by: Donovan Duffus
As everyone should know, the media has a strong influence over the people in a variety of topics. One of these numerous topics is video games. The media has constantly piled on the notion that violent video games have corrupted the youth and are the cause for mass shootings and the like. In reality, this is not the case, as violent video games should not be scrutinized against because they don’t harm society at all.
One idea that is spread around is that video games are often said to encourage people, especially children, about violence and teach them how to inflict harm on the world. This is false due to the fact that video game companies put statements in their games that discourage people from performing whatever violent tendencies that are presented in those games. Take, for example, Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V. The game states that the illegal activities presented in the game should not be done in real life, as shown by “The makers and publishers of this videogame do not in any way endorse, condone or encourage engaging in any conduct depicted in this videogame.” As for the games teaching people how to cause harm, this is somewhat true. Video games in the shooter genre, for example, teach about reloading a gun and shooting it. But, they also don’t teach you about how to clean and take care of a gun, the weight of various guns, or that guns can jam. The fact that these details are left out shows that video games are not an accurate simulation of life and therefore can’t be blamed for real-life shootings, even though they can be realistic.
Secondly, people are supposed to know what is morally correct or incorrect. People have this mindset so that less danger could happen to themselves or others around them. The media would often say how violent games, especially Grand Theft Auto, will manipulate people to be criminals or shooters or terrorists. This is simply not true because people who play video games are not sadistic and, thus, don’t commit shootings or murders or bank robberies or any other crimes like those. But, what about children? Wouldn’t their impressionable minds be vulnerable to the content in violent video games? Well, children shouldn’t be exposed to the content anyway, as everybody should be exposed to certain topics at certain ages. If they are exposed to it, it is ultimately the parent’s responsibility to teach them about the content and why they should never do those actions.
In conclusion, the media needs to stop pushing the idea that violent video games are detrimental to society. There are many more reasons not stated in this essay as to why violent video games are not harmful. If the media, or even the country, wants to limit the number of murders, mass shootings, robberies, or a variety of other crimes, then it should stop wasting its time using video games or other forms of entertainment as scapegoats for major problems and actually work towards solving those problems.
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