With the surge in digital technology in the form of computers and gaming industry, it has become increasingly common for people to think that playing computer games has a direct link to increased violent and ill-mannered behaviour among individuals, especially among young children and teenagers. Although video games promote violence and anti-social behaviour to some extent, there are other reasons worth mentioning when it comes to this dramatic shift in misdemeanour and acts of violence.

There are various compelling reasons why some people believe that video games make players violent. First, for the most part video games are created in a manner of promoting story telling based on a gamer preference. Take GTA as an example, where players have total freedom to anything they want; robbing a bank, buying armed weapons, killing innocent civilians, visiting night clubs, beating animals and fighting with the police. When teenagers or younger children play this game, their impressionable minds adapt quickly to this gameplay which could motivate them to act in this manner in real life. Second, most video games have very violent design of characters and acts. For example, Mortal Kombat, where you can execute your opponent through so called “fatality” – a special and bloody way of killing your rival. Taking into consideration the fact that children expose to these sorts of games in a prolonged period, there is more possibility for them to take up these in their real life and manifest them.

Nevertheless, I consider video games as a small particle of general problem. There are other reasons to consider before coming up with a definite result. Violent behaviour is often taken up and shown by people, in this case teenagers and youngsters, who come from impoverished and violent neighbourhoods. Living in such surroundings for a long time makes these young people act in an according way that it becomes a norm for them. Moreover, peer pressure has a big role to play here. Pressurized by their friends and close people, most young children and young adolescents are more prone to show up anti-social behaviour in order to fit into the standards of their social circle. For example, in North America, violent acts and acts against social norms are usually committed by individuals with either traumatic and abuse-full background or who come from violent blocks. In this case, considering video games as a primary reason for any violent activity becomes out of date.

To conclude, although certain games propagate violent and terrifying acts, I firmly believe that they are only one root of one big problem. In my opinion, it is where people come from and how they are treated that decides their overall propensity to any act of violence.