Argumentative research paper on How Violent Video Games Have A

Argumentative on How Violent Video Games Have A Negative Effect On Child Development and The Solution - Research Paper Example Infamous events have produced broad debate regarding the negative effects of video game violence. For example, a national conversation ensued regarding what relationship video games had to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 when two students massacred 13 and wounded 23 before committing suicide. Though many motivations were probably involved, it is not practically feasible to identify exactly what provoked these teenagers to gun down their schoolmates and teachers but violent video games were and continue to be mentioned as a contributing factor. These two students had frequently played Doom, a bloody and brutal firearms game which is used by the U.S. military to instruct the armed forces how to kill with more effectiveness. To what extent this particular video game influenced the actions of these two high school students has been debated since this tragic incident. The entertainment medium, it is generally accepted, is an enormously influential dynamic in everyone’s l ives. â€Å"What behaviors children and adults consider appropriate comes, in part, from the lessons we learn from television and the movies† (Huesmann & Miller, 1994). It is logical to expect video games, especially those that depict violence, will have similar and perhaps a more extensive effect on violent behavior. Currently, few studies exist which have comprehensively examines the connection between violent video games and violent actions by children. As video games are increasingly becoming more explicit and brutal as well as more widespread, additional research is needed concerning the effects on the easily influenced minds of the children who play them and a clearer explanation to parents of the risks associated with these violent games. Not everyone agrees that video games lead to violent behavior. For example, according to James Potter, the Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner shows alone exhibited more instances of explicit violence than kid’s witness today during an a fternoon of playing video games. Watching violent acts, particularly those in the realm of make-believe, do not automatically translate to violent acts. â€Å"When certain motives or cues occur in a child’s real-life environment, the child will not be able to make the association between those cues and the image he or she saw in the media. Thus children seem to be protected from an imitation effect because they do not understand the significance of violence as a tool for solving problems and do not see the utility in imitating it† (Potter, 2002, P. 75). Children today as yesterday fully recognize the difference between reality and what they are seeing or experiencing on the television screen whether it’s a cartoon or game they are playing. There is currently no scientific data to conclusively tell whether or not playing a violent video game heightens a child’s susceptibility for aggressive thought. When video games initially appeared about 35 years ago, t hey were basic and seemingly harmless. With the introduction of the game Pong, Atari pioneered the video game during the 1970’s. Pong was the video game version of table tennis. In the 1980’s arcade games such as Pac-Man and Asteroids were popular. The seemingly innocuous nature of video games markedly turned from cartoon-like ghost munching to brazen violence in the 1990’s. The most popular game of 1993, Mortal Kombat, featured accurate depictions of human-like characters engaged in bloody battles. The objective