Violence in Video Games
Joseph Harrison
University of Advancing Technology
PRO102
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Source: Adam Thierer, MA, "Violent Video Games & Youth Violence: What Does Real-World Evidence Suggest?," www.pff.org, Feb. 9, 2010
Source: Entertainment Software Association, "Essential Facts About
Games and Violence," www.theesa.com, 2008
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There have been several studies to ease the minds of the ones who wonder whether or not they should let their children or themselves play video games of violent nature. One of the most obvious studies that have never been preformed is what number of prisoners that are currently incarcerated for violent crimes were frequent gamers prior to committing their crimes? The graph below shows that only 25 % of the entire gaming populations are teenagers under the age of 18. As we all concentrate on the effects that violence in video games have on teenagers we forget about the majority of the players which are in fact adults. There has been very little study done on adults that play video games and what relationship to crime they have because of their hobby. Aggression and Aggravation have been linked to adult gaming, but as any tasks that are problematic and difficult to solve might cause frustration.
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To conclude, society has always been attracted to paranoia of the evil, which in this case are video games. Statistics show that violent crimes among teenagers have been declining steadily since 1995, and as technology progresses video games become more popular. There will always be a group that will criticize the negative effects that games have on teenagers, but that will not stop the ever expanding industry that is worth billions of dollars and that plays a major part in the US economy. In the end it should be up to the parents whether or not they want to expose their children to the violence and teach them the consequences or shelter them from mainstream media which would result in...