Video Game Argumentative Essay

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

Not all video games are the same, but that’s doesn’t matter because the violent one only receives attention from the media. For example, CNN covered a story on an 18-year-old gunman in Germany, they proceeded to accuse violent video games because the kid was a fan of first person shooter games. They then proceeded to talk about why they are bad and how there is a significant link between violence and video games. “Overall, the academy's summary of the results from more than 400 studies revealed a "significant" link between being exposed to violent media (in general) and aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts and angry feelings” (Scutti par.6). They then proceeded to failing to defend why video games are bad by saying “He discovered that playing video games, no matter how

But there are certain things that have happened where they believed people were influenced by games such as the shooting at Columbine High School in Jefferson County, CO on Apr. 20, 1999. “The two teenage shooters were revealed to be avid players of the weapon-based combat games Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.” [1] Karen Sternheimer, "Do video games kill?", contexts. Feb. 2007”

Video games also play a big role on promoting violence. Even though most adults don’t play video games, our children do. And if we let our children play violent video games, wouldn’t you say that they are going to become violent? Kids learn by their surroundings. So playing a video game that teaches them about punching and kicking others they will do the same with their friends at school. And then we ask ourselves why the kid next door took a gun to school and shot his best friends?

The first body of evidence that supports the claim that video games do not cause violence in reality is that “almost all boys and most girls play video and computer games, including games with violent content” (Olsen, Kutner, and Warner 56). This would suggest that if all children play violent video games and video games did in fact cause children to act violently, then all children would be violent. As absurd as this suggestion is, when the claim came

Did you know that according to Dr. Bret Conrad, the majority of gamers believe that video game violence has few, if any harmful effects on them personally? Well, many people today play games with simulated violence ranging from games like “Killer” to games like Grand Theft Auto. One example, “Killer”, takes place in multiple New York City high schools at the end of the year. It consists of two teams, each student is assigned a person to shoot and they have to shoot them before they are shot. The students have to use water pistols to shoot their person. Once they are killed, their game is over. While some agree that games with simulated violence are perilous for teens, games with simulated violence are beneficial for teens because they help kids with problem solving skills, keep them busy and helps them help others.

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

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

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-governing entity, established by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) in 1994, which is responsible for implementing and enforcing content ratings assigned to video games. Additionally, the guidelines imposed by the ESRB are not enforced by federal law and companies can chose to disregard the standards set forth by the organization without notice.

This article was more of a counterargument for violent video games. They were saying how people that do studies on how these games affect kids need to take in consideration of other factors. The violent games are usually more competitive, harder, and faster faced compared to other games. The kids that also show more aggression could already be aggressive kids, which some studies do not take into consideration beforehand. They did have a few point on how in some school shootings, the shooter did play violent video games. This article can just be used as a counterargument or for the fact that some violent crimes happened from these games.

With regard to the Columbine High School Massacre, which occurred on April 20th of 1999, where two teenage boys entered a school and set fire inside the school, killing twelve students and one teacher, evidence was found that the two murderers were avid video gamers and were fans of violent shooters. Investigators at the time could not find any reliable motives as to why Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, would commit such a heinous crime. Many proposed that they were bullied in the school and wanted to take revenge on their classmates. When this theory failed, others blamed the violent video games they played. The FBI and its team of psychiatrists and psychologists, however, believe it was much deeper than that. According to world-renowned mental health experts, Dr. Frank Ochberg and Dwayne Fuselier, Eric Harris was labeled as a psychopath and Dylan Klebold was a depressive. In the popular usage anyone who kills senselessly or commits acts of violence can be labeled a psychopath; however, in medicine and scientific terms, a psychopath has a special meaning and is required to meet specific characteristics. Harris’ and Klebold's goal was not only to become nationally recognized, but their goal was to commit the biggest school massacre in the world in order to instill fear in the hearts of every human being who ever heard their story. Games could not have caused this type of behavior because games did not motivate them to commit this crime. It was the thought of being able to strike terror in the hearts of people all over the world that drove them. Yes, they only killed thirteen people in total but their target was much bigger than that. If they had wired the propane tanks to explode correctly, the number would have totaled over 600 people. Since, we now understand the motives and illnesses of the boys; could video games have provoked a medically

In recent years there have been plenty of cases of music, people, games, etc, being used as scapegoats so authorities can jump to conclusions about violent events and blame these as the main reason for such an event to take place. To give people an answer that may not even have any supporting evidence. Nowadays violence in video games is up to the level of killing people as the norm with many popular titles having this apart of the game. In many games that is the one of the main features that add together to create the game. Some game titles that include violence and killing are ‘Call of Duty,’ ‘Halo,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mass Effect,’ ‘Battlefield,’ ‘Counterstrike: Global Offensive,’ and ‘Doom.’ All of these games main storylines include the need to attack and kill to progress forward (Mainly with guns). But does this create a bad effect on people? Is this making people more likely to be violent? Even kill in real life? This is the particular ethical issue that violence in video games is having. The argument to prove if video games are really a cause of anger and if they cause a more aggressive and again violent person just by playing. In the world there are over 1.2 billion people that play video games, which is about 44% of the online population (comScore data cited by Spil Games). With majority of games including some form of violence, ranging from being very gentle lego fights to full on gore and guts in 18+

Accordingly today’s media finds it easier to retain viewers if they just cover more interesting or controversial topics, even if they are the ones who must create the controversy. Without the media it is hard to imagine that video games would ever have become a topic of such debate. Many parents have been led to think that videogames are going to turn their children into violent, anti-social, and lazy dregs of society. In recent years there have been a number of mass shootings whose perpetrators have been later found to have been “addicted” to violent video games, due to that connection the media began to focus on these violent games and has turned them into a scapegoat very similar to the way comic books were in the 1950s (Kielmanowicz par.

Video game makers have even advanced video games to give you the fell of using real weapons, also called virtual reality. There is a professor at the University of Missouri says that violent video games change behavior. First person shooter games help team players how to hurt people because first person shooter games are usually more realistic. Sixty percent sixth to eighth grade boys who play m-rated video games have hit or beat up somebody. Many people who have acted in mass shootings played violent video games. Violent video games have the tendency to lower people's empathy and they also lower people’s kindness. The APA says violent video games will risk the factor for aggression. When violent video games reward a player for violence, kids think violence is a good thing because they learn that you get rewards for committing violent acts. Sixty-seven percent of parents even agree that violent video games do lead to aggression.

“Teenagers today often spend a great deal of time playing video games. These games are fun and engaging and young people often feel like playing games is a great thing to do in their spare time. However, you shouldn’t spend too much time gaming and there are a number of reasons for this: it’s unhealthy, you should spend more time studying, and you need to socialize more.”