Abstract
Play plays an important role in the child's emotional, cognitive, and physical development. Children play a role in social relations with social behavior, coming from the top of social conflict, social maturation, and self-esteem. The experiences gained while playing games give the child the ability to find solutions to the problems they face in the social environment. The game, which is the main object of amusement, has moved from the social environment to the virtual atmosphere as a result of technological developments. The main theme of this research is violent games, which are often played by children in elementary school age. Many have come up with the fact that violent visual and textual codes are being used. In this context, in regional surveys conducted in Bolu province, digital games played mostly by 8- to 12-year-old children were determined by face-to-face interview with children. Violent elements in these digital games have been discussed within the framework of relevant theoretical approaches through three games that children play most.
TopIntroduction
The play that emerges with the existing process of the human being has a different meaning for the child. The play plays an active role in the child's knowledge, thinking and mental development. In addition, the child, who has an important place in the socialization process of the child, is able to communicate with the environment and gain problem-solving ability. The internet, which has become a part of our everyday life together with technological developments, has also created a different virtual reality environment for children. The concept of the traditional game is also undergoing change and transformation in this virtual environment. In the past, children played with stones, rope, ballgames, and street games, hide-and-seek, traditional games have left their place to digital games played on the internet.
According to the theory of social learning, from the day the child was born, s/he observes the environment and shapes his behavior. S/he adopts the behaviors s/he observes as a role model and starts to use these behaviors in his or her social life. Positive models make it easier for the child to adapt to social mediation while negative model patterns make it difficult for the child to be aggressive attitudes and behavioral disorders. It is known that many of the aggressive behaviors have been learned, not acquired innately. In this context, the behavior patterns of role models created in games are influential on violence tendencies of children. The child, who takes the character in the game during the game, becomes addicted to the game by being attracted to the extraordinary, unlimited, uncontrolled power elements in the game. This addiction causes the child to be prone to violence and, after a while, to become desensitized towards violence.
There are undoubtedly many educational and instructively games on the internet. However, violent and sexual games are becoming increasingly widespread, which may lead to negative behaviors in today's main problematic children. Children who spend most of their time on the internet are exposed to these violent games. The main theme of our work is the violent elements in digital games. In this context, the 8-12 age group in Bolu province was determined by the question-and-answer technique in which the violent games played by the primary school students were mostly performed by the students. Children identified after the interviews were examined in terms of violence in which they play the three games they play the most.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Internet: It is a network of communications that is widely distributed and constantly growing throughout the world, where many computer systems are interconnected.
Digital Game: The result of the interaction of the player with an electronic system or computer is to be displayed via a display or similar display system.
Game Console: It is a computer-based entertainment device that allows playing games through an external television connection.
Aggression: Harmful and disturbing behaviors towards another living body.
Violence: The power and power possessed is directly or indirectly applied to another person, to himself, to a group or to a group, as a physical or mental injury and as a cause of loss.
Traditional Games: It is an activity that has characteristics such as satire, intelligence, mobility which are found in the folk culture and played collectively in the times when the feature is limited and the possibility of entertainment is limited.
Child: The boy or girl who is in the developmental period between infancy and adulthood.
Video Game: The type of game played using a visual user interface with a video that sends an image signal, such as a computer or game console.