Do violent role playing games make one savage or genius?

“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.'' These powerful words by Mahatma Gandhi articulates that the person or group who is spreading violence may later lead to them being a victim of the violence. A spark of violence can spread like a wildfire even in the happiest times. People can easily become victims of violence. Recently, kids have been playing savage games that could possibly be dangerous or life ending. Role playing games with simulated violence are perilous for teens as it could lead to more violent actions, illegal activity, and can affect others safety, especially those who are nearby where the game takes place.

Violent role playing games can cause more brutal or extreme actions in teens. Teens are now driven by words they might think that are cool, such as  “massacre” and “killing.” Consequently, this motivates them to the usage of these words on a regular basis and could spark more rough manners and actions in teens. If teens start to be an expert on killing, it could cause them to have more vicious actions towards others, disregarding the safety of the people around them. During the games, teens use terms like “the pie chart of death,” ignoring the complete meaning of how a vast amount of people die due to violence in their communities (from the article High Jinks: Shoot Out). With teens playing more of these intense role playing games, in the article Shooting Dark published in the New York Times a psychologist states, “Playing the games can and does stir hostile urges and mildly aggressive behavior.” This proves how these games can lead to more belligerent actions. 

Nowadays, teens have started to progress towards illegal activities that are stimulated by the violent role playing games. They are encouraged to perform illegal activities, such as gang related things and more serious things like school shootings. Teens may not know that they may be engaging in illegal pursuits. For example, one squad member engineered a call “from a computer . . . with prodigious hacking skills,” (from the article High Jinks: Shoot Out) . As a result, these activities are considered illegal and teens may not know that it’s unlawful. Furthermore, an article from Newsela highlighted, “The two teenage shooters of the Columbine High School mass killings in Colorado often played violent video games. Many focused on the role of video games in the school shootings." It’s quite evident that these games have progressed to more extreme actions that include school shootings which are considered very unlawful. Additionally, these games may have corrupted the minds of teens who play these games.

Many people have disagreed that harsh role playing games are dangerous. They believe that games can help in forming skills like strategizing and planning. From the article High Jinks: Shoot Out, an example would be, the teens developed, “ a seventeen point rule book . . . a map of the safe zones.” These people think that playing these games by the rules and having careful planning and strategizing will be good. However, this is wrong since no matter how much the teens play by the rules, they can’t ignore the fact that there is a whole lot violence involved, which can lead to bad actions and intentions. When teens engage in these violent role playing games, the replicated violence can affect the people around them such as the nearby community and surroundings. In the article High Jinks: Shoot Out, one teen, “Jake Protell”traveled to an international airport and “dispatched (his targets) using two bathtub ‘squirt fish.” This possesses a grave danger to the people around them such as the airport passengers and staff.

Teens who play violent role playing games experience hazardous ventures, which can be dangerous for the teens. The hazards originate from the violent actions, potential illegal activities and the risks of those around the teens like their community. This issue deals with the lives of innocent people due to the rising wild and aggressive actions shown by teens as a consequence of playing these games. This has been a growing trend among teens. If you see this happening at your school, please be a role model for them and motivate them to stay away from violent games.

Works Cited

1. The New York Times. Shooting In The Dark. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/studying-the-effects-of-playing-violent-video-games.html?_r=0. Accessed 23 Nov 2019.
2. Martin,Guy. “High Jinks: Shoot Out” [The New Yorker ], June 2009.
3. Newsela. Issue Overview: Do Video Games Cause Violence?. 2019, https://newsela.com/read/lib-procon-video-game-violence/id/23654/. Accessed 23 Nov 2019.