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. Video games are a popular pastime for teenagers (and many adults) all around the world. In fact, 97% of American teenagers play video games. Not all video games show graphic violence. But about half of the top selling video games do. It is common for a video game to include weapons that are used to harm other humans. Many video game critics argue that violent images and violent role play in video games can desensitize teens to violence. This means that violence starts to seem normal. Some argue that enough violent video games can even make teenagers more likely to commit violent acts in real life. In 1993, Congress first took a look at the issue. Mortal Kombat had just been released. Many Americans were worried about children playing such a violent game. Congress talked a bout whether the government should place limits on the sale of video games. This caused the video game industry to create an organization to rate video games. This organization is called the Entertainment Software Rating Board. They give ratings based on the age level a video game is appropriate for. The American Psychological Association (APA) created a Task Force on Violent Media. In 2017 they released a statement. It labeled violent video games as a “risk factor for aggression.” This means that they linked playing video games to increased “aggressive behaviors, thoughts and emotions” and “decreased empathy.” Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings of others. But they did not actually state that video games are the cause of an increase in crime. Plus, other studies have said that the competition in video games increases aggression more than just violent images. | Quizalize