Violent Video Games Dont Make Violent People

There have been many violent school shootings and attacks on high school and
college students. Every time there is a school shooting or attack, the media finds
something to blame it on. In the past it was blamed on violent action movies and after
that it was blamed on heavy metal music. In todays society the blame gets sent towards
violent and mature video games. Video games do not make people violent. The blame got
switched to video games in the year 1976 when the game Death Race was developed.
This game was removed from market for being too disturbing yet even more violent and
gruesome video games have been made over the years. One of the first violent attacks
that got blamed on videos games was Columbine High School. The kids that brought the
guns to school enjoyed playing a shooter game called Doom so the media placed the
blame on the video games violent content rather than the bullying and neglect that
actually caused the kids to finally snap. The boys that shot up Columbine High School
were extremely unsocial and they were bullied a lot. The boys were not supervised by
their parents very often and were able to get their hands on a few guns. They walked into
the school and shot and killed 15 people, including themselves, and injured many more.
People dont realize it but violent games allow for people to leg out anger and relieve
stress. It allows them to live in a world with no rules. In the real world acts such as rape
and murder are huge criminal offences. If those same actions are done in a video game
there is no consequences. This prevents people from committing the real crime because
they can simulate it with no consequences.

The game Death Race was released in 1976 and Death Race was so
aggressively rejected by the public that shortly after its release, Exidy pulled the game off
store shelves. Web lore claims only 500 copies of the game were made with only several
known to exist by the late 1980s. (Gonzalez, Lauren). The games tag line was In the
year 2000, hit and run driving is no longer a felony. It's the national sport!" (Death Race,
1976). This caused public outcry. The game claimed they were just gremlins but they
looked just like stick figures so it was impossible to tell if they were humans or gremlins
just by playing the game. A grave would emerge once the gremlin had been run over.
Death Race 2000 was a movie that the video game was based off of. The movie was seen
by a large number of people and those people generally did not enjoy it. Yet still, the
movie was not being pulled off the self by the makers of it because of public outcry. The
consumers must have thought it was worse and more realistic when they were playing the
game and being in control of the vehicle that was hitting the people in the video game.
They were less disturbed when they watched the exact same actions on the big screen in
the movie theatre when the movie came out the year previous. This was the start to a long
list of violent video games. Back in 1976 this game was considered too violent for people
yet today we buy millions of copies of Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. These
games are much more realistic and much more bloody but there will never be a recall to
take all of these Grand Theft Auto games and Call of Duty games off the shelves. The
reason for that is because we enjoy violent video games as a society now. The media
blames games like these for school shootings and violent murders. If the game Death
Race had not been removed from the shelves, would there be a higher rate of hit and
runs? Probably not.

On April 20th 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School
armed with machine guns and shotguns. They shot and killed 13 people, not including
themselves, and also injured 21 other people. It was a well planned out attack that had
started with explosives, which failed to detonate, and guns. These boys had many months
to plan and decide who they wanted to hurt and why. Eric and Dylan were bullied and
complete social outcasts. Their parents also neglected them. That allowed them to get the
supplies and time to practice their attack. When news first came out about this massacre it
was blamed on music such as Marilyn Manson and the video game Doom. Relatives
of people killed in the Columbine massacre are seeking damages from computer game
makers, claiming their products helped bring about the killings. The group filing the
lawsuit says investigations into the tragedy revealed the influence violent computer
games had on the two teenagers who carried out the shootings. A total of 25 companies
are named in the lawsuit and the group is seeking $5 billion in damages. But the legal
claim looks unlikely to succeed because similar suits filed in the wake of previous school
shootings have been thrown out of the courts. (Mark Ward, BBC News). The families
have the right to feel someone to blame for taking away their child, but the maker of a
video game that the killers happened to play is not the ones to blame. It was believed that
Eric Harris had created a map for the game Doom that resembled his school. These
levels can still be found today. They are called Harris Levels. The theory that he
designed the levels to look like parts of the school was debunked when his levels were
made open to the public.
Every person is different. Some people enjoy something calming and soothing
when they want to relax. There are others who enjoy doing something violent to release

all their stress and rage. This is where violent video games can actually have a beneficial
effect. Studies show that 91% of kids play video games and 90% of those games that they
play portray violence (Rachel Barclay, Healthline). According to the Entertainment
Software Association, 58% of all Americans play video games and also nearly half of
Americans over 50 years old play. A large portion of the world not only plays video
games, but also plays violent video games. We dont see 50% of the population going out
and committing mass murder and attacking people. There are positive effects that these
video games can have on the player. Most video games dont match the degree of
violence in titles like Grand Theft Auto. In fact, many promote prosocial behaviors,
such as cooperation, teamwork, sharing, and empathy. One analysis found that playing
first-person shooter games increases visual-spatial skills and that playing strategy or roleplaying games boosts creative problem-solving skills. It also showed that games could
improve mood, promote relaxation, and decrease stress and anxiety. (Rachel Barclay,
Healthline). Video games are a wonderful way to stimulate the mind on both the creative
and critical thinking sides. It is a way for us to learn and practice skills that we will need
in the future such as dedication and hand-eye coordination.

In conclusion, violent video games do not make people violent. When Death
Race the video game was first released there was public outcry about how violent it was
and it was taken off the shelves. The consumers didnt mind the movie Death Race
2000 which the game was based off of. The amount of violence in a game will not have
any effect on the violence someone causes. In April of 1999, two boys decided to go into
their school with explosives and guns. They killed 13 people, not including themselves,

and injured another 21. The media tried to blame this massacre on the fact that the boys
enjoyed to play a violent first person shooter game called Doom. The reason for the
attacks was because the boys were not mentally well and they were bullied at school and
neglected at home. The families of the victims even went after multiple video game
companies in lawsuits for money for the loss of their child. Everyone always tries to look
for the downside of violent video games but not a lot of people look at their benefits. The
fact that majority of people play video games and they can promote behaviors such as
cooperation, teamwork, sharing, and empathy. They can help teach problem-solving
skills and people can take their anger out on a violent game rather than on their friends
and family. There is very little proof of the bad effects of video games but there is plenty
of proof of the good effects of video games. This is why video games do not make people
violent.

Bibliography
Kain, Erik. Do Games Like 'Grand Theft Auto V' Cause Real-World Violence? Forbes.
September 18th 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/09/18/do-games-likegrand-theft-auto-v-cause-real-world-violence/
October 16th 2014.
Barclay, Rachel. Do Video Games Make Kids Saints or Psychopaths (and Why Is It So
Hard to Find Out)? Healthline. August 28th 2014. http://www.healthline.com/healthnews/video-games-saints-or-psychopaths-082814#1
October 16th 2014.
Gonzalez, Lauren. "When Two Tribes Go to War: A History of Video Game
Controversy." GameSpot, March 7th 2004.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/when-two-tribes-go-to-war-a-history-of-video-gamecontroversy/1100-6090892/
November 12th 2014.
Dashevsky, Evan. Violent video games may stop crime by keeping criminals
busy playing violent video games. Techhive, November 27th 2013.
http://www.techhive.com/article/2067016/violent-video-games-may-stop-crimeby-keeping-criminals-busy-playing-violent-video-games.html
November 12th 2014.
Nizza, Mike. Tying Columbine to video games.
The New York Times, July 5th 2007.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/
November 12th 2014.
Ward, Mark. Columbine families sue computer game makers.
BBC News, May 1st 2001.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1295920.stm
November 12th 2014.