Many myths surround video games, but one of the exceedingly controversial topics happens to be that violent video games cause criminal violent actions.

I do not believe in this delusion that video games cause such brutal violence: many studies also support my opinion. No scientific studies have given significant evidence to support the link be- tween harsh violence and video games.

People keep blaming video games as the cause of shootings throughout the United States, but we should be blaming our own society. My point, violence caused violent video games, not the other way around.

This point of mine does not just include that of video games. Also, increasingly graphic movies have increased throughout America’s history.

Mortal Kombat was released in 1992, the first video game that showed blood, disturbing images and brutal ways to kill your opponent. Based off of Jean-Claude Van Damme movies originally, later, though, the idea fell through and the game turned into a fantasy fighting game.

This video game came out after the highest crime peak in the United States in 1991, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Since then, crime rates have declined over the years and violent video games have increased exponentially.

This makes me think: What happens if violence is the main culprit of causing violent video games to be released?

Since Mortal Kombat was initially based off action movies, I researched where these types of films first began. “The Great Train Robbery” remains the only violent movie I could find in the early 1900’s. This film featured a man killed, by being plundered with coal and also a close-up of a gun red at the camera.

Then a time jump to 1925 where “The Big Parade” was released. This extremely violent movie had unusually graphic scenes for this time period.

Over the years these types of violent films in- creased in production especially after the 1970’s. Introducing movies to the lm world such as “A Clockwork Orange,” “The Godfather”, and “The Death Wish” which all came out in the early 1970’s. These movies came out the crime rates had been increasing, starting in the late 1960’s going all the way through to early 1990’s.

I think that the increasing amount of crime through this time period made our society more comfortable with the aspects of death. This allowed the lm industry to have more intense scenes and graphics.

The American people eventually became more comfortable with violence in the society they lived in. These graphic movies and video games ultimately did not offend people who watched or played them anymore.

Our society as a whole has become more complacent with bloodshed. Watching violence or even killing other people in video games has be- come the norm for the American life. These types of entertainment were not accepted in the early and mid 1900’s.

I am not denying the other factual studies that support violent video games and the link to higher aggression levels, such as disobedience, and talking back.

All I am trying to point out is that violent video games are not to blame for violent criminal acts as a whole, and that if we as a society want to blame video games for these horrendous crimes then we should stop accepting violence in all formats. This includes video games, movies, and music that suggest violence.