I’m a 20 year old gamer and proud of it. Video games are part of my life, but a large part of American entertainment as well. Since their invention in 1951 by Ralph Baer, they have become one of the fastest growing sectors in the U.S. Economy, with sales reaching $13.4 billion in 2014. An estimated 97% of US children age 12-17 play video games. More than half of the top-selling video games contain violence. Violent video games are believed to desensitize players to violence and have been blamed for school shootings, violence towards women and increases in bullying.
I believe that video games do not cause violence in youth. As the sale of games continued to rise from 1994 to 2014, violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by children fell 76%. …show more content…
When a game is going to be released to the public, there are ads on every major platform: television, internet videos and even banners on social media. That level of promotion makes them cool to children, so much that they ask their parents to purchase them for them, even if they have a “M” or “mature” rating, which prohibits the sale to anyone under the age of 17 without a parent or guardian present. When a parent purchases a violent video game for their child, it becomes the hot topic at school and all their friends get it too so they can play together online. Violent video games do not make children violent, they get blamed due to the sheer amount of children having them, which can be related to the amount of promotion they …show more content…
They cause anxiety over a perceived threat of social corruption, like radio, television, cell phones, comic books, rock and roll music and social media when they first became popular. Older generations stress to their children that they need to go outside and exercise or read a book when in reality, with the popularity of video games on the rise, there have never been more jobs in that field and it could prepare them for their potential career field. Video games have been judged unfairly by the media as well. In 2012, Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter, was incorrectly reported to be an avid player of violent video games. Investigators later reported that his favorite games were actually Super Smash Brothers and Dance Dance Revolution, two notoriously non-violent games. Within hours of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University, high-profile figures as Dr. Phil McGraw and Mitt Romney blamed the shooting on violent video games when in reality, the shooter did not play video
I believe that video games do not cause violence in youth. As the sale of games continued to rise from 1994 to 2014, violent crimes decreased 37% and murders by children fell 76%. …show more content…
When a game is going to be released to the public, there are ads on every major platform: television, internet videos and even banners on social media. That level of promotion makes them cool to children, so much that they ask their parents to purchase them for them, even if they have a “M” or “mature” rating, which prohibits the sale to anyone under the age of 17 without a parent or guardian present. When a parent purchases a violent video game for their child, it becomes the hot topic at school and all their friends get it too so they can play together online. Violent video games do not make children violent, they get blamed due to the sheer amount of children having them, which can be related to the amount of promotion they …show more content…
They cause anxiety over a perceived threat of social corruption, like radio, television, cell phones, comic books, rock and roll music and social media when they first became popular. Older generations stress to their children that they need to go outside and exercise or read a book when in reality, with the popularity of video games on the rise, there have never been more jobs in that field and it could prepare them for their potential career field. Video games have been judged unfairly by the media as well. In 2012, Adam Lanza, the Sandy Hook Elementary shooter, was incorrectly reported to be an avid player of violent video games. Investigators later reported that his favorite games were actually Super Smash Brothers and Dance Dance Revolution, two notoriously non-violent games. Within hours of the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University, high-profile figures as Dr. Phil McGraw and Mitt Romney blamed the shooting on violent video games when in reality, the shooter did not play video