Video Games Make People Violent, By Zoe Kleinman

In the article ‘Video Games Make People Violent’, Zoe Kleinman describes the effects of videogames on the behavior of people and how this has influenced some criminal acts. Video games have become very common especially in the 21st century. Basically, the invention of motion pictures has pioneered the progress of creating video games. The video industry has made a tremendous approach towards ensuring that they give their audience the best video games which are captivating and interesting. The kind of enjoyment being derived from watching these games and movies has led to a large following which includes people of all ages. But some of these video games are made with the theme of violence in them and hence they have been accused of transmitting

Therefore, video games should not be blamed for violence which includes mass shootings in public places. Aggression is what breeds violence and not watching people involved in violence in video games. American Psychological Association noted that there was too little evidence to link the exposure people get from video games with themes of criminal violence to violence exhibited by people in schools and public places. APA reports, “All violence is aggression, but not all aggression is violence.” This distinction proves very important when it comes to unlinking video games to violence. The truth of the matter, in this case, is that violent acts and behaviors can be associated with certain risk factors e.g. Conflicts and misunderstandings or influence from parents, peers, and society. American Psychological Association make us understand that violent media can be a major contributor to these risk factors. However, accusing videogames to be the reason for mass shootings and violence is a great assumption and

For instance, a review carried out in 2004 by the United States of America Secret Service reports that out of the many viewers of video games only a small percentage adopted the violence in their behaviors. This is in accordance to a study review carried out in 2004 so as to identify the causes of the mass shooting in the US. The study review reported that out of the 41 people who were sampled, only 5 of them turned violent upon having an exposure to a violent video game. This represents only 12 percent of the studied attackers. This percentage is too low to conclude that video games cause people to be violent. In fact, video games can psychologically help to reduce cases of violence since most people tend to be sympathetic upon seeing what happens to characters in the video games. Therefore, it teaches the children that violence is not an acceptable way of solving conflicts as suggested by the author of this article under review. This statement can be supported by an economic study which was carried out in February 2016. The study reported that there were decreased cases of violence in the US after the video games industry released major video games. This idea was also supported by more than 230