Does violence in video games contribute to real life violence? – Part 3

Does violence in video games contribute to real life violence?<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:off ice:office” />

Violence has been a problem in the world for many years and many generations now and i have recently noticed that the people at PC (political correctness) headquarters now have decided video games contribute to crime, more importantly violence.

To me personally i don’t think video games to contribute to violence. The BBFC have age ratings and parental warnings for a reason and it’s exactly the same as how movies and TV shows are portrayed with the same types of violence and crime and do not cause controversy.

Before video games there were TV shows and movies, and before television and movies there were books and plays, take William Shakespeare for example, many of his plays notably Romeo And Juliet and also Macbeth, noted many acts of violence some of which were very disturbing and could affect the minds of young people. The Robert Louis Stevenson classic <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:off ice:smarttags” />Treasure Island being another perfect example, acts of piracy and violence sum up many plot points of the story.

My argument is basically have you ever saw a BBFC classification on a book? No you haven’t yet this time 100 years ago before the Internet, Video games or even television and radio existed, books were the primarily source of entertainment, you didn’t have newspapers saying “Treasure Island has been banned by the government due to all the murders going on around the city”. And you didn’t have “Jack the Ripper murdered prostitutes because the main character in his favourite book was a serial prostitute killer”, you just did not have it and this is why i believe video games should not be categorised in such a different way when clearly that isn’t such a case.

Video games are a source of entertainment, just like any other sort of entertainment. There are different genres and types that appeal to all kinds of people for all ages, male and female just like anything else. Don’t get me wrong i was shocked when i read a few years ago that some teenager butchered his best friend for no reason, but once i read that he had been playing a game that in all fairness he should not of been playing then i thought to myself, there are age classifications for a reason, people that age should not be playing games or watching movies that they aren’t old enough for, it’s just like drinking and smoking and other similar issues. They should be dealt with responsibly and reasonably.

Discipline is always the way around things and yet we are only human after all, we have all from one time to another done something that is underage or against the rules, but people will make their own choices, a life of crime is a choice, something that should be tackled which i think is a lot more important than pointing out petty excuses for why we have violence and crime in the first place, lets make choices not excuses.

Nick Adams