By: Dan Buser
Violent video games do not cause children to be violent, and therefore selling them to minors should not be banned. First entertainment censorship has never worked in the past whether it was TV, movies, radio shows, or even dating back to prohibition. Secondly in scientific studies there is no link between playing violent video games and violent crimes. Finally there have been studies showing the many positives that have come from people playing video games.
Censorship of entertainment has never worked and in the past has actually had the opposite effect of what was originally intended. The National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit research organization, did a study that showed that during Prohibition alcohol consumption increased by 60 to 70%. This is obviously different than playing video games; however, the idea is the same just putting a new rule in place does not solve a problem. Banning video game sales to minors would not stop them from playing.
In a study released by the American Psychological Association, they found no direct link between playing violent video games and committing violent crimes. Their study show an increase in aggression however this claim has been challenged by many saying that there study methods were ineffective and biased. These included academics from many large universities including Harvard, Yale, and Columbia.
One thing that has been proven is video games have many educational applications, and furthermore video games have been used to help young people to deal with anger. Studies done at Rutgers and Villanova have found that video games are excellent ways to engage students and help them better retain the information. While these educational games are not the violent games that people would like to see banned but they are video games. However, as shown above violent video games are not a problem for a majority of people similar how drinking was not a problem for many people before Prohibition.
Children who are overly aggressive have been helped by playing violent video games. A study published in computers and human behavior(a journal put out by Madison Wisconsin college) shows that the video games help to release some of the frustration and annoyances that cause kids to be overly aggressive.
We must not allow any bans or censorship on violent video games. As there are few negatives to playing video games, and the positives that can come from the games like decreasing stress and being used to educate. Next time that your parents try to stop you from playing a violent game sit down and have a intelligent conversation about the pros of playing games.
