Essay on Persuasive Speech Against Video Games

Hundreds of studies have been done to determine whether violent video games will really make juveniles more violent. Randomized experiments were used in several studies to examine the short-term effect of violent video games (Anderson and Berkowitz et al. 90). In these studies, children were randomly assigned to play violent or nonviolent video games and then were observed when given an opportunity to be aggressive. The result was that children who played violent video games usually behaved aggressively.

A huge controversy in today’s society is violent video games and their behavioral effect on the children and adults who play them. Violent video games have been blamed for bullying, school shootings, and even violence towards women. Many have fought that violent video games desensitize players to real-life violence, and that they are teaching the youth that violence is an acceptable conflict-solving strategy. Other sources have stated otherwise. The 2004 Secret Service has stated that only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. Violent Video games do not cause violent behavior or behavior problems because it has not been proven that there is a link between violent video games and behavioral issues, playing video games provide a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings and reduces violence in young children, and violent juvenile crime has actually gone down since the violent video game popularity has increased.

Some of the first video games ever made like Pac Man, Mario Bros.,Sonic the Hedgehog and Street Fighter never helped someone learn their ABC’s and 123’s which caused video games to develop a bad name like it’s “rotting kids’ brains” or distract them from more important studies but over time things change and become better and based off this website it says that “A number of recent studies have indicated that video games, even violent ones, can help kids develop essential emotional and intellectual skills that support academic achievement. These findings led many innovative teachers around the globe to recognize the benefits of gaming and include game-based learning in their curricula. However, it’s not just in-school gaming that reaps benefits. New research shows that all gaming can be positive.”

Video games are available to all age groups. With different types of style games, to reality and fantasy, from strategy to hit and run tactics, that could improve imagination, influence new ideas and most of all provide entertainment to players. Do you allow your children to play games with violences? Do you believe it can change your childś decisions? Even if it was just video games with little violences, it can cause aggressive behaviors, bullying and unhealthy life styles.

So how is it that it is the fault of video game violence that makes juveniles violent? As much as media coverage will have people think the “wave of violence gripping America’s youth” (Grossman), the truth is violent attacks in America’s schools are “extremely rare events. The odds that a child will die in school through murder or suicide are less than one in one million” (Olson). Increase in news reports about crime just end up raising viewers’ perception of risk, whether or not there is actual danger (Olson).

Besides the violent contents, video games have several positive aspects. Video games can push children's

In life, you learn that certain things just don’t mix: Diet Coke and Mentos, cereal and water, drugs and good grades, and picnic tables and dancing, just to name a few. That last example might seem a little bizarre to you, but to me it hits very close to home. Throughout my childhood, we had this picnic table that sat on our back patio. We would have tea parties on it or use it as a place to color or do homework. Sounds pretty fun, right? Sure, as long as you were using it the way it was intended to be used. Throw in my sister and her aspiring dreams to be a dancer, and suddenly our story gets a little messy. So grab a snack, sit back, and listen to the story of how my sister drove me to start taking drugs.

Growing up as a gamer, I have experienced many new things in the video game industry. I’ve been playing video games since the Sega-genisis that I started playing when I was three years old. I’ve been gaming almost my whole life, I have watched new console been introduced, seen video games go from 1080p to now an amazing 4K which makes the graphics look amazing. Modern video games even have virtual reality that you as a consumer can now play in your own living room. But, even though we have amazing things in video games the modern gamer is being introducing to a new problem. The problem I am addressing of coarse is micro transactions in video games. Modern game companies are charging you $60.00 dollars for a video game. Once you purchase this said video game you have to grind countless hours in order to obtain specific items that will enhance your abilities in this virtue world, or you can turn your real life currency into this video game currency in order to potentially get these items early on. This concept is called pay to win. The definition of pay to win as stated in wikipedia “is In some multiplayer video games, players who are willing to pay for special items or downloadable content may be able to gain a significant advantage over those playing for free.” Though I believe companies should be allowed to do this in free video game, I think it is wrong to charge someone $60.00 and afterwords try to make them buy guns in order to enhance their gameplay.

It seems that violent video games can not only turn an at-risk child up to a dial on their behaviors but also low-risk children into a school shooter (Mozes 5). Video games have also been put on the radar as to one of the root problems of minors committing violent acts. “If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others” (Gilad 29). While kids play violent video games, they’re not only playing for fun. They are analyzing the which changes their behavior and actions due to thought process for example, “They start to expect people to behave more aggressively toward them, and they tend to see aggressive solutions as being more appropriate for solving problems”(Mozes 5).

I dedicate a large amount of my time to playng video games, and I often hear claims like, “video games rot your brain,” and, “video games aren’t healthy,” but I wondered, are these common arguments actually true? I decided to find out.

Violent video games can desensitize children. Studies show that most video games in today’s society contain some type of

“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a videogame where you help the people who were shot in all other games. It’d be called Really Busy Hospital.”-Demitri Martin. Role playing games have been a source of fun and entertainment for children and adults. There are more safe and calm games such as Just Dance, and there are more Perilous games such as Call of Duty. Role playing games such as killer are perilous for school age children putting them in danger, teaching violence, and teaching reckless behavior.

“On the other hand, considering a specific violent video game may have the reverse effect and actually reduce perceptions of negative effects if it is difficult to generate arguments for negative effects of the specific game” (Ivory, Kalyanaraman 4). Although you may believe that violent video games increase the youth violence rates, in actuality some violent video games can have separate effects on youth depending on the child for instance, one child could become more violent whereas another child will not have the urge to be violent.

“Head shot! That guy was destroyed!” These are just some examples of the dialogue spoken between children who play video games like “Call of Duty” or “Halo.” Children brag about the number of people they have killed in these games. Playing violent video games may cause children to act violently. First, violent video games train players to act aggressively by repeatedly killing an enemy over and over. Second, children mimic what they see, whether it’s in real life or on a video screen. Third, being exposed to the violent behaviors of the game, dead bodies, and blood, make the players insensitive to violence. Because the violence from video games affects the behavior of children, violent video games should not be available for purchase by anyone under age eighteen.

Aimee Tompkins (2003) claims that children are being affected by everything what they see around them in the youth, and people, who see violence in the youth, always tend to be more hostile and less responsive to images of violence. That 's why parents try to border children from any possible negative influences. But they often do not even realize that by buying to child a game console, they put them into the risk. Since most video games contain violent character. According to statistics given by the ‘Children now’ organization (2001), 89% of the top-selling video games have violent character and serious violence is contained in half of them.