Violent Video Games can Turn Kids into Killers
The Universe
(June 01, 2003)
I had a most
educational and worrying
experience not long ago when I
was
invited to try out some
video 'games' played out on a large screen.
They are called "first person shooter" games. The first game
had me assume the role of a
commando seeking the enemy. My
weapons
appeared on the screen, a sniper's rifle, a hand pistol ,
a machine gun and a
grenade. I choose the machine
gun first. The game began and
I was moving down an alleyway.
Suddenly the 'enemy', soldiers, appeared ahead at an outpost.
I pointed the machine gun
and fired by pushing the button on the controller.
I jumped with surprise. It
immediately vibrated as the gun on the screen fired off a clip of
bullets with the defeating rat-tat-tat. A sensation coursed through my
body as if I was really back on the military
firing range of my cadet military training. The soldiers on screen
cried out and died
spurting blood my virtual
bullets cut them down. My
heartbeat quickened , the adrenalin in my brain was pumping and I was
terribly excited.
It was so realistic I suddenly felt guilty as if
I had shot real people who
had not even threatened or fired at me. I had cold bloodily carried out an
preemptive strike without
reason or provocation.
"Don't worry , it's like that at first, you get used to it" my friend
said. My body count score
appeared and I
was rewarded and additional point were offered head shots.
The sniper's rifle appeared and a
person was
in my sights, I fired. The
loud crack of the rifle made me jump as the
man spun around and toppled from his perch - shot in the head.
Again I was rewarded.
Soldiers
are trained in
marksmanship on a similar computer game.
I watched my skilled companion
killing the targets ,he smiled
as the bodies fell and the blood flowed.
It was murder as entertainment.
There are no identifiably "good" guys or “bad" guys
that might give a veneer of moral justification.
Today a large percentage of our youth
hunker down in their rooms
and learn how to wreath violent death on games called Counter strike, Mortal
Combat, Grand Auto Theft. Their minds and hearts are surely damaged in some
way.
Parents and educators have reason
to be worried. The games
desensitize children to the horror of killing another person.
It was very different when we ran about
playing cowboys and
Indians, cops and robbers in the playground.
In the first week of April this
year a 14 year old boy went to
the cafeteria of his school in Red Lion Area Junior High school
,Pennsylvania, before classes, pulled a gun and with one shot killed his
school principle. Then killed himself.
In 1997, a boy went to
his Kentucky school, pulled out a handgun, took the stance of a marksman and
coldly shot a group of students praying
in the corridor. All eight shots hit their intended
targets, most were to the head and chest . Three children died, another
was paralyzed.
The amazing proficiency and marksmanship was all learned on the video game. It
was the first time he ever fired a gun, for him it was child's play.
Experiments prove that young
experienced game players
who are taken to a real shooting range for the first time are able to shoot
with the accuracy of a highly skilled marksman,
and they all shoot for the head .
Need I say more? Yes
much more. We now know that violent video games create violent
youth and local government
must ban the video parlors.
But parents and community leaders have to pressure the computer companies
to make games that have non-violent content. We owe it to our children
and ourselves.
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