Who is responsible for the violence in today’s video game and protecting our children from mental harm? Is it the video game makers or is it the governments responsibility, or should we just let the parents do their job in raising their kids and determine what is right or wrong? In the following paper I will try to put to you what I thing is right and wrong and who is responsible party in protecting the minds of young children.
Violent video games have for a long time have been big money for the industry. With 97% of 12-17 year olds in the US played video games in 2008 you can only guess how much money is involved. (procon, 2012) So is the industry responsible for the violence that they are portraying to minors, is it causing any real harm? There have been many studies to conclude that these games cause no more real world violent acts than say a European soccer matches. In fact, as the sales of violent video games increase the total violent crimes decreases according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (edition, 2005) Moreover, sales of video games have more than quadrupled from 1995-2008, while the arrest rate for juvenile murders fell 71.9% and the arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes declined 49.3% in this same period. (procon, 2012).
According to the only statistics, I could find in 2008, 298.2 million video games were sold in the US, totaling $11.7 billion in revenue. Six of the top ten best-selling video games included violence, with four of the games carrying a “Mature” rating recommended for persons aged 17 and older. (procon, 2012). The industry dose do some sort of self-regulation though by providing maturity level tags on all games sold to help parents to make educated decisions on what is safe for their children and what is not. So in my opinion, I think the industry has done all it needs to do in the face of the facts at hand and by even going so far as to self-regulate by instating a rating system to inform parents.
Then who has the responsibility? Some say the government should step in and regulate the industry all in the name of protecting the children. Have they tried before? Yes they have, California passed a law in 2005 that would have required violent video games to include an “18” label and criminalized the sale of these games to minors. (procon, 2012) However, on June 27, 2011, the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Association that the law violated free speech rights. (procon, 2012) Also Following the controversy involving hidden sexually explicit content in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, then-Senator of New York Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in 2005 to criminalize selling “Mature” or “Adults Only” rated video games to minors, arguing that video games were a “silent epidemic of desensitization.” The Family Entertainment Protection Act never became law but they tried. (procon, 2012)
So why did this attempts fail by the government? Well it has to do with the original law of the land, the first amendment of the United States constitution that is part of the bill of rights. It states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (wikipedia, 2012) All the laws written to smite violent video game sales have been stopped by these simple words “abridging the freedom of speech” in the First amendment. This has allowed the industry to make almost anything it wants as far as video game content is concerned.
With the video game, industry able to make almost any game it wants in respect to the amount of violence in it; who should protect the children? I guess that leaves only one group left, the parents of the children who buy and play these games should be the ones who regulate their time with them. It is their right and responsibility to monitor their children’s intake of media be it TV or video games. The video game industry has empowered them to do this by supplying the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) who is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games and other entertainment software in Canada and the United States. (wikipedia, Video game content rating system, 2012) Which was adopted in 1994 and it broke down into six age gropes. (wikipedia, Video game content rating system, 2012)
So whose responsibility is it? There is no empirical evidence to prove that the playing of violent video games leads to violent crimes in fact it has proved to be just the opposite. (procon, 2012) Also the industry has already self-regulated to inform the parents as to what could be bad for their children and what is not. The government is hampered in its ability to regulate the industry by its own First Amendment. So yes, that only leaves the most influential person in a child’s life to protect them from the false threat of violent video games, and that person is their parents. It is my conclusion that the parents are the only people that are able and capable of making the right decision, not the video game industry or the government.
Works Cited
edition, p. (2005, Aug 4). Chasing the dream. Retrieved Nov 18, 2012, from economist.com: http://www.economist.com/node/4246109
procon. (2012, Oct 25). videogames. Retrieved Nov 18, 2015, from procon.org: http://videogames.procon.org/
wikipedia. (2012, Nov 18). First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Retrieved Nov 18, 2012, from wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
wikipedia. (2012, Nov 18). Video game content rating system. Retrieved Nov 18, 2012, from wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_content_rating_system#Entertainment_Software_Rating_Board
