposal: mechanics (grammar, sentence structure, punctuation,
etc.), MLA (or APA) format? Third-person formal voice?
Annotated bibliography: follows guidelines/format of MLA
(APA)?
Annotated bibliography: annotations are in own words and
connected clearly to “working thesis”?
Annotated bibliography: shows evidence of solid (well beyond
cursory) research? Has at least 12-15 possible reputable
sources? Has some sources that are within the last year or so?

8. Annotated bibliography: includes both academic/scholarly
sources (at least 4) and a variety of source types (journals,
books, magazines, etc.)? Avoids overuse of Internet sources and
entirely avoids unacceptable .com sources (“blogs,” etc.).
Annotated bibliography: well edited for mechanics?
/20