Essay Do Video Games Make Children Behave Violently. The work is to be 6 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page. A majority of children in the world have played a video game in some form or the other, be it on handheld devices or on computers. The popularity of this form of entertainment is phenomenal. The video game industry in the United States that was worth $100 million in 1985 grew to one worth $7 billion in the year 1994. (Mattson) Newer and more attractive technology was responsible for this trend. The ability to use a personal computer for gaming purposes was another reason. One of the first video games to hit the market and video game arcades were Pacman and in those days it was considered that the ‘eating of ghosts’ in Pacman was violent content. It was in 1990 that the game Mortal Kombat hit the markets with a very violent theme. The main task in the game was to kill every opponent that was encountered. “Violent video games dominate the market. 80% of 33 popular Sega and Nintendo games were found to depict violence and 21% of the games featured violence against women” (Mattson)Extremely graphic visuals and special effects have made virtual violence very appealing and believable. The comments and descriptions in these games also glorify the acts that are committed in the various levels of the game and encourage the player to continue. “Images and behaviors that are modeled in the video games can have a significant impact on children especially with the increased realism and graphic content that is portrayed in the video games” (Mattson)Games like ‘Doom’ and ‘Grand theft auto’ have violent themes. Doom involves the player who is a United States marine in a fight against aliens on Mars in order to prevent them from attacking Earth. A new version of the game is released periodically each version with more complicated plots and violence than the earlier version. In Grand theft auto (GTA) the player is supposed to be a criminal in a big city and is given tasks to perform by the various kingpins in the city and by completing the tasks the player can rise through the ranks in the criminal organization. There are other games like ‘Hitman’ where the player is an assassin. All these games involve extremely violent situations with tasks that range from shooting people to bombing buildings.