This is something that has been bothering me for a very long time, and since I've joined Gamespot, I now feel the need to speak my mind about it.
This issue is this: many people say that violent video games negatively influence the player, especially younger children. The thought is that whoever plays a video game that contains material like blood and gore, violence, characters wielding weapons, an ojective to shoot people and/or blow something to smithereens, or games with guns in them will negatively provoke gamers. Many say that it will scar them for life and possibly inspire them to go out and terrorize humanity with weapons. That is what they say.
And here's what I say:
WHAT a BUNCH of CRAP!
If you think that violent video games do that to people, then why don't you ask someone who has played games with that kind of material in them? Like me!
Supposing that someone did ask me, I would say that the very first non-educational-based game (like Elmo's Preschool) that I ever played was a DOS game- Megarace. The objective of that game is this- you have a car, you have to destroy other cars on a fast-paced set of racetracks, with, guess what? BIG GUNS. There is a "host" of that game who frequently uses the words "death" and "die." I played that game when I was about three years old. And I'm perfectly sane!
When I was about eight or nine, I got another game- Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, a Third-Person Shooter game for PC. Your character gets a variety of weapons, there are a great number of bad guys you're supposed to kill, there are violent death screams, and the occassional curse word. That game was Rated T for Teen, but I was five years shy of being a teenager. I beat that game through and through before I was in the sixth grade, and I'm perfectly sane!
In fact, I'm currently trying to beat the sequel to the game I previously mentioned, which is more realistic in terms of graphics. You get more weapons, but guess what? I'm not bent on being some deranged killer! I'm... perfectly...sane!
If you don't see where I'm getting at here, then you're lost in another dimension. In case you have been in another dimension for the past minute, I'm saying that you won't be inspired to murder a bunch of people if you get into a game with guns and shooting in it. Even though you interact with a video game, as opposed to standing by and watching movies or listening to music with objectionable and/or violent content, it still doesn't make a huge difference.
There are people who are literally living in games. They want nothing but to play a certain game. I was somewhat like that when I was in 3rd and 4th grade, and guess what game I was into? Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force, that 3D TPS. That did negatively influence me in a way, because I was obsessed with that game, but it's not the game! THAT WAS JUST ME! I was a bit... different than I am now.
Some people would argue, "If you get rid of the games, this wouldn't happen!" That's like saying that fast food should be banned because people get obese from it- it's their choice to eat so much, and as for those of us who don't have to worry about obesity, it would only make things worse. So if someone DOES happen to be negatively influenced by a violent game, then that's their problem. Anyone who would be negatively influenced and bent on going out and killing people after playing Halo 3 has to have blurred the line between reality and games very much.
Yet in spite of this logical conclusion, there are endless seas of people out there who still think that violent video games are bad examples. Most of them are moms (no offense to moms) who want to hide perfect little Timmy from the horrors of the world and order him never to play Mortal Kombat or House of the Dead arcades anywhere, and demand that game developers stop making these violent games. Well, Mortal Kombat just happens to be a popular franchise, and if you don't like it, ignore it! Don't try to get it banned; that's just like the whole fast food issue.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T PLAY IT, PEOPLE!!! There are always people who like games like that, so don't spoil it for them just because you and a small group of others don't support it.
The final issue I am going to raise is games becoming more realistic. The Wii Zapper was released about a year ago, a gaming peripheral for the Nintendo Wii, shaped like a gun. You play games with it by pointing it at the screen and shooting.
That doesn't make games any more objectionable! It just adds a new level of challenge to them and makes them more fun and different to play. I mean, the standard controller can get a little stale with some games, so why not? But, NOOO! Some people oppose this idea and say "Oh, but this could get our children ready for real guns and killing people!"
If you DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T BUY IT FOR YOUR KIDS!! I don't know why this simple piece of logic is not a part of so many parents' thoughts on video games. It's not like the developers are making you get this thing, is it? So many blogs, videos, newscasts, and newspaper articles choose to go on and on about a violent game with very objectionable content, but they miss that one point!
And this is not to say every video game is like that! There are plenty of games with their fair share of non-violent content. So if there's one game out there that is objectionable, that doesn't make every other game that has been made, is being made, and will be made bad!
IN CLOSING!
Graphic violence doesn't influence the gamer if the gamer knows the fine line between reality and fantasy. If the gamer doesn't, it's his or her own fault, not the game's fault. And if you don't like content in a game, don't buy it and leave it at that.
I have spoken.