Its seems that every six months there is a new study that tries to prove that video games are in fact the root of all evil. I’ve read studies that say games are to blame for kids being more aggressive, lazy, insensitive, and willing to vote Democrat when they were brought up by Republican parents. Ok maybe not that last part but I’m willing to bet that someone out there thinks that. As a parent myself I’m just going to come out and say what I really think, they’re full of it.
This recent study states that there are two ways games cause people to act aggressively. The first is that when children watch violence in a game they believe that the world is a hostile place and running around punching and kicking everyone is how you should deal with it. The second is that kids become desensitized to violence. Once a kid no longer cares about violence and no longer feels empathy towards a person they will have no problem engaging in violence themselves. So basically this study says that if a kid is allowed to play a game in which their character can run around and beat people down they’re more likely to go out and try for themselves. Personally I’ve never actually witnessed anyone take a chair and smack the teenager at McDonald’s with it because they put onions on the cheeseburger after they clearly requested no onions.
Niko's next adventure? Searching the kingdom for Cinderellas lost slipper and smashing plenty of pumpkins along the way.
The reason I probably become so frustrated after reading another one of these studies is the fact that they are used to back up lawmakers who want to put tighter restrictions on games.Do I believe that the finding of these studies are completely untrue? No, I understand that while some kids may actually be negatively effected by games I also feel that it is only a small percentage. Most people, including children, know the difference between reality and fantasy. It should be the parents job to decide when their child is old enough to play certain games. Once a parent is assured that little Johnny won’t go and mimic what he sees on TV he should be allowed to play any game the parent determines is acceptable without any outside sources saying otherwise. While I do feel that the urging in the early 90’s which ended up with the creation of the ESRB is a good thing, I know I’ve personally used it many times just to check when my children bring me a game I know nothing about, I don’t think there needs to be more than that. If we are trusted to monitor what movies we allow our children to watch based simply on the motion pictures association rating system why should games be any different?
Another issue I have is the fact they don’t tend to use control groups. It’s pretty easy to say that kids who play video games are more aggressive when they didn’t even bother to compare their findings to a group who doesn’t play games. Afterwards instead of looking at the individuals the findings are then used to describe one large general group of people.
I do agree with one person in this article, the doctor who urges the parents to become involved with their kids and pay attention to what they watch/play. After all it really is the parents job and we don’t need more studies telling us that we’re messing our kids up by letting them play a violent video game. I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to do that without the help of our PS2.
After playing Saints Row the need to protect ones territory became a clearly dominant trait.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I saw a study recently that compared tendencies of kids who played games versus those who didn’t, and they were pretty statistically telling in terms of aggressiveness and all that jazz.
But… if you actually read the stats from the study, you’d noticed that more than 90% of the kids fall in the “play video games” category… which pretty much nullified any deduction you might make.
I think more people realizing that today’s videogames are the rock-n-roll, dungeons&dragons, and MTV of yesteryear. Just a convenient scapegoat.
If you think about it… what happens when kids watch a movie that has ANY amount of violence in it? They go outside and beat each other with sticks until someone’s eye gets poked out. I know I sure as heck did! And it was a blast!
What really irritates/insults me is when these people try to pass off the gaming industry as irresponsible and as attempting to market violence directly towards kids. The gaming industry is better self-regulated than movies or books or television. You see the ratings box in the corner on a television show and it gives an age recommendation. Does it say why? Well… sometimes they do, but usually they don’t. They just say TV-7 or something. Same thing for movies. Why is such-n-such movie rated R? No clue! Video games? Well… it’s rated M and it lists the very specific reasons on the back!
I will mention one thing that videogames do on occassion which is a legitimate concern… but I don’t think is reflective of the industry. Movie/TV tie-ins. If the movie is PG, then the videogame should be rated E or T. If the movie is PG-13, I don’t think it’s very responsible to intentionally make an M-rated game.
Sure… there are going to be exceptions, because the ratings criteria are different, but I would prefer the industry to follow the “similar content” guidelines a bit better.
And as we all know, the biggest blow to the “videogames-as-porn” movement (people who want videogames regulated to the same extent that pornography is) is Jack Thompson and the fact that the crazy bastard finally got himself disbarred. What a wonderful day that was!
And honestly, this whole argument is fairly insulting to the intelligence of children. As you stated “Most people, including children, know the difference between reality and fantasy.” If kids know that Shrek is fantasy, then they know that Mario and Bomberman are fantasy as well.
Of course… you shouldn’t let your five-year-old play Doom… that’s just horrible parenting there.
Anywayz… superb article. Thanks for it!
November 7th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
But my five year old loves doom, ok not really but she would probably think it was hilarious. My kids have the tendency to sneak in while I’m playing a game and just watch in the background. Recently when I was playing dead space they did it to me and after awhile I just let them stay. They thought it was awesome and knew right away it was just a game. Grant it I am a pretty relaxed parent. Both my husband and I were watching some graphic horror movies at an early age so we’re not as strict with our kids in that aspect. We won’t let them near any games that has “realistic” violence like GTA and Saints Row. It’s one thing to let them see me chop up an alien and another to see me run someone over while my character is cussing the entire time. Like I said it depends on the kid but it should be the parents responsibility and I appreciate the tools the ESRB gives me to review a game. I’m just annoyed by all the third party studies that try to tell me that I’m doing something wrong and setting them up to be people who have no feelings.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Forgot one thing… I love showing this graph to people who still honestly believe that there’s a statistical correlation between video games and violence:
What (among other things) happened in 1994? Playstation was released.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
LOL… oops. Actually I just used that example because of a very specific example in my personal life. Doom is far from the best example. My friend’s husband let their son (he was either 4 or 5 at the time) play Doom3 and then wondered why he had nightmares. But that’s a story for another day. GTA and Saint’s Row and FEAR would be much, much better examples.
Btw… this is a link to the graph that from my 2nd comment (I didn’t realize HTML was disabled, should have guessed it tho of course):
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/4553/violentcrimerateschart1wx7.jpg
November 9th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Personally, if I’m feeling pissed I’ll go play some God of War of something—just to kick some ass. For me, video games can be a good way to vent anger: it’s the next-gen equivalent of punching your pillow. Get it out without actually hurting anyone (controllers don’t count ;D ).
And that’s really it. I think a lot of people would agree with me. And the people who have taken the stuff in video games to the real world are just messed up already—they’re exceptions. You can’t generalize anything—otherwise it’s just prejudice and misconception … heh.
November 10th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Great read, my feelings exactly!