When Life Imitates Video Response

“When Life Imitates Video” Response: Violent video games are a huge part of the life of many children, perhaps even too large of a part. Moreover, I would not say games turn kids into insane killers and cause them to do ungodly wrong things in society. ! In the article “When Life Imitates Video” by Jon Leo, Leo questions whether or not violent video games played by children can affect their behavior and how they live their lives. For the most part, there is no exact connection between murderers and murderous video games when you approach this argument. Leo admits that it is the parent’s responsibility to prevent children from playing violent games, even though a lot of people like to blame the entertainment industry. Leo believes hurting and maiming others is the central fun activity in video games played so addictively by the young. In our society young ones are entertained by making people die in games.

Leo worries that children are unsure about the difference between a violent game and real life situations. Head shots are even a bonus in the majority of shooting games, and there are now more realistic features such as wounds, guns, and screams. ! Leo states that these games are referred to as “harmless jokes”, yet killing innocent pedestrians does not appear as a joke even though it takes place in a video game. Leo calls the shooter a “violent sociopath” instead of a hero. Cops and SWAT teams members have become more common victims in video games recently. “We have to start worrying about what we are putting into the minds of our young” states David Grossman of Arkansas State University.

I think it is most certainly a good idea to rethink what we are putting into the minds of our children in our lives. Violent video games are everywhere: in arcades, people’s homes, and community centers. They are also advertised on television and inside of retail stores. It is almost impossible to be sheltered from violence in today’s society. Leo has stated some strong points in his essay, and some of those points I had to think about for a while. There are things I strongly agree with. There are also some concepts I do not agree with at all. ! Leo first compares the Colorado massacre to a video game, and how the two killers acted just as they were playing a real life video game. This may not be relevant to violent video games, but Leo makes the connection anyway. I certainly agree that is the the parent’s responsibility for what video games they allow their children to play. The games are rated for age groups, but from my experience kids do not pay any attention to the ratings on the bottom left of the game cover. Some parents do not care what their kids play, and others are more strict. I also agree that for children who know the difference between a game and real life, violent games are “harmless” as Leo emphasizes. ! Games are played by the majority of youth, especially violent games.

Leo believes that the games are often played by “unstable youngsters unsure about the difference” and that may have been “maltreated or rejected and left alone most of the time.” This I believe is untrue, a lot of kids play violent games, whether they are from a rich, poor, middle class, or from an adopted family. “Unstable” as Leo uses, obviously does not describe all of the kids playing these games. I used to play these games growing up in a middle class family, along with all of my friends and none of us were “maltreated” in any way. I also knew people who were slightly mistreated growing up, who also took part in violent games, but did not turn into “sociopaths,” as Leo suggests. There are children that do know the difference between life and video, and this is the majority of the kids that play violent video games. The ones that do grow up to be murderers from what I have heard in the media, have had some type of brain disfunction or disorder from birth, and the cause is most likely not from playing these kind of games.

It is very difficult to directly define the causes. ! I also disagree on how Leo thinks “realistic touches in games help blur the boundary between fantasy and reality-guns carefully modeled on real ones, accuratelooking wounds, screams, and other sound effects.” I argue that the reason behind these new realistic effects in games are simply because of technology. Technology is advancing and graphics in games are improving due to this. We as a society are more advanced, therefore making our games more clearer and more realistic.! ! Yes, I do agree with Leo on how it is terrible that head shots are bonus points and players can kill innocent pedestrians whenever they desire, but this is not turning our generation of children into murderers or perhaps anything along those lines. Such assumptions are unnecessary and quite extreme. Kids will continue to play games whenever and which ever ones they please, and common sense separates the boundary between a game and real life situations.