Violent Video Games Argument Analysis

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph” is a quote by Thomas Paine. This is how many kids feel while playing violent video games. This quote also represents the argument around whether violent video games are good or bad for the users, and how the world will feel when it has been determined. The issues around kids playing violent video games are complicated. There are valid points for both sides of the argument. Some people claim that it causes an increase in violent crime, aggressive behavior and that they destroy the players’ brains. But these have not been proven to be a result of violent video games. Instead, playing these games have been shown to assist in solving science’s important problems, create mental and physical

“Playing these games are a risk factor for young people to act out aggression in real-life situation.” (Which is stated in “Violent Video Games Are Linked to Real-World Violence” by Amanda Schaffer.) This implies that teens would avoid getting into physical fights with each other if they did not play these violent games. But in reality, the argument is incorrect because violent crime has decreased. “Violent crime, particularly among the young, has decreased dramatically since the early 1990’s. During the same period of time, video games have steadily increased in popularity and use, exactly the opposite of what one would expect if there were a causal link.” (Which is stated in “Essential Facts About Games and Violence” - ‘Author unknown’) This proves that violence and violent crimes percentages have been dropping in correlation to video game popularity. Perhaps, the player or kid has already experienced violence from the games and might not like what it does to people. So instead, they may be choosing to avoid fights and walk away before something bad happens. Therefore, this is showing that it is a benefit to society for people to play these

“Schaffer maintains that better-targeted research is needed to pinpoint which games contribute to aggressive behavior and to identify what types of individuals might be more vulnerable to the violent content of these games.” (Which is stated in “Violent Video Games Are Linked to Real-World Violence” by Amanda Schaffer.) This proves that some video games might make people act out more, but it depends on the game and the type of person playing. This also implies that video games are not benefitting the world. But let’s be honest here, video games are actually benefitting the world in some ways. “In 2011, people playing Foldit, an online puzzle game about protein folding, resolved the structure of an enzyme that causes an Aids-like disease in monkeys. Researchers had been working on the problem for 13 years. The gamers solved it in three weeks.” (Stated in How Online Gamers Are Solving Some of Sciences Biggest Problems by: Dara Mohammadi.) This proves that by playing video games, they can actually help give answers to big problems. This shows that video games do benefit the