Opposing My View Of Violent Videogames

Opposing My View of Videogames The world is becoming more violent today than it has ever been before. Our youth are going out, armed with a plethora of weapons, and massacring each other. We have young people going into our colleges, high schools, middle schools, and even our elementary schools with concealed weapons that they plan to do harm with. Just recently in northern Illinois, and Virginia tech, there have been shootings which have caused numerous deaths. One of the most well known shootings of our time, at Columbine High School, was caused by 2 young men who idolized violent videogames such as Doom. Violent videogames are desensitizing our youth to violence and crimes. Violent videogames glamorize immoral actions, and give little to

These videogames are rewarding their players for committing heinous actions. Often times players get extra points for killing opponents by head shots, or killing several opponents simultaneously. Some games, such as the Grand Theft Auto series, have taken things to another level. In Grand Theft Auto, players are rewarded for several immoral things such as, the following: having intercourse with a hooker to regenerate health and then killing the hooker to get your money back, stealing anyone’s vehicle in the game, killing innocent people with a plethora of weapons, stealing cop cars and being vigilantes, killing cops, and being in a gang. Grand Theft Auto is also lenient on the way it punishes a player for causing so much trouble. A player can simply repaint their car, steal another car, or just go to their home for a while, and the game would reward the player by acting like nothing ever happened. Does that seem like something that we would want to teach our children? If you kill somebody, you can go steal someone else’s car and it will be like nothing ever happened. Violent videogames are training our youth to be killers, and assassinators with little to no disregard for the law or human life. Violent videogames simulate real life situations and allow players to kill who they want, to complete some objective, and get rewarded for it. Soldiers train by practicing fighting,

Dr. Monique Levermore wrote the article, “Violent Media and Videogames, and Their Role in Creating Violent Youth.” In this article Levermore explains some effects of violent media on the impressionable minds of our youth. Criminals learn their trade through observation and practice, and adopting a criminal code of ethics that glorifies and supports the behaviors they choose. Deviant behavior begins in childhood, and we need to stop the constant stream of delinquent youth by addressing their behavior at an early age. We should focus on preventing violent acts instead of punishing them. Kids are desensitized by playing violent games for hours on end, and learning about critical thinking using a criminal code of ethics. This code of ethics includes but is not limited to: kill for pleasure, trust no one, be a loner, critically think through and plan deviant acts, value instant gratification, show no empathy or remorse, and take what you want. These games are played in a solitary environment as skill levels grow. Parents become involved in the process by encouraging their kids to play paintball and laser tag. Actual murder is only steps away. If film makers had to follow every act of violence with a funeral, or producers held liable for every violent act mimicked, we would only begin to reverse the many hours spent watching violent media. According to Bandura’s social learning theory, and observational learning theory, children learn