A lot of people (like, too many people) think that video games contribute to violence in the real world, but that assumption is far from right. These people think this because since video games have violence in them, it has almost everything to do with violence. These people are wrong. a little background info on video gamesVideo games have been a part of entertainment ever since 1972, when Magnavox came out with the Magnavox Odyssey. As the years went on, the graphics and consoles got better, and the industry got bigger. There are movies, shows, books based off of video games, and vice versa. People can even make a living off of video games whether they play them or make them. Many famous YouTubers (ex: PewDiePie, Roosterteeth, Machinima, etc) are famous because of video games, and playing video games is what they do for a living. A little fun factThe American Medical Association wanted to add "video game addiction" to it's list of mental illnesses. Video game "addiction" isn't a mental illness. Video games, if anything, help with mental illnesses and stress - stress that could potentially build up and hurt either yourself or other people. For a lot people, the reason they play is to let off steam. That literally helps society. In fact, researchers in New Zealand developed a video game called SPARX that helps teenagers battle depression. Also, the soundtrack is custom-made; how cool is that? As of now, SPARX is just a computer program that's single player, but the developers are testing out SPARX online. Personally, I think that before people go around yelling about how video games cause problems, they should do research and realize that video games, prevent problems. a little look-see on past eventsBack when the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting happened, people connected the actual crime with the fact that Adam Lanza would play Call of Duty in his basement instead of connecting it with the personality disorder that he was believed to have had. People would rather believe that a video game caused this rather than an untreated mental illness. Calling Call of Duty a "bloodthirsty computer game", The Sun implied that Call of Duty brought this "obsession" with studying weapons into Lanza's life. If anything, the "bloodthirsty computer game" was the thing that was brought into his life because of his obsession. It was reported that Lanza and his brother loved the military, so I wouldn't be surprised if Lanza studied weapons or bought Call of Duty, which is literally a game about the military. Another tragic event in which people blamed video games for is the Columbine High School massacre. As I recently said, The American Medical Association wanted to add video game addiction to it's list of mental illnesses. A reason for this was because of "how people react when they lose their fix." Let's stop here and look at that for a second. They're comparing video games to drugs. They're comparing something virtual - which, keep in mind, doesn't physically or mentally hurt you - to a real life thing that can actually harm you. Let's just pause and think about how out of proportion this whole "video game addiction" thing is being blown. It was concluded that after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold (the students who "shot up" Columbine)'s parents took away their video games, they decided to go on this "shooting rampage." "They relied on the virtual world of computer games to express their rage..." What else would they do? I'd rather them "express their rage" out on video games than out on a high school. The fact that it was known that they were playing video games to release anger and their parents thought that the anger would just go away if the video game would go away is ridiculous. If they had serious anger problems (which apparently they did, considering what happened when a video game was taken away), then they should be getting professional help instead of receiving a punishment. Jason Della Rocca, a blogger, wrote on his blog saying something similar: There's no denying the concern for someone that does something on an extremely excessive basis (be it gaming, watching TV, doing exercise, working, etc.). In most cases, this has more to do with the person than the thing: mental stability, depression, social anxieties, low self-esteem, whatever. Let's find better ways to help the people and worry less about the "things." a little wrap-upPlaying Surgeon Simulator doesn't make you a surgeon and playing Cooking Mama doesn't make you a chef, so why should playing Call of Duty make you a murderer? Don't blame entertainment for something that someone did. He wasn't told by the show to go out and rob a store. The movie didn't give her a gun to go out and kill other people. When someone commits a felony, you don't put the video game in jail, you put the person in jail because, this might sound alarming, the person was the one who did the crime.
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BellaI like cheese and video games. Categories
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