There are all kinds of violent influences in the present day entertainment sector, things such as television shows, movies, books, and the most targeted form of entertainment for ridicule: video games. These are all forms of entertainment used by people almost everyday, and there are influences of violence in every one of them, for example: for television there are shows like "Game of Thrones", movies such as "Rambo" or "Batman", video games like "Call of Duty", and much more. One form of entertainment gets singled out more than others in the debate of whether or not violent entertainment can cause the user to be more aggressive than if they were not exposed to it, which is video games. Although some argue that these different forms of entertainment don't cause the user to possibly be more aggressive, one should focus on the argument that video games get the unfair end of the stick when it comes to the debate about which one of these forms of entertainment influences the most violence. Other forms of entertainment expose and show just as much violence as video games, if not more depending on what one chooses, and video games offer as many if not more benefits than those associated with the other forms of entertainment, which can also outweigh the negative violence aspects within them.

Video games were not always the center of ridicule when it came to violent influences, since they were first introduced to the world, for awhile they were not targeted as susceptibly as now, partly because nothing quite significant enough happened yet involving video games as an influence. But then something significant did happen, something from the media quite prolific that most Americans can put name to story: the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999. This historical event in America's history was the start of the theme that video games can cause the user to be more prone to violent activity, and this was all because the two shooters of Columbine were fans of the video game "Doom." There was no link between the game and the shooting whatsoever, but because they were very into playing it and then went and shot up their high school, some people took this as a influence on why they decided to do it. Though as it happens most of the time, those affected by the tragedy looked for something to blame, and the video game was a convenient and easy target, which lead to some of the families of the deceased to file a lawsuit against some entertainment companies. Thus this was the start of people linking video games and real life violence in the user. 

Now, if someone was to go onto the internet and search "do video games cause violence?", what would come back in the search list would be a wide array of articles with many different viewpoints, with one article discussing how they do cause violence in the user, while the next one you click on could oppose that and state how there is no link in real life violence and how the benefits can outweigh any violent measures. So the question that arises from this is who is to trust when it comes to these 'facts'? But the best answers aren't from some article you can google on the internet, the most real, and most simple answers, come from people who actually play video games themselves and know first-hand the effects these games have on them. From a personal perspective, I do play video games, of which some are violent, and know from experience that I am not more aggressive from playing them nor have I ever thought about beating someone up, shooting someone, etc., just because I played a game such as "Gears of War" or games similar. Though that is not a very credible source, coming from the person writing the paper, as it could come off as bias which is not very credible when trying to be convincing. Thus an interview with a different subject was a necessary source for coming up with perspective from someone who actually plays video games first-hand and not some article you can find on the internet. The interview was conducted with a college-aged male who had previous experience with playing video games, and also enjoyed the time spent while doing so. The subject answered the following question: "Do you think violent video games cause the user to be more violent in real life, or have little to no impact on their temperament?" and replied "No they do not, they do not influence violence." Subject also answered: "Do you think video games get unfairly selected for criticism on their violence/influence on the user rather than movies, television, books, etc.?" and replied with "Yes, they do get more unfairly selected." There it is straight from a primary source, with personal experience in the topic involved, helping to provide for a little more credibility than what you can just search in a second on the internet. 

That is not to say that there aren't some negatives involved with playing video games, of course you're going to suffer in some way somehow by sitting down inactive for a period of time where the only active parts of your body are your hands and your mind. But there are negatives, not such as causing people to be more violent who play games, but things that are actually true such as decreased physical health, poor focus on other areas of the user's life, and more. Now with the theme of the research, there are those out there who say that playing video games can cause the player to be more aggressive or have more aggressive thoughts, and making the user desensitized to the violent behavior (Richard Gallagher). But the fact of the matter is that, according to the US Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, there is still no actual evidence of a direct link between video game violence and real life violence. To be fair you don't see someone making the claim that they are going to have an awesome time once they drink their soda because they saw a commercial for an item such as the soda and the ad company makes it seem as if your life will be perfect and happy once you drink that soda, as hard as they try to make it seem realistic. It's just a part of the pattern of people looking for something indirect to blame to make up for some other issue at hand, for example the families trying to sue the entertainment companies after the Columbine shooting, just because the two kids enjoyed their computer games in their free time, when really those kids were at more of a chance of doing this because of psychological issues. Fareed Zakaria from The Washington Post has chimed in on the debate before, stating that even though the Japanese are avid video game fans, Japan has one of the lowest homicide rates at close to zero percent. Not only this but described that many of the top selling video games, in the United States and abroad, are non-violent games. Aside from this highly debated negative associated with playing video games, there are actual and factual negatives associated that one should know about before making any other assumptions about video games. For example someone who might play video games may spend a little too much time on said game, and this is a negative because it preoccupies the user from performing anything else they might have to do with their time that may or may not be more important that playing the game right then. This could go for situations such as a middle school child playing a video game a little too much and forgetting to do a homework assignment, or a college student might not study as much time as needed for an exam because of playing a video game, and could even go as far as an adult screwing up something relating to their job. Video games can also put the users health at risk if they allow it to, in ways such as irregular eating patterns/skipping meals, long periods of no movement can cause loss of muscle and make fat gain easier, and carpal tunnel syndrome (Drea Christopher). It may sound all bad now and one might be thinking that video games are terrible and detrimental to ones growth as a human because of what I just described, but that was from just reading words on a paper, if you actually put it into perspective it's not as terrible, and the benefits haven't even been mentioned yet. Take eyestrain for example, this is a highly speculated negative associated with video games and it isn't just an exclusive negative of playing video games, a user will get that same eyestrain from watching television, reading a kindle, doing work on a laptop, etc. Even long periods of no movement, not just something gamers do, what about sitting at a desk for eight hours a day doing your adult job? Or even students who sit through grade school for seven to eight hours get that same experience of long periods of no movement. Putting it simply, video games aren't the only culprit of these negatives thus they should not be as ridiculed as much as they are, but these are the real negatives associated with playing video games that are actually backed up by evidence, unlike violence being induced from someone playing one. 

Now that the negatives are out of the way, and we can see that there is no real link between violent behavior and playing video games, we can discuss the benefits associated with video games. These benefits offer just enough positive outcome to outweigh the negatives associated with playing, which can make it a viable option in smaller doses, most forms of binging aren't going to benefit anyone. According to the APA, or the American Psychological Association, "playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children's learning, health and social skills." The same press release from the APA later on states that playing video games "actually may strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception." There are many benefits to be obtained from video games, and many people might just not look close enough at the details of this. For example, there are people who have bias towards video games thinking that it only includes systems such as an Xbox and a PlayStation, but those same sum of people most likely have or at one point had an app on their phones such as "Angry Birds", or "Candy Crush", etc., and wont even take in the fact that these are video games as well. They do not realize that from sitting down and playing a game of Angry Birds after a day of work, they get the benefit of being happy and relaxed from being able to enjoy their game, and also working their brain in trying to figure out the complex matter of where the best spot to shoot their limited bird ammo is. Most of the time the benefits of playing a video game are little details that people look past when searching for a bigger picture to argue. 

