Essay on Violent Video Games Example For Students

Essay on Violent Video Games Playing video games does not cause violent behavior. Don’t get me wrong, some video games show horrific acts of violence. â€Å"A recent survey found that 92 percent of U.S. kidsages 2 to 17play video games, and their parents bought 225 million of them last year to the tune of $6.4 billion.† (Sider 79).What’s here to argue is that violent video games do not cause violence among children, but the blame for violence should be on the individual and people who should have taught the individual better. If kids are not able to see the difference between reality and fantasy, then they really can’t be blamed for committing acts they see in a game and then imitating, not fully understanding the consequences of doing it in the real world. Parents should be the overall deciders of what they want their children playing, watching, and doing. Being left with the right to raise their child in their fashion, parents should find out what the child is playing and limit or restrict them, so then parents can’t blame anything on video games if their kid commits a violent act. With video games as the new part of our pop culture, many adults find it hard to understand why children would want to spend so much time playing with these â€Å"idiot boxes†. With this lack of understanding comes fear, for, as humans, we fear what we do not know. So all that will come of this cycle is people will continue to play video games, something new in our pop culture will come and replace video games, and it will be radical for our pop culture and taken on as the root of all evil due to lack of understanding. With the high rise in violent video games in the last few years, adults see certain acts of violence portrayed in some video games to be a cause of violent acts committed by kids. This is such an easy decision to make, lay blame on something that is new, something radical like violent video games. People don’t even take a look back and remember â€Å"Novels, films, radio, and television have all been accused of leading young people astray and inducing violent or antisocial behavior. The fuss about video games may be just another case of curmudgeons complaining† (Walling 1436). If they saw these then they would see a pattern and might not think of pop-culture as harshly. Unfortunately many people do not, and then they blame it on everything but themselves. These arguments are fueled by certain acts of violence; one main support is the Columbine schools shooting where the two kids had been avid players of the video game DOOM (a first-person shooter where you go through le vels killing monsters). People hear these arguments, but what they don’t hear is that Harris and Klebold had many personal problems, such as being harassed at school, neglected by parents, and family problems. These problems could have easily given them a warped view on fantasy and reality, and are usually completely overlooked by many people. This example and many more are the fuel for such organizations as MAVAV (Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence), â€Å"While video game companies continue to market violence aimed at vulnerable children and young teens. And the newest absurdity, underground video game cultures which takes gaming to another level, tainted with online clans, singling out of people, hatred, racism, and sexism.† These groups seek a more governmental control of video games. â€Å"Video games are the topic on the surface†¦ a convenient scapegoat for people who do not want to probe deeper into the problem of where the ambition to kill come from.† (Zarozin ski). It’s easy to read something in the news and take in only what they tell you, but before you go forming extreme views on this subject make sure you know some background facts on those certain cases supporting your arguments. Violent Video GamesViolence in video games does not cause violence in children. Many studies will go off on how violent video games will increase aggression in youths. Well sure, give a kid a game and bring him/her to a point in the game they can’t pass, and they would get frustrated, come on anyone would. However not just anyone wouldn’t pick up a fire arm and gun down their school, as shown with Harris and Klebold had to have many personal problems before resorting to such actions. These problems included being harassed at school, neglected by parents, and family problems. Common sense should tell you that violent video games don’t cause children to do violent things. â€Å"Theyre not a threat to public order(Video Games). . . What theyre doing makes them less likely to be a threat to public order. Theyre getting their jones theyre satisfying their antisocial impulses in a completely harmless way.†(Van Horn). Also, play is necessary for a healthy chil d’s growth, and video games are a good source of play. Although if a child is violent to begin with or can not make the distinction between reality and fantasy, violent video games may not be right for these kids to be playing. The individual should be to blame if he or she commits a violent act, and their parents should be the ones to find this out and crack down on it. Parents should be the ones limiting the game play or overall just teaching the kids about what to take from these games and what not to. For video games do offer advantages to kids besides just play, such as fulfill a want for adventure and fantasy, they can role play and problems solve, and even improve hand-eye coordination. So now you have seen the argument on video game violence; I hope you will step a little out of the box, look in on this situation and laugh, and then find something more worthwhile to go argue over. Works Cited Walling, Annie. â€Å"Do Video Games Lead to Violent Behavior in Children?† American Family Physician 65 (2002): 1436 â€Å"The Video Game Factor, Teen Violence the Blame Game† Brandweek (1999) Gillespie, Thom â€Å"Violence, Games Art Part 1† Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology (2000) Gillespie, Thom â€Å"Violence, Games Art Part 2† Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology (2000) Dietz, Tracy â€Å"An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior† Sex Roles: A Journal of Research (1998) Collins, Glen. Video Games a Diversion or a Danger?. The New York Times, 1983. Gerdes, Louise. Media Violence Opposing Viewpoints. Michigan: Greenhaven Press, 2004 Sider, Don. â€Å"Virtual Vice? This holiday season, some video games come wrapped in sex, gore and controversy. What can parents do?† Time, Inc 58 (2002): 79 Zarozinski, Michael. â€Å"Video Game Violence† Louder than a Bomb! 12 Sep. 2001 Louder than a bomb! Software. 14 Feb, 2005.