Video Game Violence

Smoking, Drinking, Pornography are just among some of the things that people have decided are immoral for children to take part in. However, a child making a character in a video game ruthlessly rape, beat, and kill another character has been deemed acceptable as long as said child is of a certain age. Video games are prominent in everyday life. Children as young as two are starting off playing basic video games to learn their ABC’s and 123’s. The problem is as children get older they are influenced by the video games they play and most of the video games in today’s society are violent and gory. Video games affect children and cause them to take on violent tendencies. These violent tendencies may be as subtle as inappropriate language or as obvious as getting into fights with others.

Almost all video games contain violence. Dr. Craig Anderson, a psychologist who studies violence, declares: The rating itself does not tell you whether it is a healthy or unhealthy game. Any game that involves killing or harming another character in order to advance is likely to be teaching inappropriate lessons to whoever is playing it Dr. Anderson then goes on to explain that just because a game is not rated mature or teen that does not necessarily mean that the game will not contain violence. In fact, a lot of video games have hidden violence, even cartoon games. For instance, SpongeBob Square pants games often have SpongeBob or some other main character attacking evil creatures that are bent of destroying the world. While the game may make it clear that it is a battle of good versus evil, that does not necessarily make it healthy for children to absorb.

The rating system for video games is not effective. As of today, there are no regulatory law...

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...ted out by gamers. Whether it is obscene language or something worse, video game violence influences children in their everyday life to be more aggressive without them knowing it.

Works Cited

Hicks, Marybeth. “Then Again…: Reject Violent Video Games.” The Washington Times (Nov. 11 2009): 22. Web. 20 February 2011.

Jayson, Sharon. “Video Games Tied to Aggression.” USA Today (March 1, 2010). Web. 25 March 2011.

Lieberman, Joseph. “Parents Should Say ‘Enough’ to Violent Video Games.” Christian Science Monitor (Dec. 24, 1993):23. Web. 20 February 2011.

Nance, Penny and Diaz, Mario. “Violent Video Games Hurt Kids; Justices can’t Ignore Damage to Youth from ‘Killing’.” The Washington Times (Nov 12, 2010):4. Web. 20 February 2011.

Rose, David. “Evidence Mounts that Violent Videos Desensitizes Teenagers.” The Times (London) (Oct. 19 2010):17. Web. 22 February 2011.