Had to write this one out as a school paper, and
liked it well enough to post it here. Lacks my usual punch, but eh.
There is a good deal of debate as to whether certain games are harmful to society. Games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, God of War, and others have been put into the spotlight, considered to be outstandingly violent, or to contain inappropriate material, that influences younger minds and makes them want to lash out at themselves and others.
This, I feel, is a bunch of bull.
I don't believe violent games make gamers violent- I believe that violent games can actually prevent someone from becoming violent- After all, if they've had a crappy day at work, what better way to unwind than to pop in something like Call of Duty or Street Fighter, where they can vent their frustrations in a safe, controlled environment, and romp around, beating and shooting things, without fear of actually hurting someone. And besides, even if a game is overly violent, is it not the responsibility of the person buying the game to use their best judgment- and the ESRB rating system- to determine whether they should actually bring that home in the first place? I believe the blame for any violent behavior should fall on the person playing the games, not the games themselves.
As for the question of material, it should be up to the buyer to determine what 'inappropriate content' means to them. If they can't stand even mild or comedic violence, they might want to look into something a little different- Say, something along the lines of Brain Age or Mario Tennis.
I regret to say that although I do find ESRB's rating system to be spot on and well-constructed, it's entirely ineffectual. This is because, quite simply, nobody pays attention to it. The black and white boxes have become just another vague blob we've come to tune out, in favor of the much more interesting box art. This has led to a couple disgruntled retail workers coming home to rant angrily online about the mother that came in that day, furious with them because a week ago, she bought her 6-year-old son GTA 4, which had inappropriate content... which they had warned her about, and found, much to their chagrin, that this was one of those people who JUST WOULDN'T LISTEN.
A research group performed a study a while back where they sat two sets of gamers in two rooms and had them play a first-person shooter. When the players of group one defeated their enemies, little red pixel blood stained the ground, and when the players of group two defeated their enemies, the bodies appeared to teleport elsewhere in colorful blue flashes, leaving no trace. Aside from how the enemies in the game died, there were no other differences.
Both groups, it seems, enjoyed themselves about the same amount as the other, meaning, gore has little bearing on the experience... meaning, in turn, that although seeing the blood of a digital Nazi we just gunned down might be satisfying, that's not why we play those kinds of games... meaning, in turn, that although some people, like lawyer Jack Thompson, may campaign hard against such displays of violence in the videogame industry, the majority of us gamers are too focused on the task at hand- surviving long enough to see the end of the level- to care how our enemies go down, in a splatter, or in a flash.
So if you tone down the violence far enough on a videogame, when does it stop being a threat to society? If you remove all the blood and guts from Resident Evil or Doom, will they still be as corrupting to young minds?
If you put Ozzy Osbourne in a polo shirt and a pair of khaki shorts, is he still as threatening a figure?
While there will always be sick minds who play games solely for gore content, the majority of us gamers find something else that draws us- A memorable, well written, twist-filled storyline is the meat behind most RPGs. Innovative gimmicks allow us to try something new- Like swinging a Wii remote to hit a home run, or maybe dragging a stylus across a touch screen to piece together that last important clue to the mystery.
I'm more worried about TV than videogames. After all, TV is just as influential- Though, while commercials shove propaganda, politics, and advertising in our faces, we don't have to deal with that in videogames. If we don't like what we find, we simply shut off our consoles and go do or play something else.
And that's my two cents.
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