Academic Essay

Violent video games are everywhere in our culture. They are available in every video store, and can even be found free on the internet. These are the games we all are familiar with: loaded with graphic blood or sweat, groaning voices, fighting, shooting, stabbing, and the list goes on in this fashion. The process either takes the form of human
violence (human character fights or destroys things to avoid being killed) or fantasy violence (as with human violence but with a fantasy or cartoon character) (Harris, 2001).

I think that the violent games bring a set of harmful consequences to the children. First of all they deprive kids from the time they can spend reading, playing outside or engaging in other kinds of healthy leisure activities, which may result in obesity, lower cognitive performance, sight problems and etc. These physical dangers still fade away when compared with mental ones. According to clinical psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron, there is no absolutely reliable evidence proving the desensitization of children towards violence, but “much of the research from the Active Media perspective assumes an imitation model of learning and argues for a direct influence of violent content on child behavior” (Byron, 2008).

When it comes to factual evidence of games resulting in long-term violence, a recent study conducted by Dr. Craig A. Anderson clearly illustrates the effects. The study which was conducted on both Japanese and American children found an increased level of aggressive behavior among the kids who repeatedly engaged in a playing process. This study adds even bigger truth value to the whole thing, and is especially helpful due to achieving the same results in 2 quite diverse cultures (Anderson, 2008).

In spite of having a tremendous amount of evidence proving the negativity of violent games, some controversial opinions do exit and prosper. The main arguments of the video game supporters are simply untrustworthy. They stress the violence to be the essential part of humankind (Shakespeare, Bible and etc.) and object to the existence of any convincing factual data surrounding violent video game dangers. It is true that violence is a part of human nature, but it does not mean we should foster and encourage it instead of condemning. When it comes to absence of the proof, I think that the lack of the immediate violent consequences after playing a game in children does not mean they are not there. It is impossible to ignore the truth which is so evident.

In conclusion, I’m not trying to prove that violent games will necessarily lead to fights, murderers, rapes school shootings and etc. What I’m trying to say is that they do increase the level aggression at some point in kids, detach them from healthier activities and in short, bring nothing but harm to them. Kids must not spend their childhood staring at the screen because of some people wanting make more money. I think it necessary to introduce more effective game classification/ rating systems with enough power to even ban some games from release (Byron, 2008). Media should definitely raise awareness about the issue and reach every parent who is too overwhelmed in his/her problems or is not informed well enough to keep their children from wasting their childhood.


Works Cited



1. Harris, Jennifer. The Effects Of Computer Games on Young Children. Retrieved January 7, 2009, from http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ72-compgames.pdf



2 Byron, Tanya. Safer Children in a Digital World. Retrieved January 6, 2009 from http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/byronreview/pdfs/Final%20Report%20Bookmarked.pdf



3. Iowa State University (2008, November 4). Violent Video Game Feed Aggression In Kids In Japan And U.S.. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 9, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/11/081103180252.htm