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Owen Daugherty

Miss Burke

English 11

11 April, 2019

Do Violent Video Games Have an Effect on Kids?

One recent primary topic of discussion in America surrounds the numerous amounts of

mass shootings occurring in the country, especially in schools. Most notorious of these school

shooting include Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Stoneman Douglas in Parkland. These shootings,

as well as others worldwide in countries like Germany, have led a multitude of people to

question whether or not violent video games are having a negative impact on the younger

demographic of our populations (Scutti). With so many people focusing on violent video games

in relation to these shootings, it has become an easy scapegoat for people to blame instead of

looking at the real problems. In response to these accusations, research has shown that school

shooters actually have not had a large interest in violent video games. Statistics have proven that

violent video games have an insignificant effect on children, reasons for video games causing

aggressiveness in children have been disproven, and further research has even shown that violent

video games can help younger people become less violent in the real world.

School shooters and gun violence are a significant reason for violent video games being

brought to the forefront of national discussion. Even President Donald Trump has chimed in on

the issue following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, mentioning, “I'm hearing more

and more people saying the level of violence on video games is really shaping young people's

thoughts…” (Scutti). But how much of an influence do violent video games really have on
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school shooters? After the Columbine school shooting, many people blamed Eric Harris’s and

Dylan Klebold’s “dangerous” hobbies of playing violent video games, listening to metal music,

and participating in goth culture for influencing them to go through with their act of violence

(Park). People became so intrigued in what these shooters were interested in before the incidents

occurred that they began to research the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter after he

massacred 26 innocent grade school children. (Toppo). In his house, many notable items were

found including pictures of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, ingredients for TNT, weapon

magazine descriptions, and the popular video games of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. From

these two video games alone, many people think that there is enough information to blame

violent video games as at least playing a part in violent actions like those of Adam Lanza.

(Toppo). However, as more information was gathered about him, it was discovered that he would

often visit a nearby movie theater for several hours per day. Instead of taking the easy route by

blaming Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, though, Greg Toppo points out this:

But those weren't the games that possessed Lanza at the movie theater. The title that

so consumed the Sandy Hook shooter? Dance Dance Revolution—an arcade staple

that has players dance on colored squares to the rhythm of Asian techno-pop. That

discovery not only surprised investigators, it also was at odds with overheated

speculation in the media and around dinner tables that violent video games had helped

turn Lanza into a killer.

Dance Dance Revolution has absolutely zero violence involved in it, yet it was most likely

Lanza’s favorite video game. This simply does not correlate with the idea that aggressive people

such as school shooters are obsessed with violent video games or that they have a great effect on
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acts of violence. Findings like this support the claim that there should be more research done in

order to discover other much more likely reasons for the cause of violent attacks, such as at-

home violence, social issues at school, underlying mental illness, and substance abuse.

There have been many arguments made both critiquing and acknowledging a lack of

effect that violent video games have on children. Both the American Psychological Association

(APA) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “take a firm stance against children and

teens playing violent video games” (Scutti). This is due to claims that violent video games can

desensitize children to violence, reduce their empathy for others, and encourage violence against

others (Kennedy-Moore). The AAP reports that over 400 studies show a “significant” link

between violent media, such as video games, and aggressive thoughts and behavior (Scutti).

Although both the AAP and the APA report that there is definitely a link between violent video

games and levels of aggressiveness in kids, universities and other studies have shown that this

may not be the case. While the AAP reports there is a significant link between these two items,

Western Michigan University counters this argument with their studies that showed there is

actually an “insignificant” link between violent video games and aggressive behavior. Their

research shows that certain kids who were already aggressive before playing the games are the

same kids who were aggressive after playing time (Scutti). Other counterarguments to these two

organizations question whether or not video games are the factor in aggressive attacks that

should be in question. As previously mentioned, Adam Lanza’s favorite game was Dance Dance

Revolution, a completely non-violent game. Certain people, like clinician Eileen Kennedy-

Moore, recognizes that there are many more factors that all shooters had in common, factors that

are missing from other, non-harmful kids. Some of these characteristics include “family violence,
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having an anger-prone personality, poverty, harsh parental discipline, peer rejection, and school

problems, [all of which] are established risk factors for aggression” (Kennedy-Moore). Kennedy-

Moore understands that video games do not directly correlate with violence in the real world:

As a clinician, I know that transfer of behavior from one situation to another doesn’t

necessarily happen easily. If only kids would automatically do the things that they

practice with me in my office when they’re with their peers or family members, my work

would be so much easier! Children routinely behave differently in different situations:

They act differently with mom versus dad, at school versus home, with friends versus

siblings… So I don’t expect that violent behavior in a video game will automatically

transfer to violent behavior offline.

She makes an excellent point here, and everyone can relate to this in some aspect of their life.

People react differently in different situations. Kids playing “violently” in a virtual reality does

not mean they will act like this in actual reality. In many games that are considered violent,

people are not even playing for the violence found in them. There are also many statistics found

that disprove the argument that violent video games have an effect on people, particularly in the

aspect of gun violence. Much of this data relates the amount of video games sold to the amount

of violence that occurs during the same period as well as the interest in video games that violent

attackers had. ProCon.org reports that “sales of violent video games have significantly increased

while violent juvenile crime rates have significantly decreased” and that “of 41 [school violence]

attackers studied, 27% had an interest in violent movies, 24% in violent books, and 37%

exhibited interest in their own violent writings, while only 12% showed interest in violent video

games.” Other arguments related to this include the fact that other major countries such as
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Sweden, Japan, Ireland, and France play these games as well, but their mass shooting problem is

much less significant than that in the US (Kain). If video games were really to blame, these

crime rates should be occurring at the same rate worldwide instead of just in one country.

With all of the attention on possible negative effects of violent video games on children,

it is easy to believe that they could only lead to negative characteristics. However, video games

can actually have a positive effect on the children who play them. There is always the simple

argument that it can improve people’s reflexes, but it can actually help humans even more in a

social aspect than in a “reaction-time” type of way. Much research has shown that many people

play video games because it actually helps them get their anger out and channel it in the virtual

world rather than the real world. The Journal of Adolescent Health states that "61.9% of boys

played to 'help me relax,' 47.8% because 'it helps me forget my problems,' and 45.4% because 'it

helps me get my anger out” (“Do Video Games”). These statistics show how video games can

actually reduce violence or aggressiveness in people, as it is released on fictional characters

while allowing the player to enjoy themselves. This is also backed up by co-chairman of the

Department of Psychology Christopher Ferguson (Scutti). There are also studies that “violent

video games provide opportunities for children to explore virtually the consequences of violent

actions and to develop their moral compasses” (“Do Video Games”). This argument comes from

the fact that many violent video games often include stories, such as a campaign mode or the

video game itself, which show people experiencing real-life effects and consequences of the

violent actions of main characters and others around them. Many popular video games with

violence in them that fall under this category include The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption, the

Half-Life series, and the Call of Duty series. Research has also shown that playing violent video
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games can help people be cooperative afterwards (Park). Many violent video games have team

aspects, such as Team Deathmatch in Call of Duty or Squads game mode in the newly popular

game Fortnite. Playing these modes with others requires quick communication and knowledge of

what your teammates are doing, which can help people with group projects as well as improve

communication skills in the real world. With all of these possible positive aspects of playing

violent video games, though, it is important to mention that most video games have age

restrictions on them for a reason. Just because the aspects of these games could help children

does not mean they are always ready to play it. More often than not, games designed for older

players contain many curse words and possibly other scenes that could be to mature for younger

kids, so children should still be supervised regarding what games they are allowed to play.

After taking a national stage, the debate of possible consequences of children playing

violent video games began. With two sides varying in their arguments about what effect they

actually have, a few statistics have shown that they really do not have a great effect on children’s

levels of aggressiveness. Studies on school shooters and what influenced them have not shown a

significant link to violent video games. Other factors, such as family issues, poverty, and social

problems are a much more significant thread among school shooters. Video games can actually

help kids develop their social skills while having fun. Overall, violent video games have an

insignificant effect on human levels of aggressiveness and can actually be a helpful stress-

reliever as long as they are played appropriately. 


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Works Cited

“Do Video Games Contribute to Youth Violence?” ProCon.org, 23 Feb. 2018,

videogames.procon.org/.

Kain, Erik. “It's True: Violent Video Games Are Totally Sick.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Mar.

2018, www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2018/03/10/if-violent-video-games-caused-mass-

shootings-we-would-all-be-killers/#7ad9ec484d2b.

Kennedy-Moore, Eileen. “The Truth About Violent Video Games and Kids, Part 1.” Psychology

Today, Sussex Publishers, 14 Sept. 2015, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/growing-

friendships/201509/the-truth-about-violent-video-games-and-kids-part-1-3.

Park, Alice. “Violent Video Games Change Kids to Think More Aggressively.” Time, Time, 24

Mar. 2014, time.com/34075/how-violent-video-games-change-kids-attitudes-about-

aggression/.

Scutti, Susan. “Do Video Games Lead to Violence?” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Feb. 2018,

www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html.

Toppo, Greg. “Do Video Games Inspire Violent Behavior?” Scientific American, 1 July 2015,

www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-video-games-inspire-violent-behavior/.