Video Games Argument Analysis

Argument Analysis

Everybody loves video games! With advancements in technology, video games have been available to more people worldwide. While people have been playing these video games many studies have been conducted on them. Are they good are they bad? Well Emily makes an argument that they are actually bad for people. But how good exactly is this argument? In the argument The Violent Side of Video Games author Emily Sohn attempts to support the claim that video games have a negative effect on the people who play them through her use of pathos, ethos, and logos.

Pathos is just one of three persuasive appeals used in this argument. For instance Emily writes "Violence is one of the biggest concerns, especially as [the] graphics and special effects become more realistic."(947)

The first piece of evidence using logos is "Video games might have an even more powerful effect than the brain does."(948) This evidence weakly supports the claim because the use of the word might is an opinion word and can lead one to question if what the author is saying is true. "It's hard to prove that violence on TV leads to violence in real life."(947) This actually weakens the entire argument, for it refutes Emily's claim. Logos is not used very strongly to support her argument.

Emily Sohn attempts to support the claim that video games effect people negatively in her text "The Violent Side of Video Games" through the use of three persuasive appeals. They are pathos, ethos, and logos. As shown many different studies have been conducted on them to either prove that they are good or bad. Emily tries to show that they are effecting people in a negative fashion. Although Sohn has some strong points in her argument, she uses vague language and her presented evidence is simply not sufficient enough to sustain the knowledge needed to truly say that video games are