VIDEO GAMES AND VIOLENCE
Recently, I heard a story about a boy who killed his younger brother as they were playing out parts of the video game Half Life. (For those who don’t know, half-life is a first person shooting game). The two were known as "good, friendly and children that were easy to get along with," reported a neighbor. The kids were acting out parts of the game when the younger boy grabbed his dad's loaded gun. The older brother grabbed the gun, and not knowing it was loaded, fired it. The younger kid was pronounced dead at the hospital.
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Half-life is rated T for teen, for ages thirteen and above, but personally (from playing the game myself), the game is no more than animated violence which would never make me want to act the game out. Even if I was the age of twelve or even eight, I have enough common sense to distinguish from a video game situation from a real life situation. Violence in video games cannot be taken away... It destroys the whole purpose of an action game.
Another game that is popular right now is Grand Theft Auto 5, a new video game in which the object of the game is to be the top hitman in the city. The industry is already debating whether or not to take it off the shelves for extreme violence. Yet some stores have already taken the game off its back order list, I again disagree with the whole situation. Why should a perfectly enjoyable game be taken off the shelves because some people are offended by it? If you don't like it, then stay away from it. There’s a reason it’s rated M.
Video game violence sells itself to young adults, adults and even parents all over the nation. Personally I really can't see how a video game could turn someone into a killer. A video game is fantasy, and killing in a video game is fiction.
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In conclusion, I believe that video games should keep violence. If parents don’t want their kids to play games such as these, they should always check the rating and be...