According to Henry Jenkins, American media specialist and professor at MIT, “young people in general are more likely to be gamers: 90% of boys and 40% of girls play. » This represents an overwhelming number of young people. In recent years, there have been incidents such as the Columbine school shooting, which showed young people committing terrible acts of violence. In the case of the Columbine shooting, the teenagers who committed the shooting both turned out to be avid players of a violent computer video game known as Doom (Ferguson, 26). This prompted lawmakers and concerned parents to begin speaking out against violence in video games. These people believe that video games (and violent video games in particular) can make young people extremely desensitized to violence and lead them to commit acts of violence that they would not otherwise commit. However, these people fail to realize that our young people have been exposed to violence for much longer than modern media has existed. For example, Wired.com writer Michael Venables points out that many of our classic fairy tales deal with violent conditions. He reminds people that “Cinderella’s evil stepsisters have their eyes gouged out by doves.” and “Hansel and Gretel kill their captor by baking her.” People who oppose video games pose a major threat to youth development in our modern society, as video games can have many positive effects on young people. Many people believe that when playing violent video games, players who commit violent acts write them off morally. as “just a game” or “not real”. However, according to a study carried out by T. Hartmann, E. Toz and M. Brandon, professors in the Department of Communication...... middle of article ......=1&hid=2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ %3d% 3d#db=aph&AN=28602538http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=5ea26f9b-d564-4f65-b8e4-00d7ed51dcd8%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d% #db=aph&AN =33902715* ** http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail? & An = 493 12814 *** http ://www.wired.com/gamelife/2008/09/jack-thompson-d/*** http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/80969-Jack-Thompson-Releases-Grand-Theft- Auto-IV-Statement*** http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-us/2010/crime-in-the-us-2010/violent-crime/ violent-crime*** http://www.pcworld.com/article/244084/modern_warfare_3_has_best_5day_sales_in_history_of_known_universe.html*** http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/05/0528_030528_videogames.html