Document-Based Essay_AP English language 1

The video game industry, being $10 billion a year industry, has proven its success. According to “Video games Today Not Just Child’s Play”, video games nowadays are not mere entertainment but valuable educational tools and places for human interaction. However, thousands of players in a fully interactive online world live without recognizing the severe symptoms of falling into the “artificial realities.”

The video games have more significant effects on young people. Kevin Fagan mentioned in his article that over three-fourths of all video game users in America are under 18, regardless of their gender. They are allowed to play games with violent fantasies, romping off the opponent to murder and destroying everything. According to Dr. Pariseau of Princeton University said even a four-year-olds are able to by the most violent games because about 90 percent of the parents do not check on their children what kind of games they buy. Under these liberal conditions, there is no difference from exposing the children to “hard-core porn” or “R-rated gore-fest movies.”

Most people think that “there are no studies linking violent video game play to serious aggression”; however, video games have contributed to delinquency and violent criminal behavior of high school students, according to Anderson in his study of the effects of video games. Violent behaviors are embedded in their attitudes when playing during free play periods at schools, without recognizing them. One of the examples of highly aggressive games that affected the young children is “Grand Theft Auto 3.” Being the indisputable number one in video game industry, the game has caused “sadistic frenzy” in the minds of the players, in reference to a newspaper article written by Fagan.

The cartoon “Dr. Frankenstein Creating Little Monsters” by Horsey depicts that the video game industry has been justifying “creating little monsters” as their “right.” Behind that nonsense shield, the video game industry has imprisoned the young players in an inextricable addiction full of artificial realities. Enjoying games which allows the users to “commit a crime and get away with cops trying to chase you”, players feel more comfortable and behave better in games than they do in reality, according to “Complicated Games: The Mortal Rorschach Test” by Dahlen. Video game players “find out more about themselves than they expected.”