Violent and Video Games

Before I took this class, I always thought that playing violent video games would cause aggressive, harmful behaviour to children without considering that even children can tell the difference between a game and reality. I’m not a fan of video games but my younger siblings bond together through playing video games and they always have something to talk about, characters and tricks that they should use and appropriate settings etc. In terms of violent video games, they also play Grand Theft Auto but they’re fully aware that it’s just a game and it cannot be applied in real life. Before taking this course and reading any relevant material about this topic such as the reading by Jeffrey Goldstein and Gareth Schott, I have to admit that my view has changed. Believing that violent video games have major influences on an individual’s aggressive behaviour is an ignorant view because so many researches have been conducted on the issue and still it’s too “inconsistent and insubstantial” to draw any final and valid conclusions. It is true that if children can make out the difference between a visual game and the consequences of committing those violent conducts in real life then adults should also be fully aware. Instead of stating that violent video games have harmful effects on gamers, it should be left to the individual to consider it because such an accusation could limit people’s view therefore encouraging what Gareth Schott calls the ‘one-way debate’ of violence within games.