Many people believe that violent video games should be banned, claiming that they have a negative effect on people. Some even say violent games make people commit violent acts. These games do influence human behavior, which isn’t always positive, but this does not mean that they should be banned.

If a child began playing violent video games at a young age, then he might think that violence in real life is the same as the game violence and that it doesn’t have a real impact on others. However, most children can distinguish between virtual violence and real violence.

Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine conducted a survey of 44 males and discovered that after 30 minutes of playing violent video games, subjects showed “increased activity within the amygdala (part of the brain involved in emotional arousal).” When the same group played non-violent video games, the opposite effects were seen. Doctors concluded that more research would need to be done to prove that playing violent video games increases violent behavior. Thus, this study provided no conclusive evidence that video games cause aggressive behavior.

People often try to excuse their actions and find a scapegoat. Some blame music, others movies, and some blame video games. We seem to have forgotten that our world is a violent place. Years ago video games were innocent - “Pong” in the 1970s and, in the 1980s, “Pac-Man.” In the 1990s “Mortal Kombat” - a violent game - became popular.

Today games are extremely violent. Take, for example, the “Grand Theft Auto” series. In these games the main character is a man who has connections with the mob. Players can steal cars and money and even murder. This game isn’t an evil, conjured-up thought of some sick person; these things happen every day!

The evolution of video games from innocent to violent reflects our society’s evolution. Much of the daily news focuses on war and murder. Video games just reflect our violent world.

I enjoy playing video games, especially violent ones. Whether I am virtually mowing down people with a semi-automatic, or hacking them into tiny little bits with a ninja sword, I enjoy it.

After playing, I might talk about how cool it was when my character jumped over two guys and sliced them in half, but I - unlike the Columbine killers - will not carry that into real life. Both Eric Harris and Dylan Kiebold, who murdered 13 people at Columbine High School in 1999, played “Doom,” a game used by the U.S. military to train soldiers to kill. Harris had a website with his own version of “Doom,” which an investigator said the boys were playing in “God” mode. Obviously, the video game itself didn’t cause Eric and Dylan to murder; rather, they had problems to begin with.

In many video games the characters are nimble and can perform unreal stunts that most people only dream of doing. That, I believe, is the joy of video gaming: doing something you can’t do in real life.

Some countries have resorted to banning video games. Australia currently holds the record for the most banned games. Most were banned because of their violent content, which led to censored versions being released. Germany has banned “Mortal Kombat” due to its violence, as well as a couple of games containing Nazi symbols. The U.S. has not banned any video games yet. Saudi Arabia hasn’t prohibited violent video games either, but it has banned “Pokemon: Blue” for allegedly promoting Zionism.

I believe that games don’t kill people, people kill people.