Do video games make you violent?

On July 29th 2005 in Sydney, Australia Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and the others were banned from stores and made illegal by government officials. This was because it contained sex scenes that were available for viewing via internet download and many kids were getting their hands on the game and playing it even though they were underage, this resulted in several side effects. The Office of Film and Literature Classification said in a statement it had outlawed sales of the game by stripping it of its official classification after learning of the explicit content. Businesses that sell or hire computer games were then asked to remove existing stocks of the game shelves immediately; this message was sent out by Des Clark, the director of the government-funded classification board. It was finally made impossible to buy in the country and it was impossible for underage kids to get their hands on it as this is how the commotion started.

This next story also consists of both Grand Theft Auto and Australia. Shortly before the long-awaited release of Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA IV) in Australia received news from the British Board of Film Classification leaked details of the offensive/ explicit actions that players could perform in Grand Theft Auto IV. Then Rockstar North revealed that they were then releasing a heavily edited version of Grand Theft Auto was being released and set to make its debut in Australia. It released later and hit the stores rated MA15+ but they would like to bring it up to a R18 next year. The BBFC has classified the upcoming blockbuster as a R18+, which means that it is only suitable for sale and play by adults. The same rating has been awarded by New Zealand's OFLC and the German Unterhaltungs software Selbstkontrolle, institutions that regulate the sale of sensitive material in their respective countries. So far, only the North American ESRB has offered a lower rating, of only M17+.

Those were the bad cases now let’s look at the good effects of playing a violent video game. Firstly little kids below 13 shouldn’t be getting their hands on violent games but if they do they are not to blame, the person who sold it to them should be fired or thrown in jail. Games such as these, for 13+ isn’t that bad because it can build up their imagination which is a good thing for school subjects (art & graphics) and when kids become teenagers they start to become lazy and not play a lot of sports. Games like these will build up your hand-eye coordination which is a very good skill to have in life. Also people say that playing video games is being unsocial or unsociable, but in fact you can play online whether it is an XBOX 360, a Playstation 3, a Nintendo Wii or your PC. You can also build up many other skills.

In my opinion I feel that people have been “low-blowing” computer/video games for a long time, I think this is because most of them are old people who never had the opportunity to play a video game. I myself having gotten my hands on violent games and completed Grand Theft Auto IV am sort of in two minds about this argument violent video games have been bad in some cases but in most they provide a ‘second life’ to kids, when controlling a protagonist in a game. It also enhances children’s imagination when they play because they like to imagine that they are driving that car or they are big and strong like that man/woman. Kids can also build up skills on games like Guitar Hero or Rockband where they have to play musical instruments to progress in the game.