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Video Games Corrupting Young Minds
Video games are a way to live in a different world. It makes the player at the controller escape any stress in reality and just mess around in a place where no one actually gets hurt. However, some video games are a little bit too realistic. Many games that involve living the life of a criminal affects the minds of some people. Realistic elements in a game include: mature content (a.k.a., a rated M game), killing, drugs, language, etc.. Teenagers who play these types of games could become killers themselves, thanks to how the game makes being a criminal seem easy. Most of the video games that are related to shootings caused by teenagers are developed by the (in)famous video game developer company Rockstar Games. Their most well-known controversial video game series is the Grand Theft Auto series (GTA). GTA is well-known for its vulgar content, very violent gameplay, sexism, racism, language, etc. Their most recent release, GTA V, takes the controversy to a whole new level. However, Rockstar didn’t stop there. They released a re-mastered version (better graphics, gameplay, etc.) which also gives the player the choice to play from a first person perspective, increasing how realistic this game is. Another Rockstar game that is very brutal is called Manhunt. If a parent is smart enough to know what the title means, they should immediately know that this game will teach their child how to use the most common household items as if they should be considered illegal. David Grossman, an activist against these types of games, claim these games unintentionally teach kids how to use weapons and that emotions should be taken out on people through violence. It is true they teach these acts of violence, for it has been psychologically proven that it will affect the young mind of the player. However, the player, no matter what age they are, should be smart enough to tell the difference between reality and violent video games. But all those teenagers who execute school-shootings and deaths of innocent people are too ignorant to know that life isn’t a video game where they can escape cops in under two minutes and respawn after committing suicide . A perfect example is the Columbine High School Massacre. During the middle of a regular school day, two psychotic teenagers storm in with assault rifles and many other illegal guns (nobody knows where and how they got their hands on rifles that are only permitted for law enforcement) and started to go on a killing spree. When they were done killing everyone, they committed suicide, similar to an option in GTA V that allows your character to commit suicide. These games are sending terrible messages of death to children. A solution to this problem is to watch their behavior. If the child starts acting more crazy or has thoughts that involve killing, take the game away from the child immediately before their case gets any worse. Children are our future, and if these games twist their minds to become mental, then who knows how chaotic our world may be in the future.
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