Violant Video Games

The Violent Video Game Plague

For many years, people of all ages have been attracted to violent video games. As the rate of children playing them has gone up so has the crime rate in juveniles. The attention has finally turned on the video game industry as to who is inspiring children to commit crimes. Studies show that violent video games are in-fact a main reason for increase in crime.

One occurrence of these crimes is the Columbine shootings; officials were able to link these killings to violent video games. Participating in these "shoot-and-splatter" video game fantasies for many hours may make this kind of actions palatable in real life (levy 2). One game that was directly cited to the columbine shooters was "Doom", as well as "Wolfenstein 3-D" and many other first person shooters. Normally these games are used as a way of stress relief, however after a long time in this type of virtual killing might resulted in a tainted mind, thinking more violently and treating people more aggressively.

Many arguments are brought into the video game industry. Many parents claim that video games cause their children to become secluded from real life due to lack of interaction with people, but one of the main issues today is inappropriate content in video games including violence, sexual themes, and explicit language. Many politicians believe that, "Video games are why kids are learning how to kill" (Irwin 1). In 2002, one politician, Sen. Joe Lieberman, introduced a bill to congress. The bill would have made it a federal crime to sell violent video games to minors. Twenty-eight states have taken action against violent video games attempting to restrict their sale to minors. In Fayette, Alabama Devin Moore, a 20-year-old male was convicted of a triple homicide and was sentenced to death after his trial. In his defense, his lawyer claimed that the crimes were inspired his addiction to "Grand Theft Auto".

"In the military, you are confronted with a role model; your Drill Sergeant, he personifies violence and aggression" (Grossman 1). The media today provides many juveniles with their own "Drill Sergeants", a majority of these inspire children to do what their role models do, often involving violence. During