Story by Peyton Brasfield
In the 21st century, a popular topic of debate has been how violence affects the minds of developing children. Many have been quick to criticize the abundance of violence in the media, and just as many have been quick to defend it.
In 1992, Midway Games developed a fighting video game which included decapitation, gruesome amounts of blood, and the ever-classic “Fatality”. This game sparked so much cultural controversy that it was directly responsible for the establishment of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) which is a video game rating system; this game was known as Mortal Kombat. Since then, the game has left a cultural impact that affected all forms of media and the lives of gamers and non-gamers alike.
The ESRB divided games into age-based categories, but the most common ones the public may be familiar with include: Everyone, meaning the content is suitable for all ages, Teen, meaning the content is suitable for ages thirteen and up, and Mature, for ages seventeen and up. The rating system is more guideline based than actual law, and most of the time it helps monitor the content gamers are exposed to.
Many people choose to ignore the rating system. Because of this, a lot of children are playing games that aren’t age appropriate and being exposed to mature subjects.
IB Psychology teacher Stacie Meyers said children learn from observation. “I think we’re seeing all kinds of negatives from some of the things that are out there in the media, be it movies, TV shows, [or] video games,” she said.
It’s common for underage children to be found in online communities of games like “Call of Duty” or “Grand Theft Auto.” This is either due to parental arrogance or sneaky nine-year-olds, but either way it raises a lot of eyebrows both inside and outside the gaming community.
Meyers said the people in the entertainment business have “done what they can in terms of warning labels” and having age ratings, but at the end of the day, she said it’s the parent’s responsibility to enforce that rule.
A lot of the debate comes from the idea that people are more likely to commit acts of violence when exposed to graphic content within the media. A lot of people are very quick to note that a lot of the major school shootings such as the ones in Columbine and Virginia Tech were carried out by avid gamers. Although there are many other variables to consider such as bullying, mental health, and firearm access, this has led many to believe that violent video games could persuade people to carry out violent acts.
Junior Dustin Ingersoll doesn’t believe just because one plays a vulgar video game, means they will shoot up a school. “There’s violence everywhere in the world, you’re going to get knowledge of it somehow,” he said.
Another popular argument is that media violence is completely separate from the horror of real-world violence. Violence in movies and video games is all computer generation and special effects –smoke and mirrors– and real world violence is gruesome and has effects on reality.
“…It’s almost like watching a cartoon: you see the violence and you don’t really feel like ‘I’m killing someone’, you feel like ‘I’m finishing a task,” said Ingersoll.
It’s hard to say whether or not there’s a direct link between criminal violence in adolescents and violence in the media. However, a lot of research suggests that it leads to aggression.
