Are shooting games harmful to their players?

"Shoot 'em up" games, otherwise known as just shooting games, can only be harmful to a person if he or she spends entirely too much time playing them. The plain and completely honest answer is yes, they can be harmful, but this is similar to saying that exercise can be harmful. If you exercise too much and without using proper precautions, you could get injured; the same principle applies to shooting games.

Let's take a look at popular shooting games. Take Halo 3 for example. The game not only plays out into a great story, but the first person shooting action is nearly impeccable. Scores of grunts, brutes, and other people will fight against the player using variety of weapons ranging from an assault rifle to a laser cannon to an energy sword. Overall, the game handles quite well, and with enough practice and coordination, a player can essentially become one with the controller and have a firm command on his in-game character. Now, the game does have some blood, and it does encourage violence, but we also need to realize that it doesn't promote senseless violence and bloody destruction; the players must use weapons to defend themselves. Is there anything wrong with defending oneself? Or are people just supposed to let others walk all over them?

Shoot 'em up games aren't trashy games; there is a fine line between the heroism of Master Chief and the destructive nature of CJ from Grand Theft Auto. In games such as Halo and Call of Duty, players use the "good guys" to fight and defend themselves with weapons; they are fighting for the right reason. Now, is this going to encourage a kid to go out into the street and shoot someone? By the logic of people who believe that games have such an influence on children, this should have a positive effect: children would want to defend their homes in the event of a war. Yes, that isn't how it works, and video games do not directly influence violence in real life, for one reason or another. Before you group all shooting games into one category, you need to realize that some games only have the basic element of shooting in common and really differ in every other aspect.

Even games that do contain senseless violence, such as Grand Theft Auto, aren't going to destroy the minds of children, or of anyone for that matter. Have you ever seen violent films? The answer is probably yes, so I'll follow up with this question: are you a crazed killer? If you are, you probably wouldn't be reading this, but you would be locked up in a cell far, far away or on the run with limited internet access and likely spending your limited time doing something other than reading articles online. The point is, seeing violence on a television screen isn't enough to make someone a violent person, and even playing an interactive simulation of that violence won't make you turn either.

In many cases, playing video games actually helps reduce aggressive feelings rather than encourage them. If aggressive children have an outlet for their aggression, i.e video games, then they are less likely to take that behavior out into the real world, but to expend it all in the virtual world. No one has an infinite thirst for blood; when someone is angry, he or she will eventually be able to cool off after taking some time to exercise, put something together that requires a hammer, or sufficiently beat someone to a bloody pulp. Playing a violent video game can just be a way to get any aggressive, violent, and angry feelings out of someone, saving them from making costly and harmful mistakes in the real world.

Although there are many arguments for why video games generally aren't harmful to people, there are always exceptions. The question was "can shoot 'em up games be harmful?" and yes, they can. A few years ago, some children were playing Grand Theft Auto one evening when they decided it would be a good idea to grab paintball guns and shoot cars on the highway, just like how it was done in the game, but with different weapons. The children drove to the highway, fired at the windshields of several cars, and one of the cars crashed, killing at least one of its passengers. Now, what these children did was foolish, terrible, and heartless, but they clearly got the idea to do it from the video game; they got the idea that shooting at innocent people was fun and didn't have serious consequences. As much as I hate saying it, the game was the root cause of the problem, although it probably wasn't the sole cause (stupidity, recklessness, disregard for human life, mental issues), therefore proving that in the rarest sense, shoot 'em up games can be harmful.

Additionally, shoot 'em up games can be harmful in the sense that people may become addicted to them and give up more important parts of their lives in order to play them. Yes, this is something that applies to all types of video games, but shooting games can be particularly addictive because of the thrill that can be had from gunning down waves of foes and advancing through the battlefields. If one plays a shooting game too much, he or she may become obsessed with it and make it the center of his or her life, which will definitely do some damage. However, this doesn't specifically apply to shoot 'em up games, but this type of game is included in it nonetheless.

In conclusion, if you are a mentally stable person who has a clear sense of right and wrong and plays shoot 'em up games in moderation, they will not harm you. Like I said before, it is very rare that these games will do harm to someone, but given the right set of circumstances, it is possible, so don't rule it out. In fact, shooting games can do wonders for your hand-eye coordination, which helps people in professions such as surgery, so don't believe that the only positive to playing video games is entertainment. Just make sure that you don't play shoot 'em up games, or any type of video game, for longer than you should, which is anywhere from forty-five minutes to an hour and a half without taking a break. Unfortunately, it is possible for shoot 'em up games to do harm to someone, so be careful.