Violent Video Games example essay topic

Andrew, Chuck, and Kevin played all night and skipped class the next day. They, along with thousands of others across the country, purchased Halo 2 at midnight the day the much-anticipated game was released in stores. Students and company employees called in sick that next day claiming the Halo 2 flu as their reasoning. Halo 2 is only one of a multitude of games distributed for use on Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's Playstation 2, and Nintendo's Gamecube. American society is experiencing an epidemic as a result of many young people spending hours upon hours playing video games. The National Institute on Media and the Family is one organization founded "to build healthy families and communities through the wise use of media".

This institute wants to raise awareness of the harmful effects of playing too much. These effects include violence, lack of independent thought, and a false sense of reality. Founded in 1996 by David Walsh, Ph D, NIMF works to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms of the media. The organization does this through research, education, and advocacy, even though they are a non-partisan, non-profit organization.

Its website provides information for parents to use when selecting games for their children and raises awareness about the effects that come with video games. One of these deals with the environment of the games. According to NIMF, "Game environments are often based on plots of violence, aggression, and gender bias". Additionally, women are often portrayed as helpless or sexually provocative. The number of hours played under these false settings can often give a false sense of reality.

Gamers then have trouble distinguishing between what is real and what is not. Negative effects exist as a result of the environment and storyline of a video game. According to a study referenced on the NIMF web site, violent video games may translate into aggressive behavior. The child's imagination is capture, and oftentimes he imagines that he is the character he plays on the game, which is another mesh of fantasy and reality. Questions have also been brought up in regard to children at a very young age being exposed to violent video games. It is true that violent behavior is also linked to abusive parents and siblings.

However, video games are set apart from this influence because they are easier to regulate. Another cause for concern comes from the storyline many video games create. Many games are programmed so precisely that the gamer does not need to think in order to follow the storyline. Programmers for the major gaming companies get paid high salaries because they have to be creative to write the programs for these games. Despite this, Jeremy Giese, whose Masters studies at the University of Salford in Manchester, England includes video games, writes that the Halo 2 plot line was nothing more than a "B-rate sci-fi storyline attached to a typical first-person shooter". The quality of the storyline is not an important factor.

All the gamer is required to do is follow the storyline. Halo 2, along with many other games, does not require creativity or independent thought on the part of the gamer. However, the lack of a good storyline in Halo 2 did not stop 5 million copies from being sold in the first two weeks in the United States alone. The $20-billion-a-year gaming industry targets young people. Two thirds of all households with children have a gaming system. In addition, the Federal Trade Commission reports that 70% of the 118 "Mature" rated games are targeted at children under 17 years old.

With all of these numbers stacked against today's young people, it is especially important that parents stay involved with what their children are doing. In addition, the reminder that games are exactly that -- games -- and not reality, needs to be stressed to those who play. This, in turn, could combat the ever-growing problems connected with overplaying video games. This may help people like Andrew, Chuck and Kevin.