Violent Video Games and Increased Aggression

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"Get over here!" The angered and scratchy voice bellows from deep within the strong, mean-spirited ninja. The ninja throws forth a blade that is fastened to the end of a long, black rope. The sharp point of the spear pierces the skin and takes root deep within the stomach of a screaming, young woman. Blood splatters from the impact, and the ninja forcefully retrieves the blade by pulling on the rope to which it is attached. The shrieking, young woman is lurched forward, attached still to the steel blade and without the ability to defend herself. Currently, she stands paralyzed and helpless at the hands of her attacker.

Who could be behind the red, faded mask of this ninja? What human being could be so cruel as to put another through such unimaginable pain? Simple, this human being, this psychopathic ninja is none other than little nine-year-old Johnny from across the street. Making things even easier, Johnny is doing all this harm from the comfort of his bedroom, controller in hand, playing his favorite Nintendo game, Mortal Kombat Trilogy.

With such gruesome events such as these happening almost constantly in an ever-increasing number of homes across America, one has to wonder, how is this going to affect our children? We have PlayStations, GameBoys, Nintendo 64s, Sega Dreamcasts, PCs, and more. All of these mediums offer people of all ages, including children, access to interactive, violent experiences such as the one depicted above. From the media's favorite example Doom to lesser known, much more violent games such as Acclaim's first-person shooting game Turok 3, video game violence is more prevalent than ever. The biggest concern when it comes to video games of this nature is if having them available to y...

... middle of paper ...

...February 1995: p. 31 (1 - 3).

http://www.n64cc.com. 26 November 2000. N64 Code Center. 7 December 2000.

Flaherty, Julie. http://www.nytimes.com/. 2 March 2000. New York Times Online. 7 December 2000.

Katz, Jon. "The Media's War on Kids." Rolling Stone 25 November 1993: p. 47 (1 - 9).

Lacayo, Richard, Victoria Rainert. "Toward the Root of the Evil." Time 6 April 1998: p. 38 (1 - 4).

Poobah, Anonymous. http://www.nintendojo.com/. 1 November 2000. Nintendojo. 7 December 2000.

Richtel, Matt. http://www.nytimes.com/. 2 October, 2000. New York Times Online. 7 December 2000.

Schroeder, Randy. "Playspace Invaders: Huizinga, Baudrillard and Video Game Violence." Journal of Popular Culture Winter 1996: p. 143-153 (1 - 8).

Zoltak, James. "Video Game Violence Makes for a Double-Edged Sword." Amusement Business 15 May 1995: p. 28 (1 - 4).

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