In our society, we face many problems that torment our young people. Issues such as drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and verbal bullying are just some of the problems. There is a problem that has been around for many years and is relatively new to the world: and that is violence due to exposure to violent video games. Research by a group of scientists led by Professor Rowell Huesmann found "unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in immediate and long-term contexts" (cited in Anderson and 4). This research is very thorough, but it doesn't say that a kid will go into a school and shoot kids because they played the game Call of Duty. Even if a child does not exhibit major aggressive behavior because of violent video games, they will show a minor increase in aggressive behavior because of the games they play. These statistics are the same for adolescents as for children. Whether they realize it or not, everyone who plays a violent video game is affected in some way. Even though there is a rating system for games, this system lacks what they allow young children to watch and do in these games. The question that must be asked is: “Why are these children exposed to such violent content?” » Attention to violent video games and debates over whether or not they should still be released were the only positive results of the study. the numerous school shootings that have occurred (Anderson et al. 3). All of these school shootings were committed by boys with a history of violent video games. In the short story "Playing at Violence," from American Scholar, author Pacifique Irankunda recounts his life in Burundi and how...... middle of paper ......eb. December 3, 2013. Anderson, Craig Alan, Katherine E. Buckley, and Douglas A. Gentile. Effects of violent video games on children and adolescents: theory, research and public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Electronic Book Collection (EBSCOhost). Internet. December 3, 2013. Chittaro, Luca and Riccardo Sioni. “Killing non-human animals in video games: a study of user experience and desensitization to aspects of violence.” Journal of Psychology 10.3 (2012): 215-243. Academic research completed. Internet. December 3, 2013. Irankunda, Pacific. “Playing violence.” American Scholar 82.3 (2013): 54-61. Full Text of Humanities (HW Wilson). Internet. December 3, 2013. Willoughby, Teena, Paul JC Adachi and Marie Good. “A longitudinal study of the association between violent video gaming and adolescent aggression.” Developmental Psychology 48.4 (2012): 1044-1057. PsycARTICLES. Internet. December 3. 2013.