Violent Video Games Cause Violence In America

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.

In my most recent essay I wrote of the violence attributed to video games in light of various shootings and other tragedies that occurred in the past year or so. In this essay I argued that despite their violent content, video games are not completely to blame for acts of violence committed by children. Throughout this essay I tried to convince the reader by, first, establishing my own credibility with video games, then sharing my own experiences with violent games, and providing both empirical data and valuable insight from trusted sources.

On April 20, 1999, two high school seniors walked into Colorado high school carrying AK47 rifles and opened fire. They shot dozens of people, killing 12 students and one teacher. School shootings had happened before, but this was a new scale of carnage. While searching for the reasoning behind this massacre, it was found out that the shooters had spent a lot of time playing violent video games. The question that has been asked by many is “Do violent video games cause violence in real life?” The answer is yes. They do cause violence in real life, but not to the extent publicized. Many different studies and experiments have shown varying results. Most say that violence in video games does cause violent behavior. However, it is too

Ever since the Columbine High School shooting in 1999 and the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 (and many other incidents), there has been a belief among many people that playing violent video games causes children to commit violent crimes. These societal beliefs fall into the “moral panic” category where society believes that behavioral choices of others within a society poses a great risk to a society as a whole (Ferguson, 2008). The moral panic in this topic was a growing concern that the beginning of violent video games, such as the release of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, and “predicted” the “school shooting peak” of the late 1990’s (Ferguson, Coulson, &

For several decades, the idea of violence in the popular media influencing a young generation to violence has been hotly debated. Since the introduction of violent video games in the 1970’s, for example, the shooting games Empire and Maze War from 1973, people have noticed that violent video games induce violent behavior in players, especially in teenage males. Despite people seeing the negative influence of violent media earlier as well, only in the last two decades has video game violence come to the forefront as video game popularity has increased. With the growing influence of digital technology, people began to notice increasingly aggressive displays on the part of adolescent players. Moreover, the computer and game consoles became the most cherished adolescent toys, and violent video games their favorite pastime. Meanwhile, parents started to worry about their children’s activity, and whether violent video games lead juveniles to infractions of the law and to negative changes in their behavior.

Violence in video games can affect ones mindset in so many different ways, where we don’t even realize it. For example playing “Grand Theft Auto” for a few hours will change your mindset. Even though it wouldn’t be in a tremendous way, but for a few minutes your mindset will think, “This game is so much fun, I want to steal cars, have police chase me, shoot at people, even steal helicopters”. According to Social scientists in the New York Times, Many studies have shown that this is becoming a major issue because of how realistic these games are starting to look. According to PBS Newshour, Another issue is, with all these major shootings, such as the Sandy Hook, The theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, The Newton Killer, Adam Lanza ; all show that they played many violent video games. But there can be other reasons as to why they made such a major impact to this world. It could have been depression, bullying as a child, feeling socially isolated, or even a certain state of mind, where they feel like they have to transform that game into real life.

Video games have been around for half a century, when the first simple tennis game was designed by William Higinbotham in 1958. Since then, video games have gotten more in depth, and now include the best graphics and a vast amount of options which include violent video games. Violent video games have gotten more popular with the vast amount of variety including the franchise of Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. In addition, these are the most common and sought after video games, and because of the violence in those games, debate has started whether or not violent video games cause people especially adolescents to be more violent and destructive in society. Since the debate has started, research has been conducted and the introduction of violent video games into society has not resulted in violence to increase in adolescents and children.

Many studies suggest that violent video games contribute to the aggressions of video games players. Today over 85% of video games contained violence, and the rest have explicit content like sex, drugs, and disregard to human life (Carnagey, Anderson, & Bushman, 2007). Someone who is new to video games is exposing themselves to violence, and for many the general concern comes from being influence from such games. For example, video games first influence school shooting that first started in West Paducah, Kentucky in 1997, Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1998, Springfield, Oregon in 1998, etc. Making by example the violent nature of video games (Anderson, 2004). That is of course, researches do not have sufficient evident that video

The creation of video games that portray violent content have became a popular commodity for children looking for ways to spend countless hours of free time. Violent video games have been a part of American culture ever since the release of “Death Race” in 1976 (“Videogames and Violence”). This multiplayer arcade game involved driving a car over stick gremlins in order to score points. These types of games have evolved into something far greater with releases of Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare just to name a few. Violent video games are leading people to draw conclusions that children engaging in this type of violence for entertainment purposes may result in a negative impact on society. A prime example of how video games negatively influenced teenagers’ lives is the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado. Two teenagers opened fire on their school, in the middle of the day, and were inspired by the games Wolfenstein 3D and Doom (ProCon.org). So, is the ease of access and the thrill of violent activity creating a real life danger zone for these gamers and the innocent bystanders in their path? There is a direct correlation between video game violence and mass murders occurring in this country. Exposure to video gaming may desensitize children and encourage aggressive behaviors, lead to real life acts of violence, and should be monitored in order to keep our children and this nation safe.

The violent video games we play today could be causing violence around the world, some evidence points towards violent games being a culprit in the Sandy Hook school

For the past twenty years, whenever there has been a shooting of any kind, committed by a young male, people have blamed video games. They say that video games make people violent. But that isn’t true. Video games may make people violent while playing them, but that violence never leads any further than yelling at the television screen. Video games should not be put down. In fact, video games help people better their motor skills, the military uses video games for training exercises, and a lot of people use video games to relieve stress.

Video games have been around for many years and violent video games have become increasingly popular, especially to kids in their adolescent years. Along with the increased popularity of video games, violence has also increased.

Who here has ever played video games? Who here has ever played Grand Theft Auto? Who has played Call of Duty: Black Ops? Who has played Far Cry? Who has played Halo? These are some of the most popular video games known today, that happen to be some of the most violent video games in today’s society. Video games have been around and becoming more and more popular since the 1950’s decade. Playing these violent video games can cause many problems, which bring me to my claim being, playing violent video games can lead to violent behavior in all age groups. Over the course of this speech I will first discuss how playing violent video games leads to violent and abusive behavior. Next I will discuss how playing violent video games can lead to antisocial behavior. Finally, I will conclude my speech by discussing how playing violent video games can lead to people committing crimes.

Video games have been widely popular in the last decade. Although these games are very entertaining, the contents in these games have become much more disturbing and violent as technology has advanced. The wide popularity for these violent video games have created controversy, with parents and psychologists demanding the government to regulate the sales of these games due to the fear of abuse and shootings. However, violent video games will not lead to violence, and should be encouraged rather than looked down upon.

Video games have become a major player in the entertainment industry, while also becoming increasingly violent. In the article “Violent Video Games Encourage Violent Behavior,” the author wants to show that violent video games encourage violent behavior. Violent images don 't necessarily create violent children, but gamers learn that violence is an accepted means to solve problems, and they perfect shooting