Game Studies Blog.
For as long as video games have been around, there is most certainly going to be a wide variety of genres for those games. One in particular; the violent genre. There have been very few violent games when gaming first came around, however one noticeable classic game that is known for its violence is ‘DOOM’. With the rising popularity when it was still new, it has caused hysteria among parents, Christians, and other ‘mature’ figures. These people believed that video games tend to make people violent and that there is a correlation between the two; however, as a gamer myself it’s clear to say that this is highly inaccurate and is only just made from fear mongering. Fortunately, as time has gone on games have been given more room and flexibility to what they can contain. It’s not a whole lot, but it’s still an improvement.
Now if we take the parents and other non-gamers into consideration from the past and when they believed that video game caused violence. We immediately think of some examples where it’s speculated but not confirmed. For instance, the columbine shooters; They played a lot of violent games and have done violent acts. It’s because of the game right? Absolutely not, It’s because those shooters were mentally unstable, not included with other students and friend groups, and often picked on by the ‘jocks’, etc. Not because they played violent games. (Said info can be found in a documentary about what caused the whole incident.) However, if we used the exact same logic that violent video games cause violence, the same should be said for other mediums such as film and tv. Or even that other genre of video games cause behaviour changes in the player. But just because a player plays surgeon simulator it makes them a surgeon, or if they play Garfield Kart, they’re a fat orange cat racing in a kart. So the argument where violent video games cause violent behaviour is just absurd and inaccurate, but easy to be mistaken due to events that happened coincidently at the same time violent video games where recently popularised. Not that the time of releasing for games has any importance as humans have been inherently violent as far back as we can remember. In conclusion, violence in video games don’t have an effect on people. But their mental stability and other factors have influence; and video games don’t define the player. Jake Carter - 3/08/2017 Comments are closed.
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AboutHere is where I'll be submitting my blog pieces for my Game Studies class in Tri 2. Archives
September 2017
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