Videogames do not promote violence. do they?

I’ve committed murder. I’ve robbed a bank. I’ve been in numerous high speed chases. I’ve run over countless pedestrians with a vast array of vehicles. I’ve even smoked in a non-smoking area. I am the epitome of all that is immoral. I play videogames.

Every form of entertainment must go through a period in which it is frowned upon. The dislike usually comes from the elder generation that did not have it during their childhood and the dislike is usual based on over-the-top irrational claims. Think about it: Elvis was too much of a sex icon, movies were just too graphic, and rap corrupted the young, innocent minds of your parent’s children. Even books that are “just too much” get discriminated against, you ever hear of Fahrenheit 451? With the start of the new millennium the crown of discrimination was placed upon the head of videogames.

Let’s talk about Pong. The prehistoric era of videogames had but one species, Pong. Pong consisted of two white rectangles on a black screen that could move up and down to prevent a small white square from going passed them. It was very much like table tennis, but without the tight shorts and extremely good Chinese team. Pong was invented by William Higginbotham in 1958, most truly passionate gamers would consider this man a god amongst men… or extremely awesome. What most people don’t know is Mr. Higginbotham was also one of the scientists on the Manhattan Project. That’s right, he helped create a weapon of mass destruction. With such a violent project already in his repertoire, it’s obvious that he designed Pong to take the happy, law abiding mind of a teenager, and warp it into a violent, murderous, killing machine. With the creation of Pong, a gateway to Hell had been opened.

If Pong was the primitive, prehistoric caveman, Mario was the Cro-Magnum man. Superior graphics, immense detail, and a story that gripped the player like heroin gripped an 80’s rock god. But Mario wasn’t just about saving princesses and defeating evil dragon/turtle things; he had some subliminal secrets discretely placed into his lifestyle. He was addicted to mushrooms! Everybody remembers getting those delicious, green mushrooms that always gave you life. This was of course implemented by the videogame designer to get America’s youth hooked on acid. And what about his need to stomp on poor, defenseless turtles, then proceed to kick them off of floating brick paths? An obvious ploy to turn the players into environmentally unfriendly individuals. Mario was a large step in the videogame industry’s ongoing attempt to sabotage the honest, good natured minds and spirits of their users.

Up to this point videogames had only been used to incorporate a positive look at drug use and environmental injustice, with the invention of the first person shooter videogames launched a full scale war on the human subconscious. First Person Shooter, or FPS, take up a hefty chunk of the videogame genre pie. An FPS puts the player in the shoes of the game’s protagonist in a literal sense. The player only sees the gun being held by the character, so it feels like they are actually the one causing all the mayhem going on around them. This genre was developed for one obvious reason: desensitize people to killing. The videogame industry wanted people to become these mindless, soulless killing machines who would feel no remorse after killing another human being. Why would the videogame industry want this? They want their players to eventually become a controllable army that they will then be able to strategically use to take over the world. It’s that simple. Violent videogames are being developed by companies in hopes that they will one day enable them to take over the world via mindless, desensitized force.

In all honesty people, videogames are a form of entertainment. That’s it! To say that a violent videogame causes an increase in violence in the person playing it is absolutely ridiculous. Does playing SimCity cause an increase in the need to architectural design massive cities? No. Does playing Civilization cause an increase in the desire to build up a strong colony in the land of your choice? No. Videogames are simply a way to experience virtual situations that most people will never experience in real life.

When someone reads a Stephen King book, or any other horror genre author’s works, they do so to experience the feeling of fear and excitement that the book contains. When someone plays a violent survival/horror videogame, those same elements of fear and excitement are being experienced, but on a much more personal level because the player is actually in the story that’s taking place.

this is an argumentative essay for my english class, it's nowhere near finished, but do you think it's decent?