Do Video Games Cause Violence Essay Example

📌Category: Entertainment, Games
📌Words: 782
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 03 November 2020

This is a question that politicians, parents, and others have thought about ever since violent video games started climbing in popularity. I, as well as many others, say no. Although there are some valid points concerning the facts that video games in fact do cause violence, many of these “facts” can quickly be disproven or easily argued against. Video games are just harmless games, and have always been. If a child becomes violent, that can be blamed on the fault of the parent or caretaker, not the video game. Despite many calls from politicians to ban or strictly regulate these games more than they already are, it is a bad idea in the long run to do so. 

Calls from politicians to ban video games after every shooting or violent event are pointless, and often these arguments about video games are used to cover up and dismiss the real issue at hand, the sale of guns, and blame it on something else.

But many of these mass shooters play video games, you may point out. While that can be true in some aspects, many people play video games. There are just as many mass shooters and criminals who play video games as those who don’t. Most people assume that every person who commits a violent act must be connected to video games somehow, for example, the Virginia Tech shooter.

Politicians and prominent figures such as Mitt Romney, Jack Thompson, and Dr. Phil McGraw were too quick to blame video games for the shooting and avoid the true issues that had to be tackled. However, it was later revealed that the Virginia Tech shooter did not play video games. This is just one of the many examples of video games being falsely blamed for a tragedy that they had no part in, when in fact the real issues at hand are those of gun control and safety.

Another point that many anti video game activists point out is the fact that violent video games put violent thoughts in juveniles mind. However, video games are again being falsely blamed in order to ignore the real issues at hand. Some of these issues juveniles face today are violent entertainment and social media grooming by hate groups. Once a juvenile discovers a hateful portion of the internet, it is too easy to take their rhetoric as fact and ignore the true facts. If video games were to blame, the increase in their sales would lead to the increase of violence as well. But despite the sale of US computer and video game software sales increasing 204% from 1994 to 2014, murders by lone juveniles fell 76% and violent crime rates dropped 37%. This further points towards the fact that video games are not to blame, and in fact many violent juveniles are victims of a poor childhood, abuse, or being groomed by violent hate groups.

While it is true that video games can lead to increased aggression due to their competitive nature, the American Psychological Association determined that playing violent video games did not lead to an increase in violence, only aggression. This is a credible source proving that video games do not cause violence, but many anti video game activists choose to ignore this and point to unnamed sources. For example, after the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, CBS reported that the shooter was, “likely acting out the fantasies of a video game,” but the source they got this from remained unnamed. The facts of this situation however, which CBS chose to ignore, was that their reports were “mere speculation” according to Connecticut State Police spokesman Lt. Paul Vance, and that it was “Too early to know the killer’s motivation.”

So do you still believe that video games are to blame for the disgusting and violent acts committed by adults and juveniles each day in America? Or do you now realize that in fact video games are nothing if only a very tiny part of the larger issue surrounding violence in America. It is useless to focus all of our energy on banning and regulating video games, when in fact it is up to the responsibility of the parent to monitor what their children play. Instead of rushing to blame video games, we should focus our energy on the larger issues, such as dismantling and raising awareness of hate groups and banning or at least putting much stricter regulations on the sale of guns in the US.

As worldwide sales of video games continue to rise and are predicted to reach $102.9 billion in 2017, the debate over video games continues. Those on the side of being anti video game often avoid the true issues of violence in America, choosing to blame it on something else. Instead of blaming America’s issue of violence on video games, we have to focus on the true issues. If you really want America to be great, you have to focus on the real issues to tackle in order to make it a better place, not focus on the pointless act of banning video games.

 

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