In general, violence in video games has not caused real-world violence.

Observation:The resolution is about the impact of violence in video games, not about the impact of video games themselves.What began the controversy:It is obvious that violence has been a major issue in society today. Events such as the school shooting in Newtown and the bombing of the Boston Marathon have made people begin to wonder what exactly pushed the guilty individuals to commit such atrocities. Many people have concluded that one of the major factors that promotes violence today are video games. Jay Rockfeller is one of the activists against video game violence. Minnesota Post explains that Rockfeller introduced a legislation instructing the National Association of Sciences to investigate the effects of violent video games on children, saying, “People believe that violent video games are no more dangerous to young minds than classic literature or Saturday morning cartoons. Parents, pediatricians, and psychologists know better.” (1) The effects of video games on the minds of young children has been studied for years, and the data quite contradicts Rockfeller’s conclusion.What really causes violence in teens:Serious CrimesAdam Lanza, the gunman from the Sandy Hook shooting, played violent video games regularly. This caused many to believe that this is why he committed his violent crime. However, this was not the case. Eric Huey explains, “It turns out that delinquent peers, depression, and an abusive family environment account for actual violence incidents…” (2) Obviously, mental disorders would be another thing that promotes such violence. Here we can see that video games did not compel him (or most other school shooters) to commit the crime. AgressionA common argument against violence in video games is that violence in video games cause agression. This is actually not the case. Carol Pichefsky notes that agression is not caused by violent video games; rather, it is caused by a competitive environment (3). So, a game of MarioKart would be just as likely to result in aggression as a game of Call of Duty. This is not exclusive to video games either, competitive sports and competitive debate (especially on this website) are just as likely to result in aggression. So, it is certianly not the violence in video games that causes such feelings. The last thing I would like to note is that aggression and violence are two different things. Agression is an intention. Violence in an action (4). My opponent showing that video games cause aggression is simply not enough. The evidence:If violence in video games have caused violence in the past, it would make sense for the violence rates to go up as video game sales went up. However, just the opposite happened: We can see that as video game sales go up, violent crime went down. Now, I certianly won't argue that video games caused the violent crime to go down, but this evidence certianly makes mockery of the idea that violence in video games has caused real world violence.ConclusionHuey notes (1), "...these games may seem repugnant but they do not harm the human brain or increase the likelihood of violent acts." Through the evidence I have presented, we can see that the violence in video games does not cause real world violence. Thus, I take the pro stance on this resolution.(1) http://www.minnpost.com...(2) http://www.sfgate.com...(3) http://www.sfgate.com...(4) http://www.goodtherapy.org...#(5) Chasing the Dream, “The Economist” On to con...