In-Game Killers Turn to Real Life Killers

Talens, John Zem R.

ENGLCOM S17A

Argumentative Essay – Final Paper

In-Game Killers turn to Real Life Killers

You are a killer, right? No? A thief? A drug user? If you played Grand Theft Auto (GTA), probably you are a criminal. Am I not right? Even though these are the impressions made by people on children that play violent video games, some people claimed that one of the excellent teaching tools available is video games because they say that it improves one’s motor skills & scientific reasoning. On the contrary, I am against this idea; thus, youth should not be allowed to play violent video games.

As reported by a Harris Interactive poll released in January 2008, 23% of gamers surveyed reported felt addicted to violent video games. Children are spending too much time on playing video games and they are missing out activities that they need to develop physically, socially, intellectually and emotionally. Instead of playing outside with their friends, their time is taken away by video games; moreover, they are eating a lot and they won’t burn those calories causing them to be overweight or obese. However, some children, instead of becoming overweight, they become underweight because they tend to forget to eat their meals. In addition, playing for hours puts the eyes in great stress and can lead to headaches, blurring vision, fatigue and nearsightedness. Children who spend so much time playing video games can have their cornea permanently damaged. Keith Holland, a specialist who has studied the different effects of video games on the children’s eyes, says that children have worse eyesight than ever and one of the main causes of this eye damage is too much eyestrain related to video games. That is why video games are considered as one of the factors of health problems. Children who are playing violent video games are unaware of these health risks; therefore, they just continue playing not knowing the consequences to their health. Children don’t have...