I play video games on an almost-daily basis. I play when I get home, until dinner-ish, and then I either continue playing or start my units. It seems to me that it's true: the majority of the youth population is playing video games on a regular basis. But why? It seems obvious, doesn't it? It's an escape into another world, where you can be whatever you want; make a new personality, a new history and become something you can't be in real life. Best of all? It's entertaining, as I'm quite sure most people will agree.Obviously there are better things for adolescents to do. Play sports, hang out with friends, and even do better in school. I myself am an avid gamer, but I do other things too. I have a job, and I like to think I do quite well in school. I would hang out with friends more if they did something that didn't involve going halfway across the city to walk around in a mall. Life is constantly a juggling act, in which you need to balance all the different aspects that make you unique. Letting some things slip out of your hands makes life unbalanced, and obviously unhealthy. Brandon Crisp was a 15 year old boy who ran away from home because his parents took away is XBox. That is going too far. At 15, one would assume you have the common sense to ignore a small dispute like that. There was no reason to run away. In my opinion, he either was dependant on the games (like an alcoholic) or was raised incorrectly and had issues with punishment. Either way, what's done is done, and the past can't be changed.
Although games in general are fun, there are games that teach habits and send negative messages to gamers everywhere. An example would be street racing, where a young man was found dead after a car collision with the game Grand Theft Auto in his backseat. Coincidence? It's hard to tell. There are many video games that influence gamers in bad ways, with this case being just one example. It seems to me that kids, let alone parents, don't respect the ratings for games. I was at a store once, when a child about 10 year-old boy was buying a Grand Theft Auto game. At the register, the cashier asked if the father if the ESRB rating was fine. He didn't even look at the game again, he just said it was fine. Obviously, something has gone wrong if the parents are disregarding the ratings for video games. Although games are very fun, it seems that the gaming industries need to treat their followers more like people, and not just sources for money.
Although video games are normally seen as bad influences on society, I see them as a great way to relieve stress. Nothing makes me happy after a school day then to unwind by playing video games. I personally think the video game developpers need to design more games like "Professor Layton and the Curious Village", which is a game full of brainteasers and puzzles to solve. I'm not saying that we should banish video games from society, but there is obviously something that needs to be changed. Whether or not it needs to be done by the government, the video game companies, or parents, a line needs to be drawn between real life and obsessive gaming.
2 comments:
I would hang out with friends more if they did something that didn't involve going halfway across the city to walk around in a mall.
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I take personally offence to that, actually. If you went out every once in a while you would find that although our trips start in the mall, they end with us going to random places and having fun. However, that would require you to leave the house. You don't seem to do that unless it involves school or your job. Seeing a move every once in a while, or going downtown to walk around isn't as boring as you think it is. And it seems you have no problem with going to Pacific mall. But this is completely off topic. Video games, right. I don't like them. Although the whole rating thing isn't helping the problem at all. It's just a buffer to make it seem like something's being done. When it must certainly is not.
I disagree with Dorothy on this point, and though I don't fully agree with your point I do acknowledge them to be true.
Alright, Dorothy I'm not even going to address that comment because I'm pretty lazy. Also, as you said, you don't like games and I don't think that I have any right to try and force you to like them through words.
Ant,
I agree completely that parents do need to take a more involved approach in their child's upbringing. Yes, the ratings were put in place so that parents could make an informed decision, but parents in today's world couldn't seem to care less! They have no right to then criticize the gaming industry when their 10 year old child wants to rob a bank and car jack someone. Also, with the incident of the man in a car accident with GTA in his car (though I don't think it was GTA but some racing game...)they say that he hadn't even played the game and that it was merely his friend's copy. Or something like that, it was so long ago I can't remember the report. The Crisp boy's incident was sad, to say the least. The kid was obviously spoiled, possibly even having some underlying mental condition which wasn't being treated. Research has shown that the children who tend to imitate and be influenced to that degree by video games tend to be the ones who are already suffering from some other problems. Besides, we don't know the Crisp boy's story, the 360 being taken away may have just been the straw that broke the camel's back.
You're right when you say that the industry isn't really helping gaming. But then again, when do multi-billion dollar companies ever really help anything like this? To see the true heart of gaming you shouldn't look at the rating board, or the advertising teams, or any of the big shot execs. Look more towards the designers and the actual people involved in making the game, not just the publishers who make most of the revenue. If you look at the real people involved in making the games themselves they're gamers too and they go through all the same things we regular gamers do. (including flaming the industry from time to time)
Anyway that's just my little piece there. To me I see video games as the youngest form of media entertainment, and as such it must go through the same scrutiny that the radio, movies, and television had to go through. But as I said, just my opinion.
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