S8- Violence in Video Games

From even the earliest video games, most are still based around the concept of violence. And while some are able to create an engaging gameplay experience without the use of it, the most popular and entertaining games involve it. This is not a bad thing, as society is generally intelligent and is aware of the difference between staged violence and real violence, understanding that the latter is not acceptable.

Stated by Tim Biggs on The Sydney Morning Herald, '...the debate has slammed back to the same old rhetoric: that violent representations inform a violent society (not the other way around), and that obliterating the representations will somehow result in a safer environment'.

Banning video games merely because they display violence won't solve anything, real violence will still occur. Those of society who blame video games are overlooking the fact that there is violence displayed in books, movies and all over the TV as well. Before video games, it was certain movies, music and even books that were blamed for society's violence.

While some games may take things too far, parents need to be aware of the content of game before allowing their children to play it. And this doesn't mean dictating over everything they are allowed to watch and witness, but acting as a guide for what is appropriate for them at their age.

Looking at the video game society in particular reveals that the violence perpetrated in the game remains on the screen and overall, game have a more positive effect on people than negative.