Violence in Video Games

Ever since I can remember video games have been a part of our lives for some kids. Most of us have owned or played a video game one time in their life. Some kids have a hard time imagining growing up without them. Video games first started off very innocent with Pong and Pacman. Now we have games like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, and Gears of War. Do these violent games really affect us kids in our actions?

Those who have been trying to push this use some examples from kids who go and shoot up schools. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold launched an assault on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, murdering 13 and wounding 23 before turning the guns on themselves. Some blamed the attack on them playing the game, Doom. Also when they did a study and all the violent kids had a habit of playing violent video games. This seems like a huge generalization to me.

Most of the guys I know play video games. It is a thing we do to have fun and enjoy ourselves with friends. Just because my friend and I would become avid Gears of War players with blood and guts flying all over the place after we use a chainsaw on our latest victim. This action alone does nothing for changing our behavior. I used to be very laid back when it came to most things and not aggressive. That all changed when I joined wrestling. Most of the violence related to video games happens because it is a plan of action for the kid. When the Columbine kids were getting picked on at school they got fed up with it. So they created a hypothetical situation in Doom to plan it out. The video game wasn't the problem it was what was in their minds.