Violence is a common issue in the United States; this isn’t a mystery. The mystery is the cause of the violence. One of the causes of violence in the United States is violent video games that teens are known to play. These violent video games can have an effect on the behavior of people from ages 4 to 45. As the games become more violent, so do the tragedies we face.
April 20, 1999 was one of the most devastating days in American history. This is the day that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire in Columbine High School, killing 13 people and wounding 23 more before turning the guns on themselves.
The two teens were known to play a violent video game called Doom. This game is used to train military soldiers to kill. The boys set up the game so that they had extra ammunition and the victims could not fight back.
The boys also made a videotape for a school project in which they dressed in trench coats and killed school athletes. After less than a year, they really acted out this videotape except they did not kill solely athletes.
Of course, the video game they played was not the only factor in the reasoning as to why the adolescents did this, but it was one of them. Violence has increased dramatically over the past decade, and it is likely that modern violent video games are partly to blame for this.
I want to know why people find violent video games in which blood and gore are in abundance appealing. If most of us saw this in real life, such as in Columbine, we would be absolutely traumatized. So why support it?
I believe that violent video games are unnecessary. I know that not everyone who plays video games is going to repeat the Columbine tragedy or any other tragedy, but I do not want to hear about another story on the news like that.
If violence in video games was reduced and made less graphic, then it is likely that violence in the US might be reduced at least a little bit. A little bit less violence in video games might be worth less violence in real life.
Video games may be a factor in violence in the United States, but they're not the only factor nor are they the most significant factor. Violent video games are rated and restricted, and retailers can face severe fines for selling violent games to minors. Violence is far easier to encounter on TV, and has been on TV for far longer than video games have been popular, but many people seem to overlook this. Often violence amongst young people is attributed to video games simply because they played them, even if they were not a contributing factor. In fact the Department of Education did a study that found only an eighth of school shooters were interested in violent video games (violent books and movies were much more popular).
ReplyDeleteSure, studies exist that playing violent video games makes subjects think more aggressively than people who played non-violent games, but anyone who fails to distinguish the difference between the game and reality has a deeper problem that would come to light even without violent video games.
As an aside, Doom is not used to train soldiers to kill. Doom is about fighting demons and is not realistic or well suited for training. The Army developed their own version of it to help develop teamwork and coordination among Marines.