Marcus Gollahon

–WASHINGTON - Playing violent video games like Halo, World of Warcraft or Mortal Kombat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in actual life, according to two studies appearing in the April issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor. The Argument

–The first study involved 227 college students who completed a measure of trait aggressiveness and reported their actual aggressive behaviors in the recent past. They also reported their video game playing habits. "We found that students who reported playing more violent video games in junior and high school engaged in more aggressive behavior," said lead author Anderson, of Iowa State University. "We also found that amount of time spent playing video games in the past was associated with lower academic grades in college." say researchers. –In the second study, 210 college students played either a violent or nonviolent video game. A short time later, the students who played the violent video game punished an opponent for a longer period of time than did students who had played the nonviolent video game. The Studies

ESRB Rating Symbols The government has made video game companies rate all their video games they produce to try to regulate what type of games children are playing. As a result, a descriptive labeling system is available to parents to monitor the video games their children play. Parent’s Involvement

In 1994, the video game industry established the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), a comprehensive labeling system that rates over 1,000 games per year and has rated more than 8,000 games since inception. The ESRB applies five different rating symbols and over 25 different content labels that refer to violence, sex, language, substance abuse, gambling, humor and other potentially sensitive subject matter. As a result, a descriptive labeling system is available to parents to monitor the video games their children play. Continued…

“Sixty percent of US consumers polled agree that the government should regulate the sale of violent or mature content video games while a slim majority (51%) agrees that the government should regulate mature content itself.” (elsblog.org) If the government wants to step in they will have there “one size fits all” regulation that shows that video games that seem to be for mature audiences will be marked mature and no one will be able to buy that game if you are under 17. But should that be parents job to buy video games that are suitable for their children? Government Regulation

Finally, the most powerful case against government regulation or censorship of video games is that it's none of government's business. In a free society, parents should decide what their children see, hear, or play. The government should not serve as a surrogate parent. The children’s parents should decide on their own terms what is in the best interests of their children. Conclusion

Questions?