Synthesis Essay: Link Between Youth Violence And Video Game Violence

Karim Kabbara

Instructor Susan Graham

English 121

16 October 2017

Synthesis Essay on Violence in Video Games For many years, people have been led to believe that the primary cause of violence in youth is violent video games. The blame for all crimes done by teenagers is on video games, and instead of parents accepting that their kid has a problem, they point at a video game. Research has been and still is being conducted on the controversial topic, with no definitive answer to this very day. Some studies claim to have a link between youth violence and video game violence, while other finds no connection between the two. This troubling topic has two sides to it. Those who believe there’s a link and those who don’t. These two groups have been

An article written by Greg Toppo talks about how violence in video games is not necessarily the reason behind violence in today’s youth, yet, he believes that violent video games do in fact spawn a negative impact on their attitude, in time transforming it aggressively. On the other hand, Toppo mentions that children who observe their parents acting violently to adverse situations will indeed cause them to do the same when faced with frustration. The children's parents fuel that feeling of anger and aggression, and the video game is the flame. Moreover, according to Toppo’s inquiry, research has failed to prove any link between youth violence, and violent video games; furthermore, the study that does find a relation is for short-term symptoms. Similarly, Zac Thompson, author of the article “Do Video Games Cause Violence?”, talks about a famous lawsuit, ironically, by lawyer Jack Thompson, where the lawyer claimed that games such as Grand Theft Auto (GTA) and Mortal Kombat were the cause of children hurting each other. Although lawyer Thompson’s claims caused massive hysteria, they didn’t take him anywhere; yet, they are still the cause of a never-ending question: “Are video games the cause of

However, there were some studies conducted that found a link between real-life aggression and violent video games, but these studies were conducted under objective conditions and were measured by short-term effects only. Moreover, once studies were measured by long-term effects instead, the results were different. There was no difference between people who played video games and those who didn’t. Almost all parents think that the reason their children play violent video games is for the gore and violence itself; nonetheless, the real motive behind most children who play said video games, Toppo says, “is more akin to play than violence.” The issue is that the wrong people get their hands on violent video games. When a mentally unstable teenager, gets a hold of a rather gory video game, this violence enables his lunacy, sending him on a murderous rampage on his unsuspecting family. The parents will not accept the fact that their child was mentally ill. They believe that their child is unique, hence blaming a video game. This is how campaigns begin against video games. When given the evidence of one incident versus an abundance of facts, some people side with the happening of that