By Abby Hofrichter ’11
Opinion Editor
The world of video gaming has come a long way since Pong and Pacman. Gaming has developed from an infantile form of entertainment using pixilated ping pong balls and space ships to a full grown beast. As video game technology grew, so did the content we could include in it. Majority of popular games today are centered on killing, pillaging, and mutilating various subjects. Perhaps because of this, Video games have been increasingly criticized as of late for their harmful influence on users. As discussed on CBS news, many video games are blamed for violent and sometimes murderous incidents, such as a boy in Alabama who killed two police officers and one civilian in a violent outburst. The outburst was said to be the blame of the popular game Grand Theft Auto. A million dollar lawsuit encircled the event, raising the question: Can video games really be to blame? Do we blame the game, or the gamer?
Every version Grand Theft Auto(GTA) has been banned at some point for being outrageously inappropriate, and been rereleased with in MA+15 rating. This rating prohibits anyone under the age of 15 from purchasing a game without adult consent. Games with rating are known for stark violence, crude language, sexual references or activity and drug usage. I, myself, have never felt the urge to explode into a violent rage after playing GTA, or known anyone who’s been influenced to steal a car. However, clearly, this game clearly isn’t for the faint of heart, or mind. It is understandable that an individual with fragile psyche could easily be influenced by such violence and crudity or mistake it as reality, but such is true in the case of any inappropriate media.
Perhaps ultimately it boils down to a simple nature vs. nurture argument. If I sit Johnny, whose family eats dinner together every night and parents promote positive behavior, with Billy, whose parents don’t feel the need to instill such values, which one would you suspect to be influenced from violent video games? Most likely, the latter. The average teen can sit down to play a shooting game and know that it is completely fake and immoral. The ones we have to worry about are the individuals who would probably have violent tendencies regardless of their source of inspiration.
Ultimately, it’s up to parents to decide what is inappropriate for their children and what their children can handle. The truth is that some kids can’t handle the same amount of stimulation their friends can. Parents should be aware of the violence in video games and make it their own judgment call. Make it clear to the children that the world on the Xbox is far different from that of real life.
A game can’t be blamed for murder, rape, or theft. It is the actions of a gamer that commit a crime. Excuses for that crime may vary, but no one is being brainwashed.
*MSNBC article about video game study
