The Effects of Abusing Fictional Violence
(Violent video games stimulates conflicting thoughts in people)
There has been a lot stirring about the causes and effects of prolong exposure to violent video games as a form of entertainment, and as a source to relieve stress. But what about the effects it leaves to the younger audience that are underage to play these games? You will find that many of these conflicts all lead to a controversial topic regarding the same thing. Violent video games stimulate violence. I’m talking about very violent video games that have no set limit, games that take things to the extreme, games such as Grand Theft Auto, Manhunt, or even Mario in some cases. Nah, just kidding about that last one.
My input on this topic is simple, to stop violent video games from getting into the hands of underage gamers considering that a large audience of these games are under eighteen. The game labels the games 18 and older, but they do not enforce this rule. I see it as just a sticker that does no real justice to the content provided to these young underage gamers and they do need a better system to enforce age restrictions upon these games.
Here are a couple incidents regarding this issue.
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On November 19, 2010, in South Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 16 year old boy Kendall Anderson struck down his mother to death for taking away his “PlayStation”. He decided to cremate the body in an oven, but according to his confession, he failed. He smashed her head against a chair then dragged the body out to an alley behind their house and covered it up with trash bags. 2 days later the body was found when a trail of blood lead to the body’s hiding spot.
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On May 2010, French gamer Julien Barreaux located and stabbed another player from another part of the world who stabbed him in a game of “Counter Strike”. The judge calls him a menace to society. The victim lived and Barreaux only needs to serve 2 years. He’ll be back on the streets in no less than 24 months from now.
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On April 9, 2011, 24 year old Tristan van der Vlis open fired on a crowd of people releasing over a hundred bullets in a public mall killing 6 people and wounding 17 people making it the deadliest case since the 2009 attack on the Dutch Royal Family. After the attack he proceeded to kill himself with a separate firearm. A reasonable amount of attention was given by the fact the Tristan played a controversial mission in “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” that depicted mass murdering in an airport and the similarities show in the case.
These are some of many incidents that clearly shows that not only are young under age gamers are stimulated by violent video games, but it even stimulates people over the age of 18 that are old enough to play. The behaviors shown in gamers in the online world are depicted from the fact that they have no consequence for talking off someone so they show no fear which eventually starts their violent behaviors in real life.

Yes, I am aware that there are some benefactors to violent video games such as learning about actual war events, the realistic depiction of violent content that can be argued over in real life productively. But in the long run, if those actions eventually lead to a tragic accident will those beneficial factors then contributes? The actions that the gamer inflicts upon real life that end up affecting other people will not justify anything even if those good benefactors are established.

Opposing argument say that violent video games are a great way to relieve stress, to entertain you, and it’s a fictional battleground that has no consequences. I say that there are better ways to relieve stress, There is more than one form of entertainment, and the “fictional battleground” is one of many reason that stimulates violence and irrational behavior due to the online community talking trash and tearing each other apart when they know that there is no consequences to be held against them.

I’m not trying to say that we should ban violent video games altogether, but rather people need to take this into consideration and set it aside as if it were alcohol. To have moderation for these games, and also to enforce the rule of non-access to the games until you are of age. The actions that are taken into effect from these games as opposed to the fact that violent video games are a form of entertainment, a form of stress reliever, or a fictional explicit battleground, cannot change the fact that children under age and older are affected by it’s thought provoking content stimulates violent behaviors and the consequences are devastating. There is a large line drawn between fiction, and real life.