Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent? | Teen Ink

Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent?

March 10, 2016
By Darthchase BRONZE, Boston, Massachusetts
Darthchase BRONZE, Boston, Massachusetts
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Games. There is a lot of them. They are as common as pets. Maybe even more so. They have made a lot of people lives better but some people do not like violent games. For a good reason. The news say shooters do shootings because violent games made them aggressive enough to do shootings but they do not know all of what violent games can do. It could help kids. And these bad effects are not as bad as everyone makes them for. That is why I’m here, to show that violent games could do more good than harm. Violent games do not make people more aggressive and my reason for that is the effects wear off quickly, they help relinquish the anger that kids may have, murder is rare while games are extraordinarily common, and games could help kids with school or with relationships.

My first reason is that effects from such games wear off quickly. The effects wear off from four to ten minutes. All gone. Back to normal. Now playing for long periods of times could have longer effects, kind of like a diet. Doing it for a short period of time is not going to cause a change but for longer time it could. There was another test that studied undergraduates who played and didn’t play violent games and both groups had the same chance to help a scientist pick up his pen. This shows that violent games do not hugely desensitize people. The effects are not exactly bad though. Like in a emergency room with blood and guts and other stuff. Violent games could help physicians not be affected by the blood that much. That could really help with physicians with, lets say, a weak stomach. Who knew that violent games could help with a job! My sources that helped me make this reason is “The truth about violent video games and kids” and “Little by little, violent video games make us more aggressive.”

       

My second reason is that violent games help relinquish the anger that kids may have built up. Games are like an outlet for this type of kids ( that most if not all fit in) able to vent those bad impulses without doing something bad. It is like people going to punch a body punching bag. A body punching bag is shaped like an enemy. Are they bad? Are they violent just because that's their way to relieve stress? No, their not. It is like violent games. Just instead of a punching bag it's a computer generated person… that still mimics a person! It is just a way to relieve stress, that's all. Not all kids are the same though so while one may help from playing violent games to another it could make them worse. It depends all on the kid. Furthermore, there was a test don't where they got kids who played and did not play violent games. They were asked if they ever fantasized about hitting another kid. KIds who played violent games had fantasized about hitting someone more often. First, fantasizing about hitting someone is normal. Everyone has someone they do not like and want to punch them. But how many of them actually have hit someone? One? None? Some? All? Probably not as many as you think. That shows control. They know that in the real world that is not something you should be doing left and right but in the cyber world they can and let out that stress so they do not ever get super tempted to do so. And that is what they were made for. Aside from countering boredom. My sources for this reason were videogamesprocon.org, “Little by little, violent games make us more aggressive.”

 

       

On to my next reason. Murder is rare while video games are extraordinarily common. It is fact. Why do crime rates go down when big games like Grand Theft Auto? Cause they are inside playing and letting all that energy go through the game and not doing the exact same stuff  outside but with consequences. More proof why is crime at an all time low when games have stormed the planet and could practically take over the world if they wanted you. And those games do not even make people do crimes. Out of forty-one school shooters, only five were deeply interested in violent games. A infamous school shooter did not went down the wrong path because of violent games. Dance, Dance Revolution did it. It’s true. The cops knew he played violent games but after further investigation they found out that he went to a theatre some nights to play Dance, Dance and when the manager did not unplug the arcade soon enough he left in raging fits. Now I see how easy it is to blame video games. Blame something that you could control rather that something you can not. The only problem is that people are under this illusion that if they fix violent games that crime would go down but then they are spending their lives trying to fix something that would ultimately make people more mad and cause more problems. If only if it was then we could fix the world for the greater good. My sources were “Violent video games create aggression, but do they cause kids to commit crimes?”, “Little by little, video games make us more aggressive” and marshallproject.com.

         

My next and last reason is that games could help kids academically. This could either be surprising or old news. Some people say that board games or outside games can help kids learn but computer games can also. Computer games can boost exam results and some games are extremely hard. This causes kids to have to learn and be better to overcome it. I can list a bunch of things that games could teach kids. Logic, hand-eye coordination, quick thinking, and many more! But the real skill kids can learn from games like Call Of Duty is teamwork. Sports can also teach teamwork but Cod does it without the kids getting harmed. With COD you shoot computer people with computer bullets and computer grenades. Nothing could physically harm your kid. Now, with sports your kid gets sacked, tackled, and other stuff causing bruzies, broken bones, concussions, and in worst case scenario, death.
Both have the same reward. Though one could say that football teaches more than just teamwork well so does COD! They all have their rewards, and they both have around the same rewards. Back on track, they both have the same reward but one could and probably cause serious injuries. Which one would help your child the most? Playing alone or with friends can also help in different ways like solitary games make kids perform better academically while kids who play together have less problems with others. One problem games could cause is that is temporarily. But the longer you play, the longer it takes to change back. It is ok if your child is playing games. It is normal develop and shows that they are growing with the world. It is also a fun source! Guess games could teach you a thing or two. My sources were raisesmartkids.com, Harvard Mental Health, and “Little by Little, violent games make us more aggressive.”

As talked about above others say that violent games are very harmful or at least more harmful than it could do good. I have to disagree with that. They have some good facts about it like players brains temporarily and that games could desensitize people but others have facts that are not so… good.  Like that parent should keep kids from challenging, faster paced, and more competitive as most claims that is what leads to a violent game. But Mario Kart is challenging, faster paced, and more competitive than some. That could possibly be one of the most non-violent game in this modern age. People also say that violent games could cause nightmares. Anything could cause nightmares. And some people like to be scared. The best, personally, they could say is that violent games and probably not healthy for children and teens.
   
To wrap everything up let's review what I talked about. Violent video games do not make people more violent. We talked about how effects from these games wear off quickly, it helps kids relinquish anger, murder is rare, and games help kids with school and relationships. Hopefully, you have changed your opinion about violent games if your opinion about it was bad. Just keep one thing in mind, video games can help more than they could harm, normally.



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