Igrison 1
Sam Igrison
Miss Paumen
ENGL 101-010
16 March 2018
War Against Video Games
Thesis: Heffron’s view on video games is flawed because people under eighteen cannot buy
mature video games, the video game company that made JFK Reloaded stated their reasoning on
making the game, and there were multiple factors to the Columbine shooting.
I. Heffron’s claim that video games allow the player, regardless of age, to become the main
character of the games vicious tendencies is flawed because children cannot buy mature video
games.
A. Heffron states that “they allow the player, regardless of age, to become the main
character of the games vicious, brutal tendencies and all.”
B. Parents willingly buy the game for their child who is not older than eighteen years old.
1. Kids will ask for the game for Christmas and parents will buy it for them.
2. Parents do not do enough research before buying video games for their
children.
C. Only people eighteen and older can purchase a mature video game.
1. Video game companies will not let children buy mature video games.
2. The employee is supposed to reject the customer from buying the game if the
customer is not at least eighteen years old.
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II. Heffron’s claim that the “JFK Reloaded” game is an “at home assassination tutorial” is flawed
because the video game company that made JFK Reloaded stated their reasoning on making the
game.
A. Heffron said that the motive behind making the game was unclear.
B. Traffic Games, the company who made “JFK Reloaded”, stated their motives on
making the game.
C. The video game is more of a history type lesson than an assassination training game.
III. Heffron’s claim that a major factor in Columbine shooting was caused by the video game
“Doom” is flawed because there were multiple factors to the Columbine shooting.
A. He stated that they were both enthusiasts of the first person shooter called “Doom.”
B. The media blamed the video games while not blaming the two teenagers were
troubled.
1. The teenagers could have been affected mentality on how they viewed certain
things.
2. They were not old enough to purchase the mature game.
C. Video games do not kill people.
Igrison 3
Sam Igrison
Miss Paumen
ENGL 101-010
16 March 2018
War Against Video Games
People debate whether or not violent video games has an effect on the youth’s mindset.
Most players do not have a psychopathic mindset like some who have gone through and
murdered others. Some youth play for fun without ever planning to hurt others. Some people
believe that video games are the cause for violence in adolescence. Christopher Heffron is the
author of “Violent Video Games: Play At Your Own Risk.” Heffron’s view on video games is
flawed because people under eighteen cannot buy mature video games, the video game company
that made JFK Reloaded stated their reasoning on making the game, and there were multiple
factors to the Columbine shooting.
Heffron’s claim that video games allow the player, regardless of age, to become the main
character of the games vicious tendencies is flawed because people under eighteen cannot buy
mature video games. Heffron states that “they allow the player, regardless of age, to become the
main character of the games vicious, brutal tendencies and all.” (25) He stated that anyone can
play violent video games, but that is flawed because not everyone can play violent mature-rated
video games. Parents willingly buy the game for their child who is not older than eighteen years
old. Kids will ask for the game for Christmas and parents will buy it for them. Parents do not do
enough research before buying video games for their children. If parents did more research on
some of the mature-rated games then fewer children would be exposed to mature rated video
games. Only people eighteen and older can purchase a mature video game. According to
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Alexandrea Henning, Compared to those who played “often,” players who played “sometimes”
were more likely to pick “adolescent has a right to choose” over “adolescent is mature,” which
means that the most frequent players were more likely to use adolescent maturity as their
justification. (185) Video games companies will not let children buy mature video games. They
know that children that are under the age of eighteen would not be able to handle the content that
the game companies put in the games. According to Henning, when asking the participants in
their research, they found that people thought that adults were more capable to buy the video
games than adolescence. (186) The age limit is set so that parents can know that the game was
not made for children under the age to play the game. The employee is supposed to reject the
customer from buying the game if the customer is not at least eighteen years old. The company
that sells the video game will have the person pull out identification if they would like to
purchase the game. Without the identification of improper age to buy the video game, the store
clerk will not allow the person to buy the game.
Heffron’s claim that the “JFK Reloaded” game is an “at home assassination tutorial” is
flawed because the video game company that made JFK Reloaded stated their reasoning on
making the game. Heffron said that the motive behind making the game was unclear. (25) It is
hard to prove what motives people have since nobody can read each other’s minds. Traffic
Games, the company who made “JFK Reloaded”, stated their motives on making the game.
According to Kirk Ewing, the managing director of Traffic Games, “We believe that the only
thing we’re exploiting is new technology, we genuinely believe that if we get enough people
participating, we’ll be able to disprove once and for all any notion that someone else was
involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.” (25) Ewing said this because he wanted
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everyone to know the motive behind making a game like “JFK Reloaded.” The video game is
more of a history type lesson than an assassination training game.
Heffron’s claim that a major factor in Columbine shooting was caused by the video game
“Doom” is flawed because there were multiple factors to the Columbine shooting. He stated that
they were both enthusiasts of the first person shooter called “Doom.” (25) He thinks that since
they both enjoyed playing “Doom” that it was one of the major factors that contributed to the
shooting. The media blamed the video games while not blaming the two teenagers were troubled.
Karen Sternheimer, the author of “Do Video Games Kill?”, says “Over the past century,
politicians have complained that cars, radio, movies, rock music, and even comic books caused
youth immorality and crime calling for control and sometimes censorship.” (13) This means that
the media has always been pointing fingers at other things instead of focusing on the real
problem. The teenagers could have been affected mentality on how they viewed certain things.
The teenagers probably processed things differently than most teens do. They were not old
enough to purchase the mature game. Video games do not kill people. Sternheimer says that “[I]n
ten years following Dooms’s release, homicide arrest rates fell by 77 percent among juveniles.
School shootings remain extremely rare, even during the 1990s when fears of school violence
were high, students had less than 7 in 10 million chance of being killed at school. During that
time, video games became a major part of many young people’s lives, few of whom will ever
become violent, let alone kill.” (13) Video games have become even more popular now since
Doom’s release, so why have there been fewer school shootings and violence among adolescents.
People under eighteen cannot buy mature video games, the video game company that
made JFK Reloaded stated their reasoning on making the game, and there were multiple factors
to the Columbine shooting are all reasons to why Heffron’s view on video games is flawed.
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Video games have been around for generations. People of all ages have played a video game at
least once in their life. Video games have made a great impact on people’s lives and they have
changed the way how people view culture now. Video games are meant for everyone, but the
violent mature-rated video games are meant for people eighteen and older.
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Works Cited
Henning, Alexandra, et al. “Do Stereotypic Images in Video Games Affect Attitudes and
Behavior? Adolescent Perspectives.” Children, Youth and Environments, vol. 19, no. 1,
pp. 170–196, 2009. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7721/chilyoutenvi.19.1.0170.
Heffron, Christopher “Violent Video Games: Play At Your Own Risk” St. Anthony Messenger,
vol. 112, no. 9, p.25, Feb 2005.
Sternheimer, Karen. “Do Video Games Kill?” Contexts, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 13–17, 2007. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/41802732.
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