ntering claims that some children are merely “prone to violence”, the APA states that, “Violence is learned behavior, and it is often learned in the home or the community from parents, family members, or friends” (Do video games…”). It is APA’s belief that, in fact, the violence seen on video games can and are learned by those who play them. With such influences, it may be difficult to recognize the other side of this issue. Nonetheless, not unlike those who feel games influence teens, there are those who hold a strong conviction against the idea of any video games influencing young adults.Those who oppose the idea of video games affect teen violence have the following main arguments: Other countries with similarly violent games do not show as much evidence of a higher level of teen violence; that if video games affect teens that tremendously than we must censor other materials; and finally, there is no factual, or “hard core” evidence to support the idea. Brandon Trissler, a video game reviewer for Console Domain, holds the belief that Japanese teen gamers who play first person shooters and other violent games, that are excrutiatingly more violent, seem to show no signs of youth violence(especially among their peers). Many think that it is due to our culture that teens aquire the need for violence. Trissler adds, “I don’t buy that. It is to easy to blame this type of senseless violence on death matches and BFG’s in video games…if these games inspire so much violence, why aren’t there more Japanese players acting in the same way? After all, the game culture there is even more violent than in the [United States]”( “Do Video Games…”). Trissler makes a good point: Could it be our culture that brings on this level of teen violence? Another opponent, Henry Jenkins, director of comparitive media studies at MIT, argues that R...
