Violent Video Games did Not Cause the Columbine High School Shooting

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

A secure link between violent video games and violent behaviors has not yet been proven. Studies have shown numerous design flaws and have used unreliable sources such as noise blast tests to test their theory. Aforementioned only one-eighth of attackers have exhibited interests in video games. A report has not yet been proven to link violent video games with violent behaviors in school shootings but show that behavioral problems come from violent movies and other resources.

The story line behind some violent video games includes games in which players earn points by carjacking taxis, scoring drugs from cursing thugs, and mowing down pedestrians.(see http://www.feedmag.com/vgs/duncan.html>) Some cartoonish tag lines in some sadistic video games include : -- "As easy as killing babies with axes" and "More fun than killing your neighbour's cats". This kind of themes definitely influence the players, especially the younger ones, and inflict violent tendencies on them. It is no wonder, that this killing mania in violent games was seen to seep out into the actual world when a high school junior opened fire in his school cafetaria in Littleton, Colorado, killing two of his classmates. The gunman was reported to be an ardent fan of Quake and Doom, some rather violent video games. More proof of the relationship between video games and violence is revealed by a study which clearly reveals how this kind of entertainment affects our lives. Greater details of the history of how high school students turned gunmen in Columbine High School are given, which shows that the effect of video games in their lives was a major source of influence in doing what they did best.

Many people agree with the statement that through the media in movies, television shows, and video games, showing violence affects the youth. Even though many agree, some have different opinions of explaining their reasoning behind their thoughts. Grossman is a great example because his reasoning comes from a lot of his personal experiences from a lot of different kind of training from the military. He believes his experiences from classical conditioning is connected to the classical conditioning that the youth experience. Grossman states, “adolescents in movie theaters across the nation, and watching television at home, are seeing the detailed, horrible suffering and killing of human beings, and they are learning to associate this killing a suffering with entertainment”

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.

97% of teens ages 12-17 play video games today. They contribute to the growing industry of video games which is now at $21.53 billion (ProCon.org). In your life you have most likely played some type of video game, such as a game on your phone or on your computer. Did that game make you feel like you wanted to cause violence? Violent video games do not cause mass shootings, it allows kids to relieve their stress, and it is the competitive nature, not the violence in video games.

As many as 97% of US kids age 12-17 play video games, contributing to the $21.53 billion domestic video game industry. More than 50% of games have violence. (Procon.org) Video games that have violence have been blamed to have caused bullying, mass shootings, and violence towards women. (Procon.org) An estimated four out of five US households with a male child own a video game system and worldwide series of video games are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017. (Procon.org) Critics argue that these games desensitize players to violence and it rewards players for simulating violence . (Procon.org)

Many believe that violent video games in particular are nothing more than interactive murder trainers for those who play them. It’s a known fact that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the disturbed high school seniors responsible for the Columbine High School Shooting, where avid gamers and gun enthusiasts. While there is no proven direct correlation between violent media and actual violent crimes, this can’t be simply dismissed as coincidence. Investigators found computers with the popular game “Doom” installed in the shooters’ homes, with “Doom” being somewhat infamous for its brutal, violent content. (Daily News, 2012, Apr. 23)

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

Over the past few years, the United States has seen violence that has come from the inside of the country. Various high schools, have had shootings inside of them from some of the high school students that go to that specific school. Some experts blame the shootings by categorizing the students as someone who has been tormented and bullied basically most of life, while other experts believe the shootings were caused by the violence in video games. There has been a lot of nation-wide discussion about if violent video games really do cause violence and aggression in young gamers ever since shootings at high schools increased. However evidence has shown differently than what most experts think. Violent video games do not cause violence and aggression in young gamers.

In Grand Theft Auto, you run a round picking up jobs in an imaginary city. These jobs range from killing union workers to stealing pricy automobiles. In Conker’s Bad Fur day, you play as a playful cartoon squirrel that drinks beer and urinates on the enemy to defeat him. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, 90% of the games played today actually reward the player to injure another person and these were the games rated Teen. These types of gratuitous violence portrayed in video games transfer over into the everyday lives of these children. Studies of children exposed to violence have shown that they can become: “immune” or numb to the horror of violence, imitate the violence they see, and show more aggressive behavior the more they’re exposed to violence. Some children accept violence as a way to handle problems. Studies have also shown that the more realistic and repeated the exposure to violence, the greater the impact on children. For instance, a child in Kentucky ended up bringing a revolver to school and shot 8 students. Police ended up pin-pointing the source to the video games the child had been playing. The child ended up raking in more than 10,000 hours of a shoot em’ up style game that rewarded bonus points for headshots.

In today’s society, the concerns for the effects of video games have acquired quite a terrible reputation. Worried parents around the world assume video games make their children do poorly in school, and create violent, desensitized, antisocial children. The increase in violent games, usually get the blame for aggressive behavior, shootings and violence in schools and young individuals. Most beliefs about video games effect on the brain and emotions are very common misconceptions. I strongly believe that video games are an essential tool to learning and gaining much-needed skills. When people look at the studies that have been done on video games and the brain, it will be apparent that some myths about video games have been blown out of proportion. It has come to my attention that there are studies that prove the negative effects of video games may only last the duration of game play. Kids can improve in general knowledge with educational video games like Leap Frog. Video games can train specific areas of the brain as well as increase brain flexibility and memory. Gaming actually has more beneficial effects than negative effects. Video games are excellent educational implement used in elementary schools. It is extremely helpful in brain development and helping kids with trouble reading improve. Memory retention can be improved and increased with the use of strategic, thinking games. Video games, as funny as it might sound, even promote

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

Video games are very misunderstood by adults. They seem to believe violent video games leads to violent kids, but that is just not true. Violent video games really don’t do any damage on the psyche of a child that was not already damaged, and if there is no damage already than no damage shall be dealt. People say violent games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto have been the cause of many school shootings which is just not true. Millions of people play violent video games every day and none of them go out and kill people. The person that goes out and kills people was sick in the head long before they played the violent video game. Maybe they enjoyed killing people a bit too much but that was not the intention of the games creators. They can’t help how some person who is sick in the head chooses to play their video game. I have three reason that will prove violent video games do not equal violent kids. The amount of time spent playing, how you spend your time playing, and violence in other media will help me to prove my point. First, we must discuss the amount of time spent playing.

Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary video game developer, expressed his thoughts on video games, “Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-n-roll.” There have been common misconceptions about video games being a bad influence on children due to their violent content they can have and leading children to be more violent. Miyamoto disagree with this misconception using rock-n-roll as an example. He stated just like how rock-n-roll was considered bad in the past generation.therefore the current generation of children and adults will not be affected by video games in a detrimental way. There have been many case studies disapproving this myth about how video games are bad for children. Video games can be a future educational resource