Nowadays, video games have become a vital part of most children. They tend to spend more time in front of consoles and computers than reading books, playing or studying. However, when something becomes popular in somehow, there must be someone who disagrees and condemns it. The issue is that violent video games contribute to youth violence, don’t they? Perhaps it’s accused by someone who is conservative. Violent games don’t lead children to have violent behaviors for three reasons.
First, research from a well-known expert reviewed previous school-based attacks which showed that only one-eighth of the attackers exhibited any interest in violent games. On the other hand, the attackers showed more involvement in violent movies, books, and violence in their own writing. The report didn’t find a relationship between playing violent video games and school shooting. Another reason is that playing violent games provides a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feeling.
In other words, kids play a game because it helps them get their anger out and relax. Therefore, when getting angry from someone, they can relieve their anger by playing games instead of expressing aggressive behavior. Finally, current arguments against violent video games are similar to other arguments which occurred in the past. For instance, when new media such as radio, movies, and television have been introduced, there was someone who disagreed with them. Consequently, most people would result in surges in youth violence also failed to materialize.
Opponents of violent games say they lead to youth violence because they confuse children by mixing fantasy violence with real world violence. This point has some merit on the surface. Nonetheless, video game players understand they are playing a game. Their ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality will prevent them from emulating video game violence in real life. Opponents think that if we got rid of violent video games, we whould live in the peaceful world. Instead, the violence would still occur in the absence of them. In conclusion, youth don’t model violent acts on what they have seen in games.
