The Pros And Cons Of Video Games

In the year 2016, more than 10 million copies of Grand Theft Auto were sold. Grand Theft Auto, among other video games focus on illegal crimes. For example Grand Theft Auto, frequently makes references to drugs, murder, and robbery. Even though video games are much more violent than they were in the 1990’s, video games over the years have managed to make an impact on American culture. Some ask why violent video games are such a concern for America? Well according to Times Magazine,“The average U.S. gamer age 13 or older spent 6.3 hours a week playing video games during 2013.” With people becoming addicted to video games, others begin to worry if videogamers will start to blur the line between the virtual world and reality. In the book Columbine, the author David Cullen states media reporters, partially blamed video games for the Columbine Massacre. “When he was eleven, id Software released the video game Doom. Eric found the perfect virtual playground to explore his fantasies.” (Cullen,114) The shooters Dylan, and Eric before the Columbine Massacre fantasised about murder, and in the video games they played they were allowed to be killers. Although, media reporters stated that videogames, were a reason the Columbine Massacre occurred, David Cullen addresses that video games had nothing to do with the shooting. Although, video games had no effect on the Columbine Massacre, other shootings such as Sandy Hook has been linked to them. As video games grow in popularity and

In conclusion, video games that are violent can be very perilous to not only kids but anyone who plays them. They can have short and long-term effects on your career and the way you think. Violent games are bad because they can lead to serious actions, the player can get hurt, and because they can distract us. Making the choice to play this game is not only affecting you but it can affect the people around you and how they think of you. So next time you go to play games you should think about the consequences that come with

Video games are a enormous part in the world today. “More than 150 million people in the United States play video games regularly or for at least three hours per week. The number of sales has increased and in 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold, up from 23.2 billion in 2015.” “This Type of Video Game May Actually Harm Your Brain.” written by Mahita Gajanan is my positive article and “How Video Games Affect the Brain.” written by Hannah Nichols is my negative article. In this essay I am going to talk about video games and their impact on the brain (Nichols).

In the late 90s, it seemed that school violence was on the rise as three separate devastating school shootings occurred over a three-year span. The most severe of the three due to the high death toll was the shooting at Columbine High School, also the one most associated with violent video game influence. The two assailant's levels of gaming expertise and their participation in online gaming was in question as motivation for their killing spree. It was this knowledge that sparked a media frenzy over who's to blame for the heinous acts being committed by these obviously troubled youths. However, other issues in these children's lives can contribute to a deeper explanation.

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

There are thousands of problems troubling our society today, one being the increase in school shootings. In this case Sandy Hook Elementary School where 22 year old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, 20 of which we children. The investigators at Sandy Hook looked towards science to determine why Adam Lanza did this. The scientist found one factor that stood above all the rest. Adam’s increase in violent video games he played, such as Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. Each of these games give a 1st person view of killing civilians and the realism of death.

There is overwhelming scientific research that suggests that playing violent video games are harmful to children and adolescents. The scientific evidence has uncovered several areas in the development of children and adolescent that are negatively impacted because of the exposure to and playing of violent video games. Some of the key areas that are negatively affected include brain activity, stress levels and behavior.

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

A casual day turned into a tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 was “the second deadliest shooting in U.S history” where Adam Lanza went on a killing spree shooting 20 first graders and 6 adults; he even took his own life as well. There was no clear indication why Lanza committed this mass killing at the elementary school. Reports have said that video games influence is motive to the killings because “he was so enormously isolated” that he would shut “himself in the bedroom and play violent video games all day” (Smith). He would create videos depicting gunshot suicides and pictures of himself pointing guns at his own head like he had seen in videos games. The violent video games had deeply brainwashed his mind making Americans believe that violent video games are a factor in contributing violence in people.

According to the article “Sandy Hook Killer Took Motive To This Grave” written in 2013 by Matt Smith, a CNN journalist, Adam Lanza killed 20 first graders and 6 adults with a semiautomatic rifle in December of 2012. Michael Casey, a CBS News journalist who wrote, “Do Violent Video Games Lead to Criminal Behavior” in 2015, stated that Adam Lanza “was obsessed with violent video games” and that these games caused him to shoot up this old school, in Connecticut. This is one very tragic and sad example of how games that showcase simulated violence manipulate people into becoming over aggressive and to develop horrible

Screams filled the air as teachers and students ran down the hallways through twists and turns to escape the horrifying noises behind them. Hearts pounding with adrenalin the teachers franticly looked for a safe place to hide their students and themselves. Adam Lanza had entered Sandy hook Elementary only moments before and was now reeking havoc throughout the school! With an AR-15, a 10mm Glock, and a Sig Sauer according to CNN (Almasy, Steve. 2012, pg1) Adam Lanza was fixated on one thing. Mass murder. As the gunman rushed through the hallways and into random rooms no one was subject to his fury and he was shooting everyone who was unfortunate enough to cross his path. After what I’m sure felt like hours 26 teachers and students laid dead before Adam Lanza took his own life. This was by far one of the worst school shootings in the US and only falls in comparison to the largest school shooting in history “Virginia Tech” according to CNN.com (CNN, 2014, pg1) These story’s of horror will live on throughout the generations to come and will be discussed in great detail for what I presume will be indefinitely. Although there are a numerous amount of speculations as to what the motives of theses shootings were and the underlining reasons as to why both of these rampages where committed one of the largest and most thought of causes is video games. The Thought that video game violence could have been the main reason behind the rampage sparked interest after the first shooting was

According to CBS News, back in 2005 in a small town of Alabama, an eighteen-year-old teenager went on a rampage and killed three men, two of them being police officers. It was found out that the gunman played Grand Theft Auto day and night for months. He was simulated to murder; he was trained to “kill”. We all remember the tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where fourteen children and six teachers were killed in December 2014. DailyMail reports that investigators discovered that the shooter, Adam Lanza, “notched up more than 83,000 'kills' on his beloved video games including 22,000 'head shots' as he trained himself for the horrific Sandy Hook massacre.” His mother recalled to a friend days before the attack that her “son had become increasingly obsessed with the military and she finding disturbing pictures of mutilated corpses and murdered children under his bed.” Studies reveal that violent games make children

After the elementary school shooting of Sandy Hook in 2012 this issue of violent video games became a hot issue calling for a connection of violence to video games. However, the final investigative report suggested that he was more a fan of nonviolent games (Ferguson, 2015). Video game violence is an issue that continues to be studied due to the inability to come to a general conclusion on whether or not the games provoke violence in connection to mass shootings. With shootings occurring and receiving mass coverage the media and public often seek a person/item to place the blame on. After the tragic events that left people dead or injured one of the topics that emerged was that of video games affects/effects on the person.

Video games are frowned upon by parents as time-wasters, and worse, some education experts think that these games corrupt the brain. Violent video games are easily blamed by the media and some experts as the reason why some young people become violent or commit extreme anti-social behavior. But many scientists and psychologists find that video games can actually have many benefits – the main one is making kids smart. Video games may actually teach kids high-level thinking skills that they will need in the future.

“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.