Violence and Video Games

Ever since the release of Death Race in 1976 there has been an outcry against violent video games. Despite all the unthought-out claims accusing violent video games of being the main cause of violence, research has shown that its a very small percentile of the actual cause. Video games are being used as a scapegoat for causing violence and many have undermined some of the actual causes such as abuse, depression, and social isolation which are some of the main causes of these violent actions. In order to see why some of these anomalies occur we first take a look at the cause of these actions.
The idea of Nature vs. Nurture plays an enormous role and the saying, “Criminals are not born, but made”, comes into play when looking into whether or not a person is considered a criminal. As children grow up they are easily “manipulated” into perceiving the world around them from the simplest gesture of a wave and a smile to yelling and abuse, in this case we look at abuse. Many researchers have come to conclude that the reason behind video game violence is caused by past experiences. “Any link found between video games and violence is best explained by other variables such as exposure to family violence and aggressive personality” (7). Influencing violence at an early age will only cause children to be more attracted towards it. “Violent games do not cause youth to be violent. Instead, youth that are predisposed to be violent seek out violent entertainment such as video games”(6). One of the main reasons why video games have become so popular is because they resemble reality, a reality without boundaries.
Being able to customize a character to look exactly like the gamer has become an option many companies have incorporated into their games. Although this may seem as a leading cause to gamers being more obsessed with games than their actual lives, it has to do more with the circumstances surrounding them.“The results indicate that people’s virtual experience through...