Violent games can have an effect on small children especially if their mind is still in the developing stages. There is more than enough evidence to make this statement. This does not mean that media is to be blamed completely because other factors have to be looked at also. Exposure to family violence, genetics and personality all are relative areas which should also be looked at when conducting this research.
High prices, age ratings of eighteen and adult concepts suggest that these games and consoles are actually being aimed at adults, this leads you to believe that children are playing are actually there parents or siblings games. If this is the case then the blame falls on the parents of those children for letting their children play games which they are not meant to because of excessive violence and adult themes.
The Games industry has a responsibility to inform consumers of the content of their games and to clearly show this. All games in the UK are given an age rating from the BBFC and this age rating has to be displayed clearly. The BBFC are known to ban computer games which only concentrate on excessive violence for no reason. An example of this is Manhunt 2. This game was not released in its original form because the BBFC considered it to have no real story and the main aim of the game was to kill others as brutally as possible.
Computer games do have an influence on society. However computer games affect individuals differently. There are millions of people around the world who play violent computer games and do not murder people or try and rein act the violence viewed in these games. The effect these types of games have on society is deeply rooted; they allow the player to commit multiple crimes with no repercussions which indirectly suggest that these games encourage violence.
Some people would say that film productions are more influential than music and computer games and the have an effect on society on many levels. Movies which keep the viewer in a tense state can leave the viewer fearful and nervous; however horror movies are still released in the cinema and on DVD and Blu-ray.
Movie production such as SAW and Hostel show excessive violence which can be traumatising to individuals, certain scenes in these movies are disturbing and very detailed. Both movies have an 18 rating and are considered highly vulgar. Both movies have a following and have reported high sales figures in the DVD market and numerous sequels which is an indication that even though they are extremely violent and disturbing the general public enjoys them.
Action movies which involve guns and killings can also influence individuals however the same argument stands which is that it is only a minority of individuals which try to rein act these events in the real world.
Whenever a film which can be considered controversial is released a message is shown to the audience informing them the views expressed in the motion picture are not the views of the company which released the film. Also in television shows such as Jackass they put a clear warning at the beginning not to try and recreate what they are about to see and not to send any tapes into MTV of copy cat acts.
These precautions are put in place to stop people attempting to rein act what they have viewed.
This measure is what many people have asked for. However it does not stop individuals from trying to recreate what they have seen. On the internet there are many stories of stupidity. One particular example is the Darwin Awards. The Darwin Awards award individuals for ridiculous acts of stupidity which lead to death. This does not encourage this kind of behaviour but tries to name and shame individual who have tried to rein act something that they may have seen.
Over the course of history there have been different indulgences which have come under fire. Comic books were blamed for disobedient behaviour in youths in the 1950’s. Many people laugh at this now however at the time it was a serious issue and some parents attempted to sue Marvel Comics and DC comics. When television was first introduced to society there was research into how it will affect individuals. Most of the researches into this topic used the social learning theory which suggests that people can learn through punishment, reinforcement or observation of the social actors in their community. This suggests that if people observe certain behaviour; they will attempt to model, imitate, and adopt this behaviour themselves.
In this country freedom of expression is an individual right and it is an individuals right to express themselves in whatever form they feel. However if they choose to express themselves in an offensive manor which cause discomfort or is against the law then that individual is to be held responsible for their actions.
There are numerous arguments which attempt to blame not the individuals for their actions but to pass the blame on to others. Newspaper and news on the television use music, movies and more recently computer games as an entity which they can blame for violence in society. However violence has already existed in society long before so music, movies and computer games cannot be to blame however each of these media outlets does not help the problem. It is not every music CD, film or computer game which has violence in it but a select few.
There are aspects of this society which are good and bad. Violence is one factor which has the Medias attention. At the moment there are many different forms of violent media available to the public. However when looking at our society we have to consider what is advertised and what the implications of these advertisements could be. Only recently Fast Food retailers were banned from advertising to small children and this was to encourage healthy eating in youngsters. This lead to a cut in television shows for young children programs such as CITV are not shown anymore and there are less television shows for children now. The effects of this will be seen in the near future, if this measure was productive and there is a decrease in obesity in young children then these losses will be for the greater good.
The same ideals are not relevant when considering violence in the media. This is because often violent films, games or music is not aimed at children and is strictly for over 18’s. Censoring this type of media will not only insult the millions of adults which play these games and watch these movies around the world but it will indicate that adults are not held responsible for their actions.
The problem which is increasing violence should be looked at as the problem instead of passing the blame of this onto media outlets. To say that media is the cause of the increase of violence in society is not completely true however media does have to accept responsibility for promoting and advertising violence to society which can have an effect on society indirectly. By promoting violence, violence will become viewed as acceptable and morally correct.
Children are impressionable and that is the reason why they should not be exposed to media which can be considered influential. Parents and Guardians should take this into consideration when purchasing media which is violent if they are not 100 percent sure that children will not have access to it. Parents and Guardians also need to take responsibility for allowing there children to play, watch or listen to this type media. It is already illegal to sell adult products to children however that is not all that needs to be done to ensure children do not have access to these games, films or music. Parents and guardians need to make sure that they keep these games, films and music away from their children for their safety.
Bibliography
CBS News (2009)
[14th of May 2009]
Media and Violence Research (2009)
[7th of May 2009]
Video Nasties (2009)
[7th of May 2009]
Violence and Children (2009)
[7th of May2009]
The Darwin Awards (2009)
[7th of May 2009]
Hezekiah Fajemisin
Essay Writing
21st