Do Video Games Cause Violent Behavior?
June 3, 2014 Assumptions 2 comments tlagasse14
Have you ever had the urge to steal a car and run over everyone on the sidewalk? No? Have you ever felt the need to get a gun and cause a rampage in the middle of the street? You haven’t? Well, clearly you’re not playing video games!
According to many parents and adults that feel the need to have their insignificant voice heard, violent video games cause violent behavior. Now this would make sense to a naive and less educated parent or adult, violent video games…violent behavior…violent video games…violent…behavior…it makes so much sense! Now this is a huge misconception and I will gladly explain why.
1. Video games are not real. Video games simulate reality in a way we could not simulate it, that is mainly why it is a video game. Would you play a game that involves you waking up at the crack of dawn, take a shower, go to work for 10 hours, come home, eat dinner, and go to bed? Well, if you find playing The Sims exciting then you should maybe change your day job. The point of a video game is to explore the realms of impossibility, whether it to go on a big quest or to cause mayhem in a city environment. It is a lot more relaxing and safe to take your anger out on the simulated pedestrians than it is to take it out on real pedestrians, right? That is a major point that people don’t seem to understand. Now that we understand a video game, we are able to move on.
2. You’re the parents, do parent things. If your kid is violent, have you ever considered yourself the problem? Maybe you live in a dangerous environment. Maybe moving next to that crazy kid who shaves his eyebrows for fun wasn’t such a fun idea. Parents need to take responsibility and not pin the blame on others, especially when it comes to video games. Making a big deal about your kid being violent just because he happens to play video games only causes the people who enjoy video games and can control their children to suffer. Take the initiative and teach your kid some manners or the exciting life of ADHD medicine, anything to keep your kid away from that “violent behavior”.
3. You bought the system, not the kid. Again, taking the initiative and saying that you messed up is a huge step. The kid may have begged for the Playstation 2 but you didn’t have to buy them it, did you? Maybe you just wanted the kid to shut up? That just shows how amazing of a parent you really are, but here I am judging you. But at least I can admit it! Just realize that you shouldn’t have let your kid have a Playstation 2, and should not have bought them Grand Theft Auto when the rating is clearly “M for Mature”. Your fault, not video games’.
What you should learn from this self-realization trip is that games cannot cause violent behavior if the kid doesn’t have video games to begin with. But without video games your kid will not be able to explore their imagination in ways that other things cannot do. To explore a kingdom, a city they have never been to, or to fly in the clouds, anything to get their imagination flowing and a sense of adventure that they need. If you’re going to buy your kid a video game, be smart and buy appropriate games for it and stay away from blaming others for your stupidity.
2 Comments
I completely agree! If I was a super agent cop who could jump 30 feet high, pickup several ton trucks and throw them the length of a football field, while being able to master hand to hand combat, have cars that transform and upgrade into giant indestructible vehicle the moment I sat in the seat. I would probably want to be at home at night playing the Sims to calm my nerves after a hard day at work. People always blame one specific thing, but never think to look at the situation going on around.
Humanity is violent by nature, yet people blame violent video games for this. This post has some info that some parents need to hear. Games do not change someone’s character or personality in real life, I play games like New Vegas and you don’t see me in real life walking up to dead bodies and raiding them for bottle caps and ammo, Parents and those ignorant people that believe video games change kids behaviors need to follow the instructions in the post.