Many of today's brutal murders and massacres come from very young people, people who are still in high school, students or friends we would never think capable of doing such a thing. So what is it that all these killers have in common? The main answer is that they all played violent video games.
Such is the case of 17 years old Eric Harris and 18 years old Dylan Klebold. On the morning of April 20, 1999, both of these young men walked into Columbine High School and shot to death 12 fellow students and a teacher. Friends who survived the attack said that both of them liked playing video games, and spent a lot of time playing them. Both young men ended killing themselves that same day in the school.
For a more recent case, we have James Holmes, the man who entered a movie theater and killed 12 people. Same as Eric and Dylan, friends of James said that he played a lot of video games.
Studies show that 69% of the American population play video games, and 60% of those play violent video games. So how is it that few of them lead to real violence and others just keep playing the game. If people believe video games are the main cause leading to violence, then why is it that some are killers and others are not?
I believe it is not completely because of the video games, it is the combination of Risk Factors and Violent video games that lead people to real violence. Eric, Dylan and James were having other sort of problems in their life's. Eric and Dylan were bullied during high school. James had girlfriend and money issues. "Not every kid that plays a violent game is going to turn to violence. And that's because they don’t have all of those other risk factors going on"
As I mentioned, Dylan, Eric and James had risk factors going on, and by combining these with violent video games, they increased their aggressive thoughts and emotions. People who turns to real violence often have plenty risk factors and very few protective ones. Risk factors are considered "problems" in someone's life, such as mental disorders, particularly mood disorders, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders and certain personality disorders, alcohol, hopelessness, impulsive or aggressive tendencies, history of trauma or abuse, major physical illnesses, job or financial loss, loss of relationship, lack of social support and sense of isolation.
