Myth v. Proven Fact

I found an article on MSN about how video games can make your child a better citizen. Lets look into this a bit more. The author defends his point by stating his point when he says, "So, how can playing 'Madden' or 'World of Warcraft' influence your teenager to get psyched about the three branches of government? It’s not as incongruous as it might sound, says Kahne. Game experiences 'can be quite valuable from the standpoint of civic and political engagement.'" you can see here that his argument is weak because he asks a question and does not answer it strongly. The reader might assume that the author will go into further explanation in following paragraph, but the author discretely changes the subject in hopes that the reader didn't notice how he didn't answer his own question.

"Myth 1. Violent video game research has yielded very mixed results.
Facts: Some studies have yielded nonsignificant video game effects, just as some smoking studies failed to find a significant link to lung cancer. But when one combines all relevant empirical studies using meta-analytic techniques, five separate effects emerge with considerable consistency. Violent video games are significantly associated with: increased aggressive behavior, thoughts, and affect; increased physiological arousal; and decreased prosocial (helping) behavior. Average effect sizes for experimental studies (which help establish causality) and correlational studies (which allow examination of serious violent behavior) appear comparable (Anderson & Bushman, 2001)."

Here we have a study that proves five points that were consistently observed throughout their research. 
An increase in aggressive behaviors is an obvious point
Increased Physiological arousal (also known as the Fight or Flight Response) is easy to understand because many violent games put the character's life at risk- it is also very common for the player to die and come back to life many times in a session of playing the game.
and Finally, Decreased prosocial behaivor is a sad, but unforgivingly true statement.  I have even noticed in my own experiences how 'gamers'  become very introverted and selfish.

Its a sad reality that today's youth is being consumed by video games and it IS causing harm to them. Some studies have acquired false information that video games are good for the player, but we have correctly proven that they are far from beneficial.