Do violent video games, like Call of Duty, ultimately lead to an increase in violence in adolescents, in particular, does it lead to extreme cases of violence, such as school shootings, and murders. I came across this topic because I am interested in video games, mainly FIFA, but I figured this was at the very least comparable. I also keep up with the news, and when I hear about school shootings I can't help but wonder what mindset those kids must be in, and what kind of circumstances led up to the event. The topic I have chosen may change my values, because if proven right, it could drastically change the way I think about video games. I am personally connected to this topic because I was once one of those brat kids that played these violent video games, and was an avid user of the violent video game Call of Duty. This topic interests me even further because I played violent video games, and I want to know if it had any particular effect on me. I am qualified to write about this topic because of my personal experience with the topic. 

In an article titled "Violent Video Games can Desensitize Players and Increase Aggression", George Drinka claims that violent video games contributed to the violent mindset of a young man named Adam Lanza, who was a school shooter. Evidence is presented throughout the article pertaining to Adam Lanzas case and how violent video games may have contributed to his decision to go on a murder spree. After reading this article, George Drinka puts two large groups at a very serious risk, these two groups being gun advocates, and video game makers, in particular, makers of the most popular violent video game, Call of Duty. Gun advocates are put at risk, because these cases in that make it difficult for not only the public, but lawmakers as well to agree with the second amendment, which is the center of a huge debate in the public arena in America right now. The makers of Call of Duty are obviously at risk because their video game, may have lead to the death of innocent people. George Drinka is a very credible source, he is on a respected website that has been deemed reliable by the University of South Carolinas library database, and he is also an expert in the field of adolescent psychology. 

In another article titled "Violent Video Games do not Cause Violence", Eric Kain argues that the few cases that children are consumers of violent video games and coincidentally go on murder sprees, is not enough evidence to say that the games themselves contribute to increased violence. Instead, Eric Kain writes that the public should focus on the true causes of these tragedies such as mental illness and easily accessible firearms. Again, the major values and interests put at risk by Eric Kain are the gun companies, and gun advocates. He argues that easily accessible firearms and mental illness are much more likely causes gun violence in young teens, he even calls out the groups that think violent video games are the cause of increased gun violence by stating that purely thinking violent video games are the cause of violence is "an oversimplification of a larger problem". Eric Kain is incredibly reliable, he writes for technology and video games for Forbes magazine, and his bias is very minimal. Eric Kain presents facts, and presents them in the way he interprets them, so naturally there is bias, but his bias is backed up by credible facts. 

Lastly in an article titled "100-percenting it", Preeti R. Khanolkar and Paul D. McLean give a completely different perspective than the previous two articles. Their article tells the story of violent video games through the lens of gamers. They work to point out the positive effects of playing violent video games, and the passion that these players have for their competitive video games. Khanolkar and McLean work interview players and conduct research to get a better idea of what actually goes on in these gaming communities, and help to disprove public misconceptions of the games. This article is not necessarily putting and values or interests at risk, it is merely trying to clear violent video games of their misconceived perception by the public. If anything this is helping video game companies and even promoting them to kids in need of a community or group to join. This article is very reliable, given that it was published in the sociological journal, which aims to connect many fields of study in sociology to each other in the hopes that it will provide an increased awareness of the issues at hand. 

The topic I have chosen is easily debatable the way that violent video games are portrayed in mainstream media make that incredibly easy. There are a great deal of opposing viewpoints, which make this topic much more interesting to learn about and also to write about. Some disagreements among articles are the extent, if any, of violence these violent video games have on actual violence. Also worth mentioning is there are conflicting views on what should be done about this problem of school shootings and violent teens. My opinion of this topic is partially bias, because I played these games as a child and never went on a murdering spree, but these articles bring up a lot of good points and has lead me to believe that these video games, when paired with mental illness and social seclusion, can be a very dangerous pairing. I may need to revise my research question to narrow it down some, because right now it is just about violence in general, but I believe it should be about school shootings in particular. 

