Video Games vs. Children Essay

Words: 1767
Pages: 8

English 1120
10 March 2006
Video Games vs. Children The promotion of violence by today’s media, especially video games, has caused violence and aggression in reality to become a major concern. As gaming graphics and special effects are becoming more realistic, this portrayal of violence is one of the many important concerns in society. These days, a person can pick up a controller, move a joystick around, press a few buttons, and totally devastate an entire city. The recent uproar about this kind of entertainment is based on the debate of whether or not violence is affecting children who spend countless hours playing violent video games. Some people claim that the violence in the media has influenced horrible acts, such as many
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There are ways that people can put a stop to children being exposed to this type of violence. I believe that it all comes down to the parents and the government. The government plays a strong role with this issue. In the recent years, the government has enforced the video gaming industry to place a rating system for violent and obscene games because of many people’s concerns on this topic. The gaming industry, in 1993, was forced to place ratings on the video games: E for “everyone”, T for “teen”, and M for “mature”. The only problem with this is enforcing it in the stores that sell the games. The gaming industry then had to create many policies preventing children from buying these mature-rated games. Children now must present a personal I.D. when purchasing teen and mature-rated games. Some cities and states were even thinking of creating legislation to prevent the sale of M-rated games to minors. The law would act like the one that prevents the sale of tobacco to minors (Psychology Matters). In my opinion that would be a smart idea, but it never went through. In accordance with the government’s rating system, the parents have an important role to play as well. They must work hand and hand with the government for the rating system to work properly. Parents have the power to control what their children play and view on television. They also have the right to say what their child brings