PrepTest 154, Section 2, Question 6
Video games are commonly criticized as morally corrupting(55 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(5 more words not shown)
- Awe should expect(12 more words not shown)
- Bwe should prefer(18 more words not shown)
- Cwe can expect(9 more words not shown)
- Dwe should condemn(13 more words not shown)
- Eit is silly(15 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Imagining wrongdoing isn't obviously the same as becoming a worse person. Maybe a violent game encourages harmful behavior. Maybe it gives someone an outlet without producing that behavior. We would want evidence before deciding what the games actually do.
The author responds to the criticism by comparing games with older forms of entertainment. Novels, movies, and rock music faced the same charge when they were new.
Does that alone prove the criticism wrong? No. Someone could think the earlier criticism was justified too. But we can follow the author's reasoning without endorsing every step.
The final sentence tells us where the comparison is heading: it now seems silly to describe reading novels as morally corrupting. My initial completion would be something like, “Similarly, it is silly to make that charge against video games.” The author is defending games by comparing their reception with the reception of novels.
What we’re looking for
For this completion question, keep that direction in mind. We want the point the author is building toward, even if we still have questions about how convincing the comparison is.
Working the answers
- A
This broadens the prediction to most new forms of popular culture. The passage gives examples of such criticism, but the unfinished sentence is using novels to make a point about video games. A shifts away from the specific comparison the author is completing.
- B
The author doesn't rank mature entertainment above new entertainment or recommend that we choose one over the other. An argument defending a newer form from criticism doesn't establish a preference for older forms.
- CCorrect
This is more precise than my initial prediction. The criticism of novels faded as novels became familiar, and the author expects the criticism of video games to fade as well. We move from how novels were received early on to how they are viewed now, then expect games to follow a similar path.
C doesn't require us to prove that every concern about games is silly today or that no game could ever be harmful. It completes the author's comparison by predicting a change in how the concerns are received over time.
- D
Condemning these forms of culture moves against the author's argument. The author invokes the now-silly criticism of novels to push back against the criticism of games, not to endorse a general campaign against entertainment that depicts wrongdoing.
- E
This is about whether video games let people imagine breaking moral rules. The author is questioning the claim that such imagining makes games morally corrupting. Those are different claims. The games could allow imaginary wrongdoing without corrupting the people who play them, so E doesn't complete the point about the criticism.
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