Final for Wr 122
Are Video Games Terrible?
Rampage, shootings, killing, murder, blood, and gore are all things that people think of when they hear the words, “Video Game.” Video games have quickly taken on the role of being harmful too kids. Could this be true? Crime rates have been on the rise for the last five decades, so we must ask do video games have anything to do with this? Are video games destroying our children? Every time a school shooting happens people look for something to blame. Furthermore, in the more recent decades people have been blaming the violence of video games, for in these games you have weapons that you often use to kill people or other things with. These games have been said to be extremely graphic and aggressive and have many parents worried. However, after reading many essay’s including, “Art Form for the Digital Age,” by Henry Jenkins, and “Do Video Games Kill?” by Karen Sternheimer, I changed the way that I viewed video games. Before reading these essay’s, I felt as if video games had no other purpose but just to be aggressive, but now I see that video games are not all bad, for they are also a form of art, and art is not to blame for children being violent. Therefore, video games do have other purposes and are not completely bad for kids.
The first essay that really caught my attention was, “Art form for the Digital age,” by Henry Jenkins. In his essay, he explains that video games have become a huge part of our modern media today, and that he believes it is time that we take them seriously, by not only acknowledging the faults that people point out in them, such as violence, but also looking into the art aspect of these games. Jenkins begins his essay by telling us that over 215 million computer and video games had been bought by Americans in the year 1999 alone (199). He then proceeds to explain that right now video games are looked down on heavily, and are viewed as worthless. However, Jenkins then fights back with this by stating, “Computer
Rampage, shootings, killing, murder, blood, and gore are all things that people think of when they hear the words, “Video Game.” Video games have quickly taken on the role of being harmful too kids. Could this be true? Crime rates have been on the rise for the last five decades, so we must ask do video games have anything to do with this? Are video games destroying our children? Every time a school shooting happens people look for something to blame. Furthermore, in the more recent decades people have been blaming the violence of video games, for in these games you have weapons that you often use to kill people or other things with. These games have been said to be extremely graphic and aggressive and have many parents worried. However, after reading many essay’s including, “Art Form for the Digital Age,” by Henry Jenkins, and “Do Video Games Kill?” by Karen Sternheimer, I changed the way that I viewed video games. Before reading these essay’s, I felt as if video games had no other purpose but just to be aggressive, but now I see that video games are not all bad, for they are also a form of art, and art is not to blame for children being violent. Therefore, video games do have other purposes and are not completely bad for kids.
The first essay that really caught my attention was, “Art form for the Digital age,” by Henry Jenkins. In his essay, he explains that video games have become a huge part of our modern media today, and that he believes it is time that we take them seriously, by not only acknowledging the faults that people point out in them, such as violence, but also looking into the art aspect of these games. Jenkins begins his essay by telling us that over 215 million computer and video games had been bought by Americans in the year 1999 alone (199). He then proceeds to explain that right now video games are looked down on heavily, and are viewed as worthless. However, Jenkins then fights back with this by stating, “Computer