Ruining Video Games

In today’s time with the new head turning technology in video games most of the games have some sort of violence present in them. Many games past and present incorporate some kind of violence such as, killing with weapons, using explosives, and crashing cars. With all of the present day technology all activities portrayed during in-game scenarios are becoming more and more realistic. In 2005 the state of California enacted a law to ban the sale of certain violent games to children without the consent of their parents. The law was created based upon the idea that with the realistic in-game events real behavior could be drastically effected by the violence. The worries are that tragic events such as massacres could occur based on ideas seen in games. Incidents such as high school shooting have heightened concerns of potential connections between violent games and violent actions.

Many theories are speculated of what drove people to create such massacres and harm to innocent victims. One of the most popular is that violent video games have an influence on these attacks. However, Matt Peckham, in “Researcher Says Linking Video Games to Gun Violence is a ‘Classic Illusory Correlation’” explains there isn’t much evidence to prove that theory and researches haven’t found a reasonable link between the two. Actually, on the contrary video games seem to benefit a person mind rather than harm them according to Mary Flanagan, in her article “Don’t Demonize Video Games for Violence.” Video games don’t influence a person’s mind because there is a psychological explanation to these occurrences therefore violent video games has no contribution to violence incidents across the nation.

The most extensive argument many have argued toward violent video games affecting one’s behavior can simply be described as that many shooters were fans of violent video games before committing the shootings. A common example people making this argument raise are the Columbine shooters, who were big fans of the video game Doom. While many believe that Doom’s excessive gore and violence led the two teens to perpetrate the mass shooting, that is not the case. What those who argue against video games fail to realize that those who commit these crimes had a history of other conditions. After many mass shootings, researchers often discovered in autopsies that the suspect had a long history of aggression or mental health problems that gaming was not responsible for. Patrick Markey and Christopher J. Ferguson, writers for US News, wrote

On April 20th, 1999 two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their school in Columbine Colorado and began a one-hour long killing spree, which ended in the death of 12 of their fellow classmates and one teacher and left another 28 wounded. The shooters then took their own lives. The two teenage gunmen did not have a previous history of violence but were both enthusiasts of killing-oriented video games. The violence in video games was a major factor in teaching these kids how to shoot other people in real life. Violent video games can and have led children to committing acts of violence against other children and adults.          

As the level of violence in video games increases, so does the level of concern for those who play them. Some people are quick to blame school shootings on games just because the kid played a “violent” game. “The topic of videogames and violence can be compared to the chicken or the egg question, which came first, violent games or violent behavior”(Violence and Videogames). However most kids in mass shootings tend to have easy access to guns and are mentally unstable.

Because some video games have an age limit for people to purchase mature rated games, the companies don’t think about the kids who watch the ads too. On December 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school was raided by a 20 year old man by the name of Adam Lanza. Lanza, known to have been an avid videogame player, went into the school and killed 20 kids ranging from six to seven years of age as well as six other staff members. Lanza had even killed his own mother. After the event had occurred, there was a town nearby that offered a video game “buy-back” program in hopes to discourage videogame violence (Common Sense Media). Anyone with a high school diploma knows that video games don’t make people kill other people. It’s the guns right? Most researcher reject the idea that the television or video games are the single cause that makes people choose to participate in a massacre. Researchers do, however, believe that video games and television do play roles in causing otherwise non-violent individuals to behave

Violent video games increase the amount of mass shootings every year. The violence in the video games teach kids and even some adults to do things that they normally wouldn't know how to do, the first person shooter effect teaches kids how to use a gun and more than that, teaches them that it's alright to use a gun anywhere. When kids are playing first person shooter games against their friends, it seems like a game to them, those kids think that it is fun to run around chasing your friend with a gun and try to kill them, these games are also like target practice for them. Teaching these kids those skills prepares them for school shootings, abusing their families, and even causing them to talk back to their parents, other family members, teachers, and any other adults that could stand in their way. Adults who play first person shooter video games could be playing them for fun, what they were intended for, but when ever mass shootings occur like the one in Las Vegas at the Jason Aldean concert, or the one in

Rashawn Blanchard states that “when it truly comes down to it, it would be ludicrous to place the blame of violent, unforgivable actions upon a popular form of entertainment. If it were any bit true then the United States alone would have somewhere in the vicinity of a quarter of its population teetering on the edge of violent explosion from a few hours with Grand Theft Auto III.” Kids play video games all the time. I know I did as a child. It never made me anymore, or any less violent then I already was. Based on the sheer numbers of video games sold, and the highly possibility that most kids have at least one violent game in the home, the united states should be seeing a HUGE increase in school shootings on a daily basis, not just a yearly one. He isn’t bias in his approach though, noting that “video games have long since been defined as a form of entertainment and it would be foolish not to acknowledge the fact that entertainment does influence people, especially children. In the 90's and even still to a degree today, elementary school children can be seen practicing their karate kicks even though they've had no martial arts training. This could be contributed to the amount of live-action costume super heroes that had taken over Saturday morning children's lineups, namely

Can violent video games truly be a cause of real violence in our adolescents? Can they really lead to such terrible tragedies and massacres like the one at Columbine high school? That is exactly what writer John Leo is suggesting in his essay, “When Life Imitates Video.” He starts us off here by pointing out the similarities between the actions taken during the Littleton massacre and the events of video games like the two shooters often played; and he criticizes the plethora of shooting games available today and how realistic they are. These games that are played by so many today, Leo warns, could “blur the boundary between fantasy and reality.”

People have always been looking for a reason why horrible things happen. The media is quick to blame video games as the target and cause of many shootings that have occurred, ever since Columbine and Quake. People have been blaming video games for violence for years now, ever since violent video games have been made. News reports blame video games more and more for each shooting, telling the public how this person played video games for x amount of hours a day, and that video games caused him or her to shoot people, and how video games encourage and reward violence. Anti-video game lobbyists have been campaigning to have violence removed from video games, citing resources that they themselves have created as reasons for

Often we link school shootings to people who are recluse and spend hours playing violent video games. Most violent video games promote killing, by giving rewards. Evidence supports that this is true, but video games are not the only cause of crazy, illogical shooters walking into an unprotected school setting to kill students and staff. After the intensive investigation of many of the recent school shootings,14 were linked to violent video games including a local one at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. The more violence that our brain becomes accustomed to, the more we think it is acceptable to shoot and kill people. These video games lead to a more dangerous world for all of us.

First off, violence and video games are two things that seem to share a close relationship with each other. These two ideas are what researchers believe can cause someone with pre existing psychiatric disorders and a love for violent video games to go down a path of violence later in their life. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are two individuals that I'm sure everyone has heard of, if you haven’t then there is one word that I need to tell you, Columbine. The Columbine High shooting was one of the deadliest shootings in the US during its time in history.(Repetition)[Pathos] Later analyze of the psychological health revealed that Dylan and Harris were experiencing mental hardships. Not only that but later interviews with the parents of Eric and Dylan, federal agents allegedly reported that, “Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carried out their rampage after their parents took away their video games.” (Source D)[Logos] Although this may just be only one case of video games being an attribute in a Mass

Not only do such headlines like these stir opinion and controversy, they do so based on misguided information. This shocking approach to reporting such a tragic event with strong blame aimed at video games re-opens debates. Again, the reporting of video games’ correlation to violent events continues a tradition that had and continues to haunt the video game industry ever since more graphic and realistic games entered the home, such as Midway’s own Mortal Kombat in 1992 and Sega’s Night Trap, 1993. It was these two titles which were responsible for the enforcement of a rating system, finally settling in 1994. Later, in 1999 shortly following the Columbine High School

Video Games have come a long way since their first introduction into the main stream. With video games becoming more sophisticated and using advanced technology, it seems as if video games are closing in on the gap between games and reality. However, as video games become ever so life-like it brings up the question of if the violence associated with video games is having a negative consequence. There have been many accusations over the years over the harm video games are causing children and teenagers. Experiments have been conducted trying to associate a link between video games and aggressive behavior. Even the media has been known to point fingers at video games for the cause of children

Over the years, the popularity of computer and video games has grown. Specifically violent video games make up more than 50 % of the top selling games. These games include violent themes that involve guns, crime, blood, and gore. There is an ongoing belief that these types of games are to blame for the many acts of violence in society and have encouraged America’s youth to act out in aggression. Several organizations, such as the PTC (Parents Television Council) have moved to discourage the development of violent games while also pushing for stronger regulations when purchasing such games. There is also debate among parents and concerns on how games can negatively influence their children. So is there a direct link between video games and violence? The truth is video games do not encourage violence in society based on several factors which include scientific studies, statistics on crime, and prevention measures adopted by game publishers.