Jake Lee

Cause of death: murdered by a person influenced from violent video games. Already this idea sounds exaggerated. However, it is possible according to article writer Grace Shin. How can video games be the sole cause to make people more violent and aggressive?
Shin’s sole support is the assault on Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 and wounded 23 before killing themselves. Shin says the reason why they committed the act is because they had customized their own shooting game a month earlier.
However, there could be many different reason of why they killed students in their school. Stress from schoolwork and being bullied are just a couple of the many different possible reasons. It is said that Harris’s and Klebold’s victims were all school athletes, so it is possible that they may have been bullied by them.
Clearly there is not enough evidence that teenage murderers are caused from violent video games.
Though not all people have game systems, most people have at least seen video games before at friends’ houses even if they have not played them. If everyone is associated with video games, how can it be fair to say that the cause of a killer’s blood lust was from video games?
Even if murder is not involved, aggression from violent video games is still a bold accusation. It is human nature to get angry. Anything that gives a surge of adrenaline and testosterone gives one the same effects of aggression or violence, especially in teenage boys.
Intense sports like football, a TV show, and even a scary movie raises adrenaline levels and makes humans more aggressive from the excitement of the stimulus. From being excited, the stimulus raises testosterone levels, which make people more aggressive.
Though video games may be one factor in humans becoming more violent, it is at least not the sole cause of aggression. Video games can be avoided to become “less aggressive”, but there is no point if humans are already surrounded by things that cause the same aggression as video games do.
Also, people easily realize the difference between killing a person in real life compared to killing in a video game. The line between what is acceptable in real life and in video games is obvious to anyone who is mentally stable.
To have the will to hurt someone else needs a motive. Though video games may stimulate aggression, there would be no reason to hurt someone solely from playing video games. People turn to violent and verbal abuse when they believe it is necessary, even though it may not be logical.
Perhaps violence from video games can be justified with male behavior, but one should understand females are also aggressive. Females who have never played a violent video game still show the same aggression levels as males, according to professor Cheryl Dellasega at Pennsylvania State University. Verbal abuse is more likely in females over physical abuse, but point being, there is still aggressive behavior involved without the influence of video games.
Violence has been steadily increasing. According to PBS, big city violence crime has increased by 40% over the past 30 years. Though violence has been increasing over years, other factors have also increased. Education is more important than ever and parents push kids to study hard to a point where it can be taken unbearable. Media also interacts with the general population more. The list goes on. There are more things that cause stress in the present than the past. These new stress levels can cause people to not bear with them and finally give up and release their frustration through violence and aggression.
Another interesting view of why people think that video games do cause violence is because the government promotes it. By being against violent video games, the government can be seen as opposed to crime and appear supportive to peace. Just because the government says something is true does not mean it is. Plus, there is no proof that video games cause violence, despite studies on it.
From my own experience, video games are addicting and can be competitive when playing with other people, but never does it lead to someone hurt in the end.
The only pain caused from violent video games is the pain of one’s virtual character.