What we learn as kids remains with us for our entire lives, especially when they are being reinforced to us every day. You will never forget your ABC’s or 123’s, not just because you learnt them in kindergarten but also because you use them daily. Similarly, kids are beginning to engage in role playing games that simulate violence at such young ages, that they are starting to leave harmful impacts on the kids as they begin to play the games more often. The games that simulate violence have integrated into our society as something that is acceptable, when it really shouldn’t be. Technically we are teaching kids that it’s okay to run around with a gun and open fire, because that is what they are seeing in the games that they play. Role playing games that simulate violence influence children in perilous ways and should not be something that is tolerated by our society.
Role playing games are “the safe zone”. Just like it is mentioned in ‘High Jinks: Shoot Out’ by Guy Martin, games that simulate violence may be okay when they are being played, but outside the games, the safety barrier is removed and that same behaviour becomes unacceptable. It is hard to differentiate what is right and what is wrong, especially in a society which promotes games where the aim is to shoot someone, as a fun, free time activity. Activities like; laser tag and paintball give kids the thrill of holding a gun with the aim to fire at others. Who is to say that those exact kids won’t pick up a real gun and try those same things? No one can be sure, as children don’t have the same discriminative capabilities as the adults around them.
Now let’s look at the argument that many put forward, that violent role playing games help to improve problem solving and cognitive skills. If teens can easily catch on to these habits from the games, then how can we not expect them to pick up the harmful lessons as well? Many studies, including ones done by Palo Alto Medcial Foundation, kidshealth.org and helathline have proven that “violent content is linked to more agressive behaviour in teens”. Playing these games turns into a habit and starts to be incorporated into kid’s lives, leaving these harsh and negative thoughts running through their heads all day. This leads to pugnacious behaviour that could possibly threaten our society.
Another claim that many will make is that not all games that simulate violence lead to people open firing on the street. Not all farmville players are farmers and similarly not all Call of Duty players are trained shooters but these games increase the risk factor and the possibility of something going wrong. In Norway, during the summer of 2011, a man named Anders Behring Breivik shot 77 people on the streets without being provoked. In an interview with CNN he had mentioned that he, “played Call of Duty; Modern Warfare 2 as a means of shooting practise” leading us to believe that the violent role playing games can have a hazardous impact on the players. It turns out that this wasn’t an isolated incident. In the New York Times article, “Shooting in the dark,” they introduced the fact that “the young men who open fired at Columbine High School” in 1999 were also all video game addicts. This evidence points to the fact that there is a strong correlation between role playing games that simulate violence and the behaviours of children in ways that put communities at risk.
Out of the 41 million teenagers in the U.S, approximately 97% of them play some sort of video game. And out of all the video games sold in the U.S, 55% are categorized as either shooter, action of fighting games. Why are we promoting violence over sport, or combat over education? Our top selling video games should teach kids valuable morals that don’t pollute their brains with negative ideas. These so called sources of entertainment pose harmful threats on the people playing them as well as those around them. Understanding this could prevent an innocent citizen from being shot on the street because the shooter was heavily impacted by the violent games he played. I am not suggesting that these games be banned, but closely monitored so that risks are reduced and we can live in a safer environment.
By Aditi
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