In my first blog entry I wrote about who was really responsible for videogame violence and its effects on social behaviour. Since violent videogames was the focus of the lecture yesterday I thought it appropriate to build on the new information I have encountered since. What I did establish is that there is still no clear solution to the problem of who should be held accountable for children who are exposed to such games; there are two sides of the coin.
On the one hand parents who go to the extent of buying their children expensive consoles and games in the first place should not be astounded at their children’s exposure to violence. Nobody forces children to play these games and there is a rating system in place, the parents can be held accountable.
But on the other hand, the fact that censorship enforces only specific issues such as the use of blood and sex means that some game producers will always find a loophole in order to maximize profit and increase their market audience, thus making them more accessible to children, the game producers are accountable.
Above all of this I believe that until there is succinct, proven and vast evidence to suggest that violent video games have a significant influence over youth behaviour and crimes, moral panic should a take a backseat. Additionally, until then we need to think of better ways to police children’s access to violent videogames as it is clear the current system is not successful.
Francesca S.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Interesting point, although is the only reason that a game producer would want to include adult content is to better market the game to children?
ReplyDelete