Social and Ethical Implications of Children and Teens Playing Violent Video Games - Essay Example

Running Head: CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE Social and Ethical Implications of Children and Teens Playing Violent Video Games Children are the most innocent beings among all of us, and the fast moving world engulfs them as well within its wild nature and rapid life. They are exposed to all sorts of information, whether it is good for their innocent minds or not. And then it is up to the children as to what meaning they want to extract out of these exposures. Whether it is the television, video games, radio or marketing efforts made by companies, children usually do become the recipients, whether it is intentional or unintentional. The thesis statement here is to research on social and ethical implications of children and teens playing violent video games. Such video games are too dangerous of a nature to be shown to children, who do not have much awareness of the world and who can take any sort of meanings from such acts that they see. To be able to grasp and be limited to only enjoying any acts of violence that are shown, the mind needs to be old enough. If exposed to these factors before time and before age, various meanings can be extracted and major changes can take place in the personality of a child. Whether it is the visuals which depict such violence or the increase in bonus points in a video game that take place when the child "kills" a villain, the effect is bound to be there on these young and innocent minds. These video games are a newer medium as compared to the television and movies which also are a source of violence acts for young minds. Background The most popular past time for children is that of playing video games. Children, and especially boys, often indulge in video games which are depicting acts of violence and which require the player to contribute to that violence through the joystick or the mouse that he or she is using to control the game. Such usage of the joystick or mouse inculcates such habits within children. When children see in a video game that they are rewarded and their points increase or they are given a bonus whenever they kill a person or whenever they injure the other party, children feel that such acts will always be positively rewarded, whether it is real life. Children feel that when they will hurt someone, use harsh language, or use violence to deal with a specific situation in life, they will be positively rewarded like they were in the video game. The research of Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gentile has stated that boys spend an average of 13 hours per week on video games, whereas the fairer sex spends around 5 hours per week on the video games. This research also says that half of the video games in the market actually result in the real life deaths and acts of violence that takes place. Social implications The social implications of children and teen playing these violent games are that they inherit the same violence in their personality. Socially, they become destructive human being. There is more of negativity in their personality rather than optimism. Whatever fights they will encounter in their life, whatever circumstances they will face, they will want to deal with it through violence and settle it in their favor through any violent means possible. Since these games have rewarded them not just points, but bonus points as well as non-point bonuses like new weapons, they assume that life will also reward them similarly. Therefore, such a man is added to the society who would not believe in handling situations in a peaceful manner, rather he would deal the aggressive way. (Krug, 2002) For example there is a game known as Postal, in which acts of violence are a common sight. People are crying for mercy, masses lie on the ground moaning, there can be blood seen everywhere, killings are happening as a common routine, there are dead bodies lying all around, and people are screaming for help. But this ambience and aura that has been created by the makers of the video game is a source of fun for the players, which are often children. They do not know that such acts are known as negative and since they have been exposed to this game and such acts of violence at such an early age, children believe it to be part of a normal daily life and thus inculcate in themselves such acts and use it in their routine while interacting with their friends, peers and parents. (Pinker, 1999) And it is not just the fact that violence has been included in the game as part of the overall package. Such violence in the games is highlighted by the makers of the game. For example, the makers of Postal proudly claim about their game saying that when a person is killed and his corpse falls on the ground, he stays there for the whole duration of the game, like it would happen in real life. As opposed to other video games, bodies do not disappear in thin air. Ethical Implications There is another game by the name of Duke Nukem in which not just violence but sex is also presented to the children players. The game involves aliens who are trying to abduct women who are very minimally dressed, thus exposing the children to such dressing and for such dressing to be normal in daily life. The hero who is saving these women from getting kidnapped then celebrates each victory by kicking the already dead heads of their victims. These are not just simple mere acts of violence, rather they are merciless acts of violence - such acts, the thought of which, would give a shudder to any normal human being, even an adult. And such acts are so easily installed within a video game, meant to be played by little minds. And thus, there can be no blaming the children if they suppose all this to be normal. (Krug, 2002) Problems Marketing efforts made by these video games to promote future selling of the new versions of their game include promising the players that there will be more blood, more gore, more violence and more corpses, all with the right animation to link it as much as possible to real life. And such marketing actually works because the children have already been psychologically trained by the older versions of these games that violence is okay and it is fun to do. Video games not just teach to kill, but to do this killing with happiness and with a sense of accomplishment and pride. All emotions that are within a child for a scene so violent just die down because he begins seeing it as normal. He does not feel the sympathy for a begging person. He just becomes insulated in terms of such emotions. (Krug, 2002) Further problems that are related with these violent video games are that they are very engaging for the children as well as interactive. When they watch violence on television and movies, it is not interactive; therefore the impact is not much. But when the same violence is illustrated in a video game, the impact is almost double since it is interactive. Any action that a child or a teen does on these video games, he is rewarded for it accordingly, therefore he or she feels it is a two way interactive process that they are a part of. In addition to that, the more hours a child plays these video games in a day, the more times he repeats these violent acts of behavior. Therefore, the more these acts are repeated and seen, the more enforcing they are on the personality of the child. Questions The questions that arise in the minds of children are numerous while they are playing these games are numerous. Such questions can be about "what will the next level of this video game bring", "what will the next version of this video game have", "if this game is so engaging, what about other video games which are promising more violence and action-packed fun" Therefore, such questions make them want to further indulge in these games so as to satisfy their curiosity. Another question that typically arises is that who is responsible for the making of these video games The fact is known that companies and businesses aim for the maximization of profit and therefore, they will design games that sell more, with more violence, with more indecent things. But is it not their ethical responsibility to take care of the fact that they are not harming any component of the society, especially the children, who are the future of this society. Companies have a very powerful status in the three-sector world (comprising of the business sector, the civil society and the government), and therefore, businesses should not violate or exploit this powerful position that has been granted to it by the other two sectors. (Pinker, 1999) Moreover, the government can also take care of the fact that the businesses take care of such ethical and social issues while designing and marketing video games. The government should do this by compulsion, if businesses do not agree to do it voluntarily. This is important to safeguard the interests of the children and especially their parents, who spend a lot on their good upbringing. Pro and Con Points of View The point of view which defends these video games is that they are a source of entertainment for the children and as the technology of this century has advanced, so has the mind of today's children. The child of today is way sharper than a child a decade ago. The child knows where to differentiate and draw the line between real and virtual life. In contrast to this, the con points of views are numerous and they have the right research to support them as well. Children are young at heart and mind at their pre-teen and teenage years of life and therefore, they cannot be expected to make wise decisions, whether times were of today or a decade before. The age at which children and teens are is the perfect age to learn how to deal with conflicts in a peaceful manner and how to end in a win-win situation. And if at this learning age, they will play violent games, it is bound to take them in a dangerous direction for the rest of their lives. Video games have proven to be great teachers; therefore, they can be used by companies as well as parents and teachers to teach children good habits and proper ways of behavior, which are good for the society and everyone in general. (Krug, 2002) Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said that the exposure of children to such acts of violence or sex is really hampering the proper process through which they should be brought up. Parents are increasingly facing the dilemma as to how to save their child from getting exposed to such components of life, which should not be visible to them at such an early age. It has been researched and found out that kids can get totally desensitized towards violent acts that they encounter in daily life and thus, they would not even feel bad when someone would cry for help or beg for mercy. Such development within a child would lead to the making of a negative personality which would not be liked by anyone. Such personalities would be the evil element in any society and would destroy the many peers that are in constant interaction with such a child. Therefore, the social and ethical implications on children and teens when they play violent games are quite high and dangerous. Socially, an individual is being made who will be injurious to the society and its residents in general. And ethically, the indecent and sexual depictions that are inherent in these violent games also are not meant to be for these young children, who should not be exposed to such cheap acts at such a young age. Ethics says that its not right to tamper with the young minds of children when it comes to sexual images and videos, since it would make them further curious. And all these video games do is add such sexual representations so as to increase the audience of its game. Such video games are not ethically and socially right for teens and children. Therefore, the government should take all actions possible to ban such games before they get released in the market. References Krug, E. (2002) World Report on Violence and Health. WHO Pinker, S. (1999) The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way they Do. Simon & Schuster Read More