Video Game Vendetta

Recently I saw something on tv that angered me. Which is strange because tv is usually my friend.

I saw a news documentary piece about video games influencing teenagers to go out and kill people.

As a video game expert, I can say with all honesty that video games don't influence people to go around blowing peoples heads off.

The doc made reference to video games becoming more and more realistic. I'm not denying that the realism in video games has increased, I'm just saying that most games have things that are too far-fetched in them to be real.

I'll use Fallout 3 for my example. It's one of my favorite games but it's not exactly going to convince kids to go out and kill their neighbor.

Why? Despite the realism and the various options the game gives you (such as blowing up a town) the fact that it takes place in a parallel universe where the USSR didn't collapse, certain technology was more or less advanced, took place after a nuclear holocaust a few hundred years in the future and there are mutated orcs and animals running around. Kinda unbelievable huh?

If we look at Call of Duty 3, which is based in World War 2, it's pretty realistic for sure. But the thing is that it was based on a war that took place back in the 1940's. Sure it's violent but so was the actual war.

These type of video games are a source of education. It's surprising how much you can learn from them.

Now the people who play these games are mostly teenagers. Sure they're young and can be pretty stupid, but they're old enough to distinguish between real and fake. Right and wrong. They understand that there is a difference between video games and real life. The people who use video games as an excuse for their bad behavior are just doing it to try to get some leniency.

Now there are some children who play these games and occasionally they confuse reality and fantasy. In this case, it's the parents' fault for not monitoring their children.

Also, the fact that it was on a news channel pissed me off because the story was based entirely on opinion and not on facts. It's this type of "fake" journalism that makes me not want to be a journalist.


For those parents that are uneducated in the ways of video games, I'm going to introduce you to the video game rating system.
On every video game in North America the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) puts a rating on the game somewhere. Video game producers are required to have these placed on the box and other packaging by law.
E = everyone (Basically everyone who can read)
E10 = 10-year-old or up
T = Teen
M = Mature (17 and up)
A = Adult (basically either porn or a gorefest)
RP = Rating Pending (not yet rated)
EC = Early Childhood (extreme youth 3-6 or so)
On the back of every game the ESRB places a list of things the game contains.
Using the game Assassin's Creed (because it's right next to me) I can see that the ESRB gave it an "M" for a rating. If I turn to the back I can see that the game contains Blood, Violence and Strong Language. So yeah that's a fair rating.