So, I have to write a 10-15 page, thesis driven research paper for US History. The topic is completely up to me. The only requirements are the aforementioned length and thesis along with it being about American history and could not deal with anything past 2000 (previously 1987, but I got her to let me move it back). I chose video games as my topic because 1) I enjoy video games and I'd prefer to write a paper I care about and 2) it's unique for an APUSH research paper. The biggest issue I'm encountering is coming up with a viable thesis that I can structure my paper around. I was hoping you guys had some ideas. :) Remember that it needs to be history focused and I need to avoid making it entirely sociological or psychological in its topic. Also, I need a topic meaty enough for there to be plenty of information about and stuff to say about it. Any ideas for general topics on which I could base my thesis and possible sources I could use would be appreciated.

Well there's Video Game violence in the media (and how its a crock made up by a bunch of old farts that want to blame something other then bad parenting), the history of the business from an economic standpoint, from a game standpoint (with that topic it would be more scholarly if you write about how each game influenced the people of that time or the business at that time), and the only other thing I can think of is the history of game makers companies and people that make them like Miyamoto.

You've gotta remember this is a thesis driven essay.  Thus, I can't just be like, this is what happened.  I have to expand upon that.

Write about how the industry evolved and have negative media as one of the body paragraphs.