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Violent Videop Games

Topic: Violent Video Game Regulation

I. Introduction of the Issue -- Thesis
A. Why the issue is important
1. The ever-increasing technological advancements in the computer information and electronics industries have had dramatic effects on the entertainment industry. The advent of these technologies has made realistic, first person video games possible. This has led to numerous breakthroughs in the gaming industry. However, technology has made it possible to subject children to strikingly realistic and violent images and themes in video games.
Source: “[T]he arrival of a new generation of ultraviolent video games beginning in the early 1990s and continuing unabated to the present resulted in large numbers of children and youths actively participating in entertainment violence that went way beyond anything available to them on television or in movies. Recent video games reward players for killing innocent bystanders, police, and prostitutes, using a wide range of weapons including guns, knives, flame throwers, swords, baseball bats, cars, hands, and feet…In some, the player assumes the role of hero, whereas in others the player is a criminal.”

Anderson, Craig A. “Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions.” American Psychological Association. Psychological Science Agenda: October 2003.

2. Video games have become increasingly popular and children are beginning to devote more of their free time to video games.

Source: “The increasingly realistic and exciting nature of electronic games has helped to make them enormously popular with children and youth. 79% of American children now play computer or video games on a regular basis. Children between the ages of seven and 17 play for an average of eight hours a week.”

Walsh, David. “Video Game Violence and Public Policy.” National Institute on Media and the Family....