Video Games, Innocent or Violent?

It's a surprising fact that 90 percent of young boys and 40 percent of young girls play video games on a regular basis. The real question is how many of those young people play violent video games, and of those, how many have become more violent as a result? Although some people don't believe that violent video games are harmful to young boys and girls, they are harmful because they cause more aggressive behavior and they desensitize.

Some people believe that violent video games aren't harmful to young boys and girls. In a recent study, "Researchers find that people serving time for violent crimes typically consume less media than the average person in the general population"(Jenkins). That means that they consume less video games as well. However, even though they consume less media right before their crimes, they may have played many violent video games when they were younger. In another study, Christopher Ferguson said "We found that depressed mood and association with delinquent peers were the strongest and most consistent risk factors for youth violence across outcome measures"(Ferguson). This shows that violent video games aren't as bad as depression and delinquent peers at creating violent. Although that may be true directly, some delinquent behavior is caused by violent video games. So even if they didn't play video games, then the delinquent peers probably did, so they were still affected by violent video games. Although some people believe violent video games to be fine for children, those kind of games aren't because they can cause aggressive behavior.

However, one of the worst results of violent video games is increased aggression levels. Professor Mark Griffith did a study, from which he commented "The s...

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... they are wrong because the games can cause violent behavior and desensitization of violence. Violent behavior can lead to more crimes and murders. Desensitization can lead to lack of interest in fights or death. With gaming becoming a more popular pass time, especially in young people, purchases of violent video games should be monitored more carefully to prevent children from getting their hands on potentially dangerous games.

Works Cited

Daily Mail, Reporter. "Violent Video Games 'do Make Teens Aggressive'." Daily Mail 08 Oct. 2012: 4. Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 25 Feb. 2014.

ProCon.org. "Do Violent Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?" ProCon.org. 29 Mar. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

"Watching Violent TV Or Video Games Desensitises Teenagers And May Promote More Aggressive Behaviour."M2presswire (2010): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.