Violent Video Games Essay, Research Paper

Writing the College Essay

4/4/01

Should the government restrict violence in video games?

Violence in video games seems to be growing stronger with each passing day. But the main question should be, Who should be responsible for what our children play? A percentage of people will argue that violence in video games leads to violent behavior. For this argument I will give evidence that this point is invalid. I will also point out specific reasons why the government shouldn t restrict video game violence any further.

First off, I would like to address the opposing view on the subject. People will argue that violence in video games desensitizes and makes kids more prone to become violent themselves.

In the June 19, 2000 issue of Newsweek magazine, the results of its Live Vote online poll, which asked, Do violent video games encourage violent behavior? are published.

According to the 6,629 respondents:

+ 12% selected, Yes, and they should be banned.

+ 21% selected, Yes, and they should be restricted to players over 17.

+ 58% selected, No, they re just games.

+ 9% selected, I m not sure, but I wouldn t let my child play them anyway.

Also, another poll was taken over the phone for 1,000 adults. The question was Although there may be many explanations for juvenile delinquency and violence among today s youth, which of the following do you think has the most influence-movies, television, comic books, video games or family? The results were:

1. Family

2. Television

3. Movies

4. Video Games

5. Comic Books

6. Other

So according to the polls, violence in video games is a small portion and shouldn t be as major a problem as family life. We shouldn t be so easy to point our fingers at video games and say that violence is happening due to the violence in the video games they play.

Parents should monitor their kids and then based on what their beliefs are should decided whether the games their children are playing is appropriate. Parents should tell their children that violence portrayed in video games is fantasy and not actual real life. They should also tell their children about their beliefs on violence and tell their kids how they disapprove of any violent act.

Additionally, we don t need to have the government restricting our violence in video games any further since there is already a rating system in effect. The E.S.R.B. (Entertainment Software Rating Board) already provides a clear way for parents to decide whether or not they should let their children play violent video games. The ratings are EC , E , T , M , and AO . EC stand for Early Childhood, E stands for everyone, T is for teens, M is for mature audiences, and AO is for adults only. There are no current AO games for any console systems. The E.S.R.B. rating system also provides parents with information about the game, like what type of violence their children might encounter. They use descriptors like realistic blood, realistic violence, animated blood, animated violence, blood and gore. It tells parents what each game contains so if anything they disapprove of is in it they ll be aware and be able to limit what their children play.

Also, most video games don t show humans bleeding or dying, with the exception of Mortal Kombat. Most video games have you shooting or killing zombies, aliens or monsters. And for the few games where you fight or shoot humans the majority of them don t show blood or gore.

My viewpoint on the violence in video games is mixed. I believe that games can still be fun without any use or blood or gore. Gun games seem to be the bloodiest type of games you can play, but they still don t have any blood or gore and still can be extremely fun to play. For example, Time Crisis and Time Crisis 2 are gun games where you shoot pixilated people on the screen. Each time the person is shot there is no blood or gore that comes from them. I feel that games don t have to have blood to be fun. I could easily love Mortal Kombat or Primal Rage without blood or fatalities.

So, I believe that the government shouldn t restrict violence in video games or, if the government wants to restrict violence in video games they should get rid of the blood and gore, since most games can be just as fun without and blood and gore. Parents should be the one s who are responsible for what their children play, not the government. The E.S.R.B. rating system informs the parents about what the game contains and lets the parent make the decision. So parents need to monitor what their children play, and based on their beliefs decide what their children can or cannot play, and inform their children of their disapproval of violence, and leave the government out.