Are Video Games Too Violent
...itary to train soldiers to effectively kill. (Anderson, C) The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which tracks Internet hate groups, found in its archives a copy of Harris' web site with a version of Doom that he had customized. In his version there are two shooters, each with extra weapons and unlimited ammunition, and the other people in the game can't fight back. For a class project, Harris and Klebold made videotape that was similar to their customized version of Doom. In the video, Harris and Klebold dress in trench coats, carry guns, and kill school athletes. They acted out their videotaped performance in real life less than a year later. An investigator associated with the Wiesenthal Center said Harris and Klebold were "playing out their game in God mode"; (Anderson, C) or secondly the case of the 14-year-old Canadian boy who walked into the WR Myers High School in Taber, Alberta killed one student and seriously injured another. It is difficult to imagine events more terrible than our young people deliberately killing each other. What makes it even worse is that these appear to have been entirely senseless acts. We have heard that they were outsiders, that they had not been accepted, that they were teased and so on. These reports have sometimes turned out to be false. But even if they were true, nothing that was done to these boys or that they experienced even remotely explains their horrendous crimes. Early games were created rather inexpensively compared to the one’s of today. They also represented a major scale of accomplishment upon the part of the coders and designer-coders, creating within incredibly restricted and demanding technology development environments. But as greater color ranges and rendering ability became available, and 2-D isometric perspective environments, path finding, mapping and graphing, state logic and AI evolved, so did the ability to represent greater, more evolved stories, interaction, challenges, animation and art. When 3-D, photo-realistic, high frame rate game environments came along, these early masterpieces faded into nostalgic obscurity. Representational violence in those early games, though it had a place, was not always the primary emphasis of the game play experience the designer was trying to create. As a result, it was represented often in a more comical style, or in the best representation available through the graphics standards of the time. By contrast to these early games, more contemporary titles have clearly stated objectives, taking players though game worlds densely populated with violence opportunities easily chosen (as either the lowest effort choice of player interaction or commercially sensitive developed challenge designs) for game world player interaction. More and more, realistically represented animated violence became a graphical extension of imaginative play. Emotions, responses and visualizations evolved in antiquated yet traditionally played male children's games of conflict, like 'army' and 'smear the queer'. It cannot be dismissed or discounted that these games formed the first fun non-computer entertainment game experience for the majority of American males alive today. Between explosions and deformation, a whole lot of action (with the simple addition of a projectile aimed, triggered and hitting an object prior to deformation) could be shown, and the simple 'shoot 'em ups', today known as 'shooter' or 'twitch' games flourished. When something contrived looks really real, it's more perceptual workload making distinctions between it and reality, but you'd have to have underlying perceptual problems in distinguishing reality from non-reality to get into trouble over it. Fortunately, the distance between the monitor surface and the human eye, ear and mind ultimately arbits the distinction, and mostly requires far less examination to make the distinction between fake and real than costume jewelry can. With virtually every aspect of human behavioral history to draw upon for content, eventually every graphically violent era, battle or event that was in the history books or the human imagination sparked by these influences became fair game for a computer entertainment title's content. Between sounds, animated images and interactivity, even early games were beginning to rival, from a response design/audience impact context, the impact film and TV mediums can have on the audience, and one day will surpass them. Then, exposure levels just weren't there yet. So, the advancement of graphics is one of the major aspects of game play,in terms of vividly and realistically depicted art and animation, that brought about an increase of violence in videogames, but the popularity, broad recognition and proven emotional response values were the main drivers. When graphics started to get really good, what primary aspect of demonstrating new graphics techniques could be more emotionally evocative than imitating real life fascination with violence, precisely because it has a long history of qualification that equals profits? The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) wants to help buyers by giving you a choice of different ratings. Examples are as follows: 1.EC: EARLY CHILDHOOD -These games don't contain any material that anyone anywhere could possibly find inappropriate -- On the other hand, only a kid between the ages of 3 and 6 is going to find these titles even remotely interesting. A lot of these games fall into the category of "edutainment." That means they're supposed to trick kids into thinking they're having fun, when really they're trying to teach them something. 2. E: EVERYONE When they say "Everyone" here, they mean everyone 6 years and older. These games (much like G-rated movies) are supposed to appeal to a wide variety of ages and tastes, although they may contain some cartoony-type violence, and/or some semi-crude language. But not all E-rated games are "kiddie" games. Lots of the sports and racing titles fall into this category. 3. T: TEEN There may be "mild or strong language" and some violence. The violence could be cartoonish -- but it may edge toward fairly realistic. 4. M: MATURE M-rated games like these are a lot like R-rated movies. That means they often feature intense violence, foul language and mature sexual themes. 5. AO: ADULTS ONLY Adults Only products are not intended to be sold or rented to persons under the age of 18. 6. PR: RATING PENDING Publishers can use this label on products that are still awaiting final approval. (Thompson) Even though the rating system is in place, many teen-rated video games contain material that is not listed on the label, including sexual themes, alcohol and profanity, a study found. Given the results, parents should be aware that popular T-rated video games might include a wide range of unexpected content that could have a negative influence on their children, said Harvard University researchers Kevin Haninger and Kimberly Thompson. The current voluntary rating system “is not providing complete information to parents,” Haninger said. “In many games there's content we think parents would care about.” The authors reviewed labels on all 396 mainstream T-rated video games available as of April 2001, and watched a random sample of 81 games. Violence was listed in content labels on 373 games, or 94 percent; 15 percent were labeled as having sexual themes; 14 percent were labeled for profanity; and 2 percent were labeled for depicting substances such as tobacco or alcohol. Among the sample the researchers viewed, 20 percent of games with sexual content including partial nudity listed that content on the label; 17 percent of games with profanity listed it on the label; and just 1 percent of games with depictions of tobacco or alcohol listed that on the label. (Thompson) The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. The findings point to a need for a clear explanation of the rating process, the researchers said. The rating system also includes brief content depicters labeled on the game box. These include things like blood and gore, cartoon violence, drug reference and partial nudity. In response to the study, the ESRB issued a statement saying that independent research has shown that parents “overwhelmingly agree” with the board's ratings. The board said the study is based on the authors' subjective observations that “are certainly not more valid than the decisions made by the three specially trained raters who carefully evaluate each game submitted to the ESRB.”' “Grand Theft Auto” is rated Mature, which means it's supposedly suitable for ages 17 and older. It may contain intense violence, explicit sexual themes and adult language. Of course, not all electronic games are violent. There are loads of harmless -- even educational -- games out there. In fact, of the top-10-selling computer games on the market, only one -- "Half-Life" -- is rated "mature." Four are rated "teen". And five are rated "everyone".(Parvaz) How much time do children, adolescents and adults spend playing video games? A recent report release by the Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that a majority of 2- to 18-year-old children in this country have access to video game technology in their homes. Nearly three fourths of all families surveyed have at least one video game player such as Nintendo or Sony. Furthermore, a third of all children in this age group have a video game system in their own room. These finding suggest that many children not only have access to home gaming systems but also spend at least some time every day playing interactive games. Another study found that approximately 36% of male students played video games at home for 1 to 2 hours per week; 29% played 3 to 6 hours; and 12 percent did not play at all. Among female students who played video games at home, approximately 42% played 1 to 2 hours and 15% played 3 to 6 hours per week. Nearly 37% of females did not play any video games. The balance of subjects played more than 6 hours per week. Results also indicated that 38% of males and 16% of females played 1 to 2 hours of video games per week in arcades; and that 53% of males and 81% of females did not play video games in arcades. (Funk) Participants in a study were asked four questions regarding their general video game play across four different time periods. First, they were asked to estimate the number of hours per week they have played video games recently. They were not constrained as to the number of hours they could report. Next they were asked to estimate the number of hours per week they played video games, during the 11th and 12th grades, during the 9th and 10th grades, and during the 7th and 8th grades. There was a video game playing composite formed by averaging the amount of time participants reported playing video games across the four time periods. Since the participants were predominantly traditional-aged college underclassmen, this measure constituted a general video game playing estimate over approximately 5—6 years, from junior high to early college. The coefficient alpha for this general time spent playing video games variable was 84%. (Anderson, C) This leads one to the conclusion that certain things must be done. 1) Limit the time your child spends playing video games. Playing video games may keep your child from pursuing more worthwhile activities, such as participating in family or school events, doing homework, being with friends, or engaging in sports or other physically active pursuits. Encourage your child to spend time on these activities and try to delay introducing him to video games, preferably until he is a teenager. 2) Remind your child that playing video games is a privilege, not a right. Set limits on game-playing time— total "screen" time, including Internet use, should be no more than two hours a day. Set a good example by minimizing your own "screen" time. 3) Also limit how much money your child can spend on games. Insist that homework and chores come before playing video games. And do not allow your child to ha...