Video games are inherently violent, some people claim they transfer these violences onto us. Americans have accused video games as the reason for crimes like genocide or school shootings. Seeing as schools are the target, Tahoma should have an opinion what causes school shootings.

Senior Noah Connway comments that, “I think the whole aspect of video games causing violence is something that people in the media would say because they have nothing else to argue against.”

The media has never been shy to create drama to fill the void.

Neither side provides credible evidence often. They may provide studies and documents, but they generally do not provide reproducible results, they are not legitimate studies or they simply don’t provide resources. Neither side appears to be viable, so what can you trust? Facts.

Popular Youtuber Matthew Patrick and self proclaimed scientist states that, “We need to get down to the real story, the scientific fact, do video games actually make people more violent?” For those who do not know, Patrick creates a show that analyzes the science behind video games and  a popular voice in gaming.

Patrick finds several articles saying that video games are the cause of violence, but they are ruled out due to lack of viability. For instance, a study published in 2014 saw people who play first person shooters got more headshots at real shooting ranges, but that study was withdrawn because the results couldn’t be replicated. Even the scientists could not believe this one shot wonder existed.

It’s not plausible to hold on to one page that the own researchers couldn’t even believe. We have the opinion of scientists, popular icons and students who could possibly refute these claims. When asked his opinion Freshman Joseph Chang gave told us that despite the fact Chang’s a gamer, he says, “[Fortnite]’s not super graphic but maybe the tons of guns in there [cause violence].” 

Some games are relatively peaceful like Tetris or Stardew Valley. They have no guns or knives and no objective to kill. Chang and Connway can agree on one thing that these games actually calm people down. 

Some games are relatively peaceful like Tetris or Stardew Valley. They have no guns or knives and no objective to kill. Chang and Connway can agree on one thing that these games actually calm people down. 

Some people have much more negative opinions than Chang. Marla Jo Fisher wrote in the OCR, “I truly believe that video games were created by Satan to turn otherwise normal children into his drooling, glassy-eyed stooges.”

It would take Satan a ridiculously long time to program all the games in the world, from Minesweeper to Super Mario Maker. In order to make a game roughly the size of Skyrim it would take a person approximately 2 years. We attempted to ask Satan for a comment on this matter but were unable to reach him. He was probably too busy working on Elder Scrolls: 6.

When the creator of video games Ralph Baer was asked what he thought of video game violence Baer stated, “What I created got abominated, you can see the same thing in music, literature, art — any form of art.” Baer is saying that all forms of media are violent. How can we expect one to stay pristine when the rest haven’t. You experience the same things in The Lord of the Flies  but that’s considered a classic.

No matter how you slice in order to function in society you must be exposed to violence. Video games are violent, as are all things.