Video Games

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Recommended: Video games inspire violence

The history of video games began in 1947 when Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a United States patent request for an invitation they described as a “cathode ray tube amusement device” which was later used in the first arcade game. Video gaming became popular in the 1970s and 1980s when arcade video games, home computer games, and gaming consoles were introduced to the general public. These games consisted of fighting other players and even committing crimes against police. In the popular 1987 game, Street Fighters, the player has to defeat his opponent to a pulp in order to win. Entertainment media has always been a popular scapegoat for violence: In the 1950s, people, mostly parents, blamed comic books and wrestling for the bad behavior of kids. Today, many people bruit that video games desensitize violence for players while others argue that this is not the case and that video games actually reduce violence. After the shooting at Virginia Tech and the more recent lachrymose shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, fingers were immediately pointed at video games once again. Regardless of content, video games have many advantages and benefits such as enhancing comprehensive skills, hand-eye coordination and social skills as well as providing an outlet for anxiety and stress. Video games that are often accused of influencing violence, such as Grand Theft Auto, can help to strengthen memory and improve the gamers’ decision making skills by creating situations that give players the option to choose and experience different outcomes. According to Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist who studies the effect of action games at Switzerland's University of Geneva and the University of Rochester in New York, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. Playing action video games

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