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Malik Jackson
English 111-54
Mrs. Boyd
July 7 2014
Do violent video games harm our society?
Have you ever played a video game? Did you know that 97% of 12-17 year olds in the
US played video games in 2008, thus fueling an $11.7 billion domestic video game industry. In
2008, 10 of the top 20 best-selling video games in the US contained violence (Procon.org).
Video games began as a small computer programs that were pretty basic in its nature. Most early
video games involved basic shapes and lines; it was not until the early 1970s that the first arcade
games came about (Aamoth). Video games are becoming more and more popular each day.
Video games in our generation have created more jobs and enhance life rather than cause
mayhem and criminal activity. Violent video games have also provided a needed source of
income for our society, The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this
same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled (Procon.org) Video games are
relevant to our society almost every child, man or woman has seen or played a video game in
their lives, and to abolish or ban video games would be catastrophic. While the majority of the
world will tell you that video games are harmful to our youth because of bullying, mass
murders, and high stress levels; the truth is that video games actually cause less stress,
prevent major catastrophes, and they help focus the brains concentration.
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Video games can cause high levels of stress; however it is not the rating of the game that
causes it. The reason that video games cause stress is only because of the difficulty of the game.
The harder the game the more likely a person is to get frustrated and in turn causes high amounts
of stress. The fact is that non-violent video games cause more stress rather than violent ones do.
The video game Tetris, a game involving stacking blocks, was used as an example in Drake
Bennetts article, A few frustrating rounds of Tetris, in other words, would be more likely to
make a gamer lash out than an hour spent absorbed in virtual decapitation and evisceration on an
easy level of Gears of War (Bennett). Gears of war happens to be one of the more violent video
games that involve shooting and killing, even monsters; however as stated before Tetris is the
more stress inducing video game. Violent video games do not cause high stress levels based off
the maturity rating and video games have no correlation to outbreaks of anger as well any
correlation to murders.
Exposure to violent video games has not been shown to be predictive of violent behavior
or crime. Any link found between video games and violence is best explained by other variables
such as exposure to family violence and aggressive personality (Procon.org). Violent video
games do not affect a childs aggression. Violent video games actually provide the opposite
effect to people of young age. Playing violent video games provides a safe outlet for aggressive
and angry feelings. A 2007 study reported that 45% of boys played video games because "it
helps me get my anger out" and 62% played because it "helps me relax"( Procon.org). To say
that violent video games causes young kids to become bullies and even to later become murders
would be mistaken. What about the time right before video games even came into existence, for
example world war two, there were about over 45 million deaths (By The Numbers). People are
violent by nature and violent video games do not enhance nor do they cause people to become
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more violent. As stated earlier violent video games are outlets to relieve aggression and reduce
stress, violent video games are also known worldwide for its revenue.
Violent video games are popular among every one of all ages and sizes. The average age
for a video game player is around 34 years old and the average gamer plays video games on an
average of about 168 hours a week (Video Game Industry Statistics). Video games are changing
the world, the revenue gained from video games, according to the Video Game Industry
Statistics, is about 10.5 billion dollars in 2009 (Video Game Industry Statistics). New games are
released just about every week in turn generate large amounts of money. There is no correlation
between violence and violent video games, the 15
th
statistic on Procon.org shows that America
has a higher murder rate but lower video game sales rate compared to japan whose rate in
murders are extremely low but sell violent video games almost 10 times the amount in America
(Procon.org). As the world continues to grow so does the video game industry and violent video
games happens to be a favorite by people of all ages.
Although violent video games cause no real threat to society there are people who view
them as causes of aggression. The argument that violent video games leads to aggression has
always been in question as stated in Etchells article. Etchells article states, in the 1950s,
psychiatrist Fredric Wertham wrote a book called "Seduction of the Innocent", which claimed
that comic books were unnecessarily exposing children to violence and causing them to become
delinquent (Etchells). The columbine incident is an example of how violent video games have
discouraged according to Alice Park of the Time magazine. Although columbine was used to
discourage video games Park also stated, Approximately 90% of children in the U.S. play video
games, and more than 90% of those games involve mature content that often includes violence
(Park). This statistic shows that it does not make sense to remove video games now that almost
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all of the population has been involved in one way or another. One more argument against
violent video games is that they train young children to be killers at a young age (Procon.org).
Violent video games do not train children to become killers because if that was the case there
would be killers and murders on every corner of every street. Violent video games are not
something new it has been around for at least 20 years now and the government have already put
regulations on violent video games to prevent young children from being desensitized
(Procon.org).
Violent video games do not harm society. The reality is that violent video games are
only here to serve one purpose and that is to entertain. Video games have been a great source of
revenue video games are played worldwide especially the violent ones. Violent video games do
not kill people; violent crazed people kill other people. To do away with violent video games
would be a mistake because once it is gone something else just like it will reappear. A lot of
people in the world will come up with various issues that contribute to mass killings, bullying,
and high levels of stress, violent video games are not one of them. Video games were made as a
stress reliever from a hard day at work or school. There are always video game competitions
going on where groups of like-minded people gather to have fun.





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Works Cited
Aamoth, Doug. The History of Video Game Consoles: Part One, Part Two, Part Three. Time. 19
Dec. 2013. Web. 10 July 2014.
Bennett, Drake. Violent Video Games Don't Make You Aggressive (but Tetris Might).
Bloomberg Business Week. 15 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 July 2014.
By The Numbers: World Wide Deaths. The National WWII Museum. Web. 10 July 2014.
Etchells, Pete. What Is the Link between Violent Video Games and Aggression? Guardian News
and Media, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 01 July 2014.
Park, Alice. Little By Little, Violent Video Games Make Us More Aggressive. Time, 24 Mar.
2014. Web. 03 July 2014.
Video Game Industry Statistics. Entertainment Software Rating Board. Web. 10 July 2014.
Video Games ProCon.org. ProCon.org Headlines, 10 March 2014. Web. 03 July 2014.