Do violent video games contribute to youth violence?

I think that violent video games in fact to contribute to the violence of young people because kids play video games for a few reasons. They play because they want to do something which they cant do in real life such as shooting and killing people, stealing a car, and other lethal things. Another reason is that they want to do something where they can be free to do whatever they want with a limited amount of rules. Basically, they can be God. The only problem with this is, is that it encourages them to do want to do the same thing in real life. These video games are so addicting and inspiring to them that it makes them act the same way when they're playing the video game and in real life. In other words, they make the video game their role models for how they want to behave.While most American kids do play video games, the center of the video game market has shifted older as the first generation of gamers continues to play into adulthood. Already 62 percent of the console market and 66 percent of the PC market is age 18 or older.

The game industry caters to adult tastes. Meanwhile, a sizable number of parents ignore game ratings because they assume that games are for kids. One quarter of children ages 11 to 16 identify an M-Rated (Mature Content) game as among their favorites. Clearly, more should be done to restrict advertising and marketing that targets young consumers with mature content, and to educate parents about the media choices they are facing. But parents need to share some of the responsibility for making decisions about what is appropriate for their children. The news on this front is not all bad. The Federal Trade Commission has found that 83 percent of game purchases for underage consumers are made by parents or by parents and children together. Here's where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a marker of real-world aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a toy designed for this purpose is still within the "magic circle" of play and understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent play leads to more violent play.