The Grand Theft of it all

My mother always complained that I spent more time with Three headed dragons and Bloodthirsty vampires than her. “What do you get by killing all those poor beasts?”, she used to say. My father, on the other hand, worried about the strain I put on my eyes and moved his head from left to right in disagreement whenever I beheaded a rival.

Ever since the news of Grand Theft Auto IV hitting the 500 million dollars benchmark in a week hit the market, there has been a rise in concern on the effects of violent games on children. Although all the games which come in the market have a rating given by the ESRB(Entertainment Software Rating board), its hard to interpret the effectiveness of it, when the games with an “M” or “A” rating are easily accessible to children. There have been numerous studies trying to relate Aggression and violence in the society to games but such studies have always been debatable either because of the techniques involved or the source of the funding. While the Educational and Entertainment games are not having a stigma attached to them, it is the Genre of Violent games which is facing the heat. All the studies relate violent games to declining academic performance, aggressive nature, antisocial behaviour, poor interpersonal skills, decreased social helping and desensitising of the brain(A process in which the response of the brain diminishes towards the scenes of actual violence because of the over exposure to violent games).

Throughout the history of the modern world, whenever a new media of entertainment is unleashed whether it may be Novels, television, theatre, cinema or gaming, the previous generation who was oblivious to such sources of entertainment, show their concerns and doubts. Movies still bear the burnt whenever something “Antisocial” happens although nobody cares about the fact that the accused might be mentally ill. Similarly there are many Publicised incidences where Violent games are blamed without a second thought.

Still, out of the top 10 video games of 2007, 6 were rated M(mature), so you can understand what the buzz is all about. You can check out the top 10 games of 2007 here.

From a gamer’s Perspective

After graduating from Pacman, Digger, Moon patrol and Bricks to Wolfenstein, Halo, Mortal Combat, Blood Omen, Call of Duty, Hidden and Dangerous, Tekken, Serious Sam, Heretic, Quake and Doom, to name a few, I myself have been an avid Violent Games lover. That is why somehow the fuss is beyond my comprehension. Yes, I enjoyed my ability to blow an opponent to pieces by my blue laser gun, I enjoyed my ability to hit 10 people waiting for a bus with my truck, I enjoyed being a sniper and silently killing the enemies, but in the end I was very much aware that they are all fantasies. This was something NOT real and would never be repeated in reality. The moment my computer was switched off, the fantasy land was switched off too. And No, I was not aggressive or short tempered. On the flip side, yes, I was spending less time with my family.

The book Grand Theft Childhood by Dr. Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl K. Olson explore the truth about violent video games. According to them, Youth Violence and the popularity of Violent games are moving in opposite directions. As the sales of “Violent” games is peaking, the graph of Youth violence in United States is plummeting. The authors state that for many children and adolescents, playing video games is an intensely social activity, not an isolating one as gaming now a days involve multiperson play. Also gaming is a very popular topic for the young generation for discussion. For many people, violent gaming acts as an outlet for their pent up anger. Although the book does not openly support such games but it raises questions on the already established beliefs. You can read chapter 1 of the book here.

Parental Concerns

My parents were concerned by the amount of time I was spending on killing aliens and demons, which is very normal, but they never forced me to stop playing. Generally parents are not very much aware of the kind of games their children are playing on the consoles. Games with a “M” rating generally trigger off the alarm. Since they are the first generation of parents who are subjected to these kind of anomalies so their concern is genuine. The only way out is to be more involved with the children and to know the kind of games they are playing. There are certain games which imbibe a highly destructive, sexist and racist game playing models and can be a source of problem and concern.

Finally

Being responsible and getting involved is a good option for the parents but at the same time they should keep in mind that violent games are not going to turn their child into a psychopath. It might be doing your child more good than harm, but its a little hard to digest. It might be something completely harmless and just a source of entertainment for the child, just like watching television is for the parents. This interpretation also differs from child to child and it would be a point to ponder for the parents before taking a final decision and keeping their children away from the “M” rated games( And the “A” rated ones without any doubt ).