Do violent video games lead to violent behaviour among young people Essay

Do violent video games lead to violent behaviour among young people - Essay Example One of the reasons stated for this good fortune is the fact that the game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II topped Amazons best sellers list for the first time in 2009. Most people play video games because they are fun and challenging but research shows that for children, certain types of video games can lead to aggression and often violence. This violence can be towards other children or it can evolve into other forms of violence. As an example, the game, "Grand Theft Auto has been criticized for teaching teenagers how to kill policemen. Studies show that the reason this happens is because teens become desensitized and find that killing the police is something natural after playing the game. Another example brings the researcher to school shootings. The shootings at Columbine high school in Littleton, Colorado took place because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were playing a version of the game Doom. Video games have been blamed for a variety of crimes. As this researcher began to study this trend, there were several questions that came to mind. Do video games really create crime? If so, what happens to create this problem and What is being done abo ut it? The literature on this topic is vast because it has been the topic of several studies, many books, and many magazine and newspaper articles. Most of this literature supports the idea that video games create aggression and over time, this aggression leads to violence. Aggression can be defined as any behaviour, be it physical, verbal, psychological or emotional, intended to cause physical, emotional or psychological injury to another human being (Kirsh, 2006 p. 10). In our society, this definition can be seen in many television programs whether they are cartoons, other childrens programs or general television shows. As an example, programs like CSI and Dexter continue to be very popular shows because people like the voyeuristic view they have of violence that these