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Violent Video Games

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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. Ever since the creation of Pong, one of the earliest video games, video games have been one of the most popular pastimes, with more than 90% of children in the United States playing video games. In these video games that children and teens play, “85% or more of video games on the market contain some form of violence,” (Scuttr). Violence in video games began with the game Death Race in 1976. The objective of the game was to run over as many “gremlins” as possible before the time limit ended. Due to the outrage in the public, it was later taken out of the market. 17 years later, Mortal Kombat was released, advertised as the first video game to feature life-like violence. Unlike Death Race, Mortal Kombat stayed in stores despite its controversial content because of the creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The ESRB is a self regulated organization that assigns age ratings to video games based on its content. Because of the age ratings that

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