Video Game Bashing: Truth or Fiction

It has always been expected that each generation will change from the last, sometimes more drastically than others. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the youths of today are entertaining themselves in ways completely apart from those thirty or forty years ago. Instead of G.I. JOE or Barbie, it’s now Grand Theft Auto and Playstation 2. Yet even with the knowledge that this evolution in entertainment is bound to happen, parents and lawmakers today still seem threatened by the change, just like their parents most likely did in their youth. However, this entertainment evolution has seemingly brought something that none other has brought before, violence.

Ever since the first First Person Shooter (FPS) or Role-Playing Game (RPG) entered into the gaming market, lawmakers, media, and parents have held up the red flag against them. From then on almost all video games were watched closely, but opponents kept relatively quite. All this ended after the fateful day at Columbine High School in April 1999. This event can be seen as the spark that sent the debate over violence in video games and television aflame. Since that day every video game that had any sort of what was considered

to be immoral or inappropriate material was brought to the forefront of the media, getting blasted from every direction with claims ranging from video games causing murder to depression to suicide. With all this happening, the question should be raised, is this blind and blatant bashing of video games fair? The answer is no. These media stories almost always leave out critical evidence that supports the gaming industry, such as the mental health of the person before the incident, the ESRB rating system on all video games, and the basic lack of evidence showing video games causing violent tendencies. These left out topics are just as important as those against video games and should be explored.

To prevent some of these things from happening, the video game industry has also placed a rating system on all games that hit store shelves called the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating system. These ratings range from Early Childhood to Adult to protect the buyers from the contents of the game. With this rating system children under the age of 13 may not buy Teen rated games, and teens under the age of 17 may not buy Mature or Adult rated games. Any store found in penalty of not following these ratings is fined heavily. These ratings show that the gaming industry has taken steps to limit what age groups see what. Another form of protection they offer is in the video game itself. Many video games that include some form of violence have a filter that can be turned on by the parent or the user to filter out any bad language or violence that may be in the game. Once again this shows that game developers do attempt to keep children safe mentally and physically. When lawmakers and crusading parents speak out against games, they usually forget to mention these systems, as the

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