Everyone knows external sources have some effect on us, the question is how much? We see fighting in games everywhere, such as in Skyrim, Halo, and Call of Duty. Such exposure shapes our behaviors in ways both positive and negative. For example, brutal actions in games we play warn us that we shouldn’t do things like that in real life, sometimes because it is relatively scary, depending on how detailed and directly the brutality is shown; on the other side, many video games we play chip away at our cruelty intolerance and desensitize our emotional connection to victims being killed on screen. Kim Hone-McMahan, an author of an article on violence, talks about how bloodshed in electronic games contributes to real vehemence. External influences, such as video games, do have an impact on us because they work at …show more content…
In the article by McMahan, “Do Violent Video Games Lead to Real Violence?”, she clearly outlines that viewing acts of violence does desensitize us to violence. That has a negative impact because when you are used to violence, it becomes “‘something normal to do that has no repercussions, because that is what they are used to in their video games,’” (2, paragraph 14). This is a bad thing to be used to, for a number of reasons. Unlike in video games, life has consequences for your actions: You cannot quit and reload the game of life from your last save. There are no second lives, no second chances. Being used to violence makes you more accepting to it, you think hey! I have a gun now! It’s nothing, I’ve killed loads online, what’s the difference? and that obviously can only lead to bad things. Some people may think that parents monitor and control what their children are exposed to, but who’s to say kids don’t find ways to play games behind their parents’ backs? It is a common idea that if you are restricted from something, it only adds to your curiosity and desire to have whatever it