The Gray Nature of Video Games

EC for early childhood, E for everyone, E10+ for everyone ten and up, T for teen, M for mature gamers 17 and older, AO for adults only (18 and older). These are the six ratings used by theEntertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) to categorize who is suited to play a game. The frequently sited “violent video games that are corrupting our youth” (Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Modern Warfare, Fallout, Resident Evil, etc.) are mostly rated M for mature. This system was created to ensure that no impressionable minds become influenced by games too mature for them. Why, then, do people continue to blame video games for violent tendencies? If video games are so bad, why do we continue to play them? Both pro and anti video game advocates argue for their sides vehemently. Perhaps it is possible that video games are both bad and good.

 Video games are extremely prevalent in society. 72% of American households play video games. The average game player age is 37 and in 2011, 29% of gamers were over the age of 50. This information, collected by the Entertainment Software Association, shows that games are not simply an adolescent pastime. Adults play games just as much, and often more, than children. This mature presence in the gaming audience is the reason why M-rated games receive the most media coverage. Video game companies market their games to the adults who can actually afford them. However, that does not imply scarcity for age appropriate games. According to the ESRB’s PatriciaVance, “Nearly 60% of the almost 1700 ratings we assigned [in 2011] were E for Everyone, which means there’s a huge selection of games available that are appropriate for all ages.” Children have plenty of games fit for their age to choose from. There is no reason for any child to play an M-rated game and the only reason they would do so is because their parents allowed them to.

Multiple studies have explained that video games do have negative effects. According to a studyconducted by Utah’s Brigham Young University, everything found associated with video games came out negative. The more students play video games, the worse their relationships are with friends and parents. Gamers also tend to smoke pot three times more than non-gamers and female gamers often have a much lower self-esteem. Video games can be addictive, expensive, distracting, destructive, and can rob you of real life experiences. However, there is much good to be said about video games as well.

Video games can be accredited for teaching valuable skills to its players. In video games, timing is everything. If you move too quickly or too slowly, it could mean loss of the game and a return to a checkpoint. Organization is also a skill taught by video games. The key example is Tetris, a block game in which you must stack differently shaped blocks to form a straight line. Considering that organization is vital in day-to-day life, this is not a bad skill to practice when sitting at leisure at your house. Gamers are also well-acquainted with the concept of resource management. In first-person shooters, the gamer has to carefully ration out and preserve various types of ammunition. In role playing games, it’s healing potions, reviving potions, antidotes, and weapons. This type of thinking is valuable in the real world when dealing with money, resources, employees, and various things in between. In addition, video games help to boost brain function in the individuals who play them.

According to Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, "Games are an amazing invention that entertain and inform in ways different than traditional media. "But many critics have little or any experience with them and therefore don't understand where there could be artistic or educational value. No different than with film and TV, media sensationalism and ignorance can contribute to the fear that games are harmful to children. There's absolutely no scientific evidence showing a positive correlation between violence in individuals and the games they play.”

There are two sides to every coin. Perhaps there are negative effects to playing video games, but there is also undoubtedly a positive effect as well. The opinion of the media cannot completely trump the opinion of the public, and the video game public declares that video games are detrimental to them. With such a high percentage of American families who play games, one would expect there to be a great deal more shoot-ups if video games were as bad as they are made out to be. Like most things in life, video games cannot be defined as wholly good or bad, black or white, helpful or hurtful – they are gray.