When we think of video games we generally think of children surrounding a TV and playing against their friends. And you can’t help but begin to wonder how these video games affect the children psychologically. That is one of the mainstream debates surrounding video games; how these games affect children’s psyche.
In Handbook of Computer Video Games, the essay entitled Children’s Social Behavior During Video Game Play includes different case studies as to how video games affect children. The games they used on children for “aggressive themes” are Super Mario, Power Rangers, and Mega Man X3 & X7 (p.135). Considering that this case study was completed during the late 90s, I can think of several other games that have far more violent themes than those. For instance Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter which are actual fighting games. Using these two games would have gave the study more support compared to the games used for the actual study. The ‘non-aggressive theme’ games that were used were Kirby’s Avalanche, We’re Back, Mickey Mania, Scooby Doo and Mario Kart. The results of this case study were that children’s interactions were positive/neutral independent of the game type. Also, children were not aggressive towards each other while playing and “non-aggressive” games produced the most negative reactions, primarily from girls (p. 141).
Even if the results from the case study were reversed, I believe that it is the parent’s responsibility to monitor what their children are playing. It is good that some places such as EB Games/Gamestop actually refuse to sell Mature games to minors, but it is still the parent’s responsibility. Also the next generation game consoles are able to block the use of Mature games from being played on them by the parental control feature. Also, with video games becoming popular among children, I mean, it is hard to come by a child who doesn’t play video games, parents should take the initiative to find out what exactly a game entails before purchasing it for their child. A good example of this is my Aunt and Uncle buying Grand Theft Auto 2 for my thirteen-year-old cousin and didn’t know what the game was about. They just knew it was about cars and figured it would be suitable for their son who shares an interest in cars. They had no idea of the mature content that was in the game itself.
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3 comments:
I agree with the study that was conducted and the results. If children are playing violent games, they are going to act violent towards each other. If they are playing non-violent games they are going to be settle and pleasant towards each other. It just maybe true that a game and its contents affects the players interaction and actions toward the game and others, but do you feel its right for adults to in a way "censor" what their children are playing? Yes, there are some violent games out there, but I'm sure one day their children will be playing those games. EB/Gamestop are doing their part to prevent selling mature games to minors, but are those stipends hurting their sales and their total revenue of the store?
Maybe I should have elaborated more on my blog post. What my point was is that parents (and the media) need to stop laying blame to the industry and not do anything on their own. While there is also flaw in this logic as well, I mean, with a topic like this there are going to be several different views as to how a situation like this should be handled and none of them would be a 100% correct.
I found that the study, as presented in class, was horribly inaccurate - the group who presented did wonderfully, but the study in itself was flawed. Their choice of "non-violent" included Mario Kart - a game in which I have seen several player, young and old alike, get rather violent with. They also included "We're Back!" - a game that gave me nightmares as a child (it involved hyper intelligent Dinosaurs running around New York City, trying to Avoid "brain drain" which would revert them to mindless beasts). You played as a T-rex and ran around stomping on and screaming at things.
While I do agree that exposure to violence can provoke violent behavior in people, I do not believe that Video Games are the sole source to be blamed. Films, televisions, and even the nightly news focus on far more graphic and disturbing images than some of their "aggressive" games. Which is more likely to traumatize a child - seeing a body being pulled from a wrecked car, or playing an Italian Plumber who jumps on mushrooms and turtles?
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