Vidya Games

So, I would most certainly qualify as a "gamer", and I figure it's finally time to put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard, as it were), on the whole "violence in video games" thing. Now I highly doubt I will say anything that people haven't heard before, but there are a few talking points I've come up with from thinking on this topic a bit. I doubt that I'll solve all the problems of the world here, but whatever.

As it seems to stand now, both the media and politicians want to blame video games for all the of the problems of America's youth. Basically, they think that playing video games will automatically turn your 7th grade honor student into a gun-toting mushy-brained cop-killing psychopath. Unfortunately, statistics do not seem to back that up. A quick Google search will reveal that kids today are actually less violent than they were a generation ago( when they had no video games). Now, don't get me wrong, it's difficult to compare generations because times have changed so much. But if kids are less violent now, I think it means either a Barney brainwashing lasts a lifetime, or maybe that video games don't turn you into a brainless killer.

Now, I will point out that I think it is extremely inappropriate for an 8 year old to hop onto Grand Theft Auto and start beating hookers with a baseball bat. I don't have a problem with wanting to keep inappropriate games out of the hands of young people. And I think it's fair to restrict stores from selling M (mature, 17+) games to people under the age of 17. However, in the end, I feel the primary responsibility for regulating what a young person plays rests in the hands of the parents. I agree that video games, TV, and movies do a poor job of raising children. But it's not their job to raise kids, so I don't think they should be held responsible for not doing it well.

I think in the end, if some kid is running through a game blowing the heads off of nazis and pretending that he's murdering his classmates and teachers, he's probably pretty crazy in the first place. Normal people simply don't do that. I don't think that a video game is going to make that kid any crazier than he already is. Quite frankly, from my totally amateur point of view, I almost think that using the violent video game as an outlet may actually make the kid less likely to be a violent person. I think it's safe to say we'd all prefer that he vent his frustrations on virtual people as opposed to real. I know people will act like video games are like training simulators, but I have to disagree with that point as well.

Let me tell you, as a person who has shot several real guns as well as countless virtual guns, the smililarities are almost non-existant. And let's be honest - guns are not difficult to use. You point it at what you want to shoot and pull the trigger. The real difficulty of using any gun is the process of loading it and cocking it - both of which I have never seen accurately represented in a game. If a kid doesn't know how to use a gun, I don't think many games will teach him how. And I can guarantee you that no amount of shooting virtual shotguns will prepare you for the recoil of actually firing one.

And I also wonder about the rating of racing games. Few, if any, are rated M (17+). The vast majority are rated E for everyone, though a few of the more street-race type games are rated T (teen). But, not everyone is allowed to drive. Why aren't you required to have a driver's license to purchase a racing game? I am 25, and I have noticed that if I have been playing a lot of a racing game, it actually translates into faster driving in my real car. So if it makes me a faster driver at 25, why wouldn't we expect it to make a 16 year old a faster driver? Why wouldn't we expect it to teach people even younger some very bad driving habits? More teenagers die in auto accidents every year than in gun deaths. Why are we not up in arms over racing games? I've shot literally thousands of virtual people, but it has never inspired me to shoot a real person. I have, however, seen a racing video game influence my real life driving habits.

In the end, everyone is always looking to point the finger somewhere else, and unfortunately for video games, they seem to be the new "it" target for parents looking to pass the buck when it comes to reasons that their kid is a delinquint.