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The Controversy Over The Use Of Violent Video Games

897 Words4 Pages

Kids all across the world have been playing violent simulations in their free time. While some may see this as bad, violent video games have their benefits like teaching skills such as teamwork, problem solving, creative thinking and overall social interaction skills. Video games that contain mature content like violence and killing are not harmful to children and they should be allowed to play them. You don’t always video games alone. Most of the time there you with friends, family, or just with other people randomly online, and these interactions can teach people about interacting with others. While those points are useful, everything can be abused if used incorrectly. Children can easily be manipulated by messages that can alter what they …show more content…

Games like World of WarCraft can focus on basic team building strategies and people can learn how good teams work and how the roles of others affect the overall efficiency of the group. “Massively multiplayer games such as LEGO Universe and Lord of the Rings Online further offer added depth, atmosphere and enjoyment by allowing players to band together and work as a team in order to complete certain quests or defeat especially tricky opponents.(ABC News)” Social skills can also be learned through video games. “In a series of experiments published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that participants who had just played a "pro-social" game in which characters must work together to help each other out as compared to those who had just played a "neutral" game (e.g. Tetris) were more likely to engage in helpful behaviors. Examples included assisting in a situation involving an abusive boyfriend, picking up a box of pencils or even volunteering to participate in more research.(ABC News)” That quote explains that through video games people can become for friendly and be more open towards another in social ways which is a very useful skill to obtain. Video games can help kids be more social and build team …show more content…

The age range for kids who are playing these mature rated games appears to be getting broader as younger and younger kids play these games and some play unhealthy amounts. Younger kids are more vulnerable to picking up on the wrong morals of these games and can get the idea that killing is not bad. Furthermore kids minds can be easily molded into what ever mindset they are exposed to the most. As this article explains “Little kids are usually very easily influenced by their surroundings. Whether it is television, friends, family members, or just plain strangers, everyone and everything are influences on a little kid(Anonymous).” and this “Everything that happens to a young child will affect how he thinks and acts in the future(Anonymous).” and from another source “Studies of children exposed to violent media have shown that they may become numb to violence, imitate the violence, and show more aggressive behavior. Younger children and those with emotional, behavioral or learning problems may be more influenced by violent images.(anonymous). Finally this website states that kids learn and make habit of using explicit language, de-sensitizes killing, promotes disrespectfulness, and encourages solving problems through violent acts and promotes sexual themes. In conclusion, video games can have a large negative

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