Literature Review

(Video Games and Violence)

There are a lot of issues and arguments surrounding the issue of the relationship between violence in society and the effect that computer games have on this matter.

Over recent years, there has been a lot in the media regarding teenagers and children being able to play computer games with too much violence in them. It has been researched in Florida, USA that if a young person plays a violent video game, they show signs of more aggressive behaviour. Kevin Keiffer was one of the researchers on this experiment and he has said that children who played a violent game “tend to imitate the moves that they just acted out in the game they played”.

“There is little doubt that video games with violent themes have been extremely popular with youngsters” (Gunter, 1998) Gunter seems to think that the most violent games out on the shelf are the games which people will choose to buy first, he hasn’t proved or disproved this. But in an article from the Times Online, Ainsley Newson has found that this is, in fact true.

On the other hand, Professor Mark Griffiths has spoken recently saying “There is no definitive proof or research to show that violent video games, make adults behave any more violently” so it seems that the opinion is unanimously decided that the video games effect the younger generation as they tend to act out the things they see on the screen and in-game.

References

Books

Gunter, Barrie. 1998 The Effects of Video Games on Children: The Myth Unmasked


Websites

Newson, Ainsley. 2005 “Children ‘made more aggressive by video games’”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article557091.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Barnett, Emma. 2009 “Modern Warfare 2: ‘No link between video games and adult violence’”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/6536966/Modern-Warfare-2-No-link-between-video-games-and-adult-violence.html

VARK Questionnaire

The outcome of the VARK questionnaire I took was no suprise to me, the scores are as follows;

• V = 4
• A = 1
• R = 3
• K = 10

This describes me very well as a student, I prefer and feel I learn best by doing an activity, rather than reading a book, or writing a paper. I feel I should try too adapt my learning style a little more as at University, a lot of reading and writing is needed. I feel I will need to make an attempt to use a different learning style and variate my tactics of studying in order to leave University with a degree.

My Learning Line...

I started my learning line at Primary School, this is because I feel this is where I learned the skills I needed to take me onto Secondary School, I made friends who I was friends with throughout school and I was happy with my academic skill. I then moved to Secondary School, this was a huge learning curve in my life. I hated every minute of my secondary school life, but this has made me stronger as a person and has made me how I am today. I have been part of a few football clubs, the two I have put on my learning line were my first and last football clubs I had a coaching position at, these clubs have helped me learn what and how to perform tasks professionally, I these clubs have helped me develop into a better coach and person. The most important part of my learning line is my girlfriend. I met my girlfriend, and she has made me a better person than I was, she keeps me on the straight and narrow and by having a girlfriend I have learned that making someone else happy is sometimes, better than making yourself happy.

SWOT Analysis
I have notified my strengths as the following; I am a very punctual person so I am very rarely late to anything I attend, I am good at written English and I am an athletic, sporty person.

My weaknesses are that I am impatient, I do not like having to wait for a long time, or if I am delayed on a train journey for example, I get very irratable. I also do not have many interests, I tend to stick to sport and my general interests, but I like to think that i'm quite open minded and that I am able to attempt new things and broaden my horizon.

The opportunities at University are endless, I think the ability to learn and use new software for the computers is a great advantage, the library is also a big advantage as it is so big, so we will struggle to not find the book we are after. I also think that having the oppotrunity to make new friends is important, as I would hate to go through the next three years at Uni on my own! Finally, I think the Gym is a very big opportunity, for £28 per year, you can't really go wrong, so I think that is where I will be spending most of my free time!

I have thought about the threats of being at University, and a few fears I have are that of not passing, train travel and having to pay back the student loan which will be a massive debt!