The influence of Mortal Kombat, a video game franchise, on young teenagers of the Twientieth century through its excessive, bloody violence and Fatalities

• According to an interview with one of the producers of Mortal Kombat, Tobias, by gamelogical, it was stated that Mortal Kombat influenced game graphics and paved way for the common gaming systems we have today.
• Studies show that violent content video games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom have a smaller effects on aggression with adolescents than the violence on television. 
• As of 2013, Mortal Kombat was the most successful American-made franchise in the fighting game genre. 

As a child, I was a very intense gamer. Gaming helped me frame my mind more and it helped me represent myself and take out my anger by doing something productive. My favorite video game to play as a child was Mortal Kombat. Mortal Kombat is a video game franchise originally created by Midway Games' Chicago in 1992. Mortal Kombat was an enormous success and was acclaimed by most critics, receiving many annual awards.The Mortal Kombat game is a series with 20 sequels after the first one was created. The development of mortal Kombat began in 1991 with only four guys, Ed Boon, John Tobias, John Vogel, and Dan Forden. The creators of the mortal kombat game franchise were originally approached to create a video game adaptation of the 1992 film, Universal Soldier. The producers of the game were then motivated to create a more edgy and serious video game after the project with the film industry. According to John Tobias, the inspirations for the game's story came from the Chinese mythology and some of the rumored events about the Shaolin monks. Mortal Kombat had a positive impact on my life contrary to the beliefs that violent games have a negative impact on the lives of adolescents. Mortal Kombat was so distinct from every other violent video games I have encountered because it was so unique. I liked Mortal Kombat so much because I loved the competition and the rush I experienced after winning a game.

The gaming systems in our society today used Mortal Kombat as a foundation for the gaming graphics and mortal kombat was used to pave way for other game systems.

According to an interview with one of the producers of the Mortal Kombat game, John Tobias, pushing the boundaries in terms of the graphics used in creating the mortal kombat game paved way for the graphics and technology that exist in gaming today. According to Tobias, as technology improved, the processing power for enabled realistic 3D graphics to take over in the gaming industry and Tobias explained that digitized graphics had a problem due to it's limitations in storage capacity. The graphics in mortal kombat improved drastically from when it was created in 1992 until now. The game was a foundation for other game producers because it helped other game producers visualize the graphics needed to improved gaming.

I really liked video games like FIFA and call of duty but as a child I was especially interested in Mortal Kombat but it was so different and unique from other games that I had played. The embedded video is a clip of a fight from the Mortal Kombat 4 and the graphics here is exceptional for the time period in which this version of the game was released.


Studies show that the influence of violent video games such as Mortal Kombat and Doom does not have a significant influence on the violence and aggression of adolescents

According to a study by John L. Sherry,it was proved that violent video games such as Mortal Kombat does not have as much influence on the aggression of adolescents as people like parents tend to think. according to the study, "results suggest that there is a smaller effect of violent video games on aggression than has been found with television violence on aggression." This means that the violence seen on the television has more influence on the aggressive behaviors and aggression of the adolescents than violent video games. This result would be due to the fact that the violent video games are not reality. rather the violence seen on television are more realistic and most of them actually occur. When interviewed by gameological on the influence of the violence in Mortal Kombat, John Tobias stated that the game was originally created for the typical college-level student. He also stated that the game was not intended for the younger home game players. He also stated that the inception of Mortal Kombat was not about the violence and they were concerned about the core of the product rather than the surface level violence. It has also been argued that violent video games like Mortal Kombat are the cause of school shootings and increase in bullying but video game advocates have found no causal relationship between video game and social violence. Video game advocates also argue that violent video games may reduce violence by serving as a substitute for rough play by providing a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings. Violent video games do not cause real-world violence rather they have positive effects on adolescents by providing them with a way to express their feelings through competition.

Mortal Kombat was one of the most successful American-made franchise in the fighting game genre as of 2013

The sales of Mortal Kombat sky rocketed after its release. more people began to purchase the game due to it's uniqueness. Mortal kombat II was an even bigger success and it proved to be a commercial success and a cultural phenomenon. An unprecedented number of more than 2.5 million copies were shipped to be distributed, with the best opening-week sales in video game history at that point. Mortal Kombat was one of the best selling games which was one of the reasons why I loved the game so much.

The video game industry is a very large industry and video games sold strongly in the 2000s. It is obvious that the video game industry has had a significant impact in the society and video games has help people to feel more connected and stimulated. I personally preferred Mortal Kombat because although it was violent, it helped stimulated my mind and it served as a relaxation technique for me. It also served as an interactive medium for me and I had control over he actions of my character. The video game industry has entertained the wide market and it has connected billions of people together through user interface.

Answer to question number 6 in the textbook