Violence in Video Games Affects Children

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Violence in Video Games Affects Children

Marching through large building using various bombs and guns to pick off victims is a conventional video-game scenario. "In the Colorado massacre, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris used pistol-grip shotguns, as in some video-arcade games"(Leo). The pools of blood, screams of agony, and pleas for mercy must have been familiar--they are featured in some of the newer and more realistic kill-for-kicks games. "With each kill," the Los Angeles Times reported, "the teens cackled and shouted as though playing one of the morbid video games they loved (quoted in Leo)." "And they ended their spree by shooting themselves in head, the final act in the game Postal"(Leo). Because of this massacre in Colorado, violent video games have been a hot topic lately. Video games do effect youth in America today.

"The electronic-games industry posted sales of $5.5 billion in the U.S. in 1998, and the games were the second-most popular form of home entertainment after television" (Quittner). One survey was done and it found that nine out of ten U.S. households with children have rented or owned a video or computer game. "Nearly a third of the Top 100 video-console games for the first quarter of 1999 had at least some sort of violent content"(Quittner).

One of the most violent games on the market is Postal. The scenario of this game is very simple. The main character is a Postman that has gone crazy, and the object is to kill anything that moves, including parishioners leaving church or the high school band. At one point in the game the postman replies, "Only my gun understands me."

Another violent video game is Doom. This Playstation and P.C. game starts out with the main character being a gun loaded superhero, who's objective is to kill everything. As he kills each alien that is coming after him, pools of blood spat everywhere. This game is very graphic and the main character can even use a chainsaw to rip apart his victims. It is chock full of violence and killing.

Even the slogans to video games depict how violent these games are.

Like this slogan for Subspace- "Meet people from all over the world, then kill them." "More fun than shooting your neighbor's cat" a Point Bland ad copy. Or this slogan for Carmageddon that says "As easy as killing babies with axes.

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