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Violence in Videogames v. Violence in Real Life

In the movie Wreck-It Ralph, one of my favorite quotes is “When did video games become so violent and scary”. I’d say that video games have gotten way more violent since Ralph Baer invented the first video game in May 1967. In more recent years we have multiple violent video games with the recent releases from series such as Halo, Call of Duty and a plethora of other games that we have grown to know and love. However, worrisome teachers and parent have often asked the question ‘Is this game making children more violent?’ or the ever popular ‘Is this game helping society?”. In this essay I will discuss the points about why I think video games aren’t violent, and how some could even help society. …show more content…
Most of them are first person shooters which put the player or players into the action head on with popular titles being Halo, Call of Duty and the even popular Minecraft. Although some say “Simulating violence, such as shooting guns and hand-to-hand combat in video games can cause real-life violent behavior”("Violent Video Games - ProCon.org.") that is untrue because “Many studies failed to control for factors that contribute to children becoming violent, such as family history and mental health, plus most studies do not follow the children over long periods of time.”("Violent Video Games - ProCon.org."). Some may argue that some of the most recent shootings such as the one at Columbine High School were really thought out by someone who played a lot of video games with violence and that is the reason why they did it. However, Craig A. Anderson, a psychologist at Iowa State University, says that “None of these extreme acts, like a school shooting, occurs because of only one risk factor; there are many factors, including feeling socially isolated, being bullied, and so on.” ("Studying the Effects of Playing Violent Video Games - NYTimes.com.”). So thus the real reason could be

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