Violence in Video Games Relating to Violence in Real Life

Dear President,

                   I am a teenage gamer, and I have a problem that I feel is worthy of bringing up.

           Violent video games are amongst the most sold genre of video games. Some people believe that these games have the ability to make teens and younger kids violent. I play these games, and I myself would never commit a crime. People tend to believe that video games can cause violence in gamers. However, Alexandra Sifferlin, in Time Magazine in her article "Violent Video Games Are Linked to Aggression, Study Says" argues that research can’t prove that video games can lead to criminal behavior, but these games can be linked to aggression.

                               Kills with the annihilator can’t turn you into the Terminator.

            It makes sense that Alexandra Sifferlin would say this because I’ve experienced increasing aggression within myself, and have even seen it in others, but I’ve never witnessed any crime related actions because of violent games. Basically, Alexandra Sifferlin is saying that gamers can be easily irritated by losing over and over, to the point where they start to have increasing anger towards anyone around them. However, violence can relate to violent video games because of the sense of realism in violent video games can make a gamer wonder what it’s like to kill in real life, which is why people believe teens can be easily influenced by violent video games.

        According to ProCon.org, Violence such as shooting guns and fighting in video games can cause real life violence in teens. Many of mass shooters and school shooters played violent video games.

           Recently, in 2012, school shooter Andy Lanza (who was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome), murdered 20 children along with staff members. His parents said that his hobby was playing Call of Duty, which is a violent video game that revolves around killing with guns, which he did. This happens often with teenage school shooters, they often play violent video games. According to Healthline newsletter, 91% of teens and younger kids play video games, and 90% of video games portray violence.

           I could say that we can't sell these games to people who are Autistic, or have some other mental disorder, but I disagree with that decision because not every Autistic or mentally ill person will start to become violent from playing these games. But we need to keep in mind that people without mental illnesses can still be mass shooters. 

        Thank you for reading, and to close out this paper I want to ask you, how does violence in video games relate to violence in real life, and what can we do to make sure the right people are playing these games?

Respectfully,

Eli W.