Game over: Illinois Governor says some video games are too violent for teens

0 Comments | Current Events, Feb 18, 2005

Aliens race toward you, firing plasma pistols at your head. Each blast explodes in a flash of bright light. Dodging the bullets, you grab a submachine gun in each hand and shoot back, aiming above the aliens' armband shields. High-pitched screams fill the air as your bullets strike the targets. Alien blood and guts spray everywhere.

As the Master Chief in Halo 2, one of this year's must-have video games, it's your job to save the world from evil aliens. But could your on-screen heroics leave you with offscreen injuries? Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois thinks so.

Blagojevich says violent video games are dangerous because they desensitize kids to violence and make them more aggressive. He's trying to make it illegal for stores to sell violent video games to minors in Illinois.

Teens aren't ready to give up their video game access without a fight. They say that video games are harmless fun and that kids see more violence on TV.

Troublemakers

Blagojevich says violent video games don't just show criminal acts--they let kids commit them. "[Kids are] not spectators .... They're the ones who cut people's heads off" he told reporters.

In Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, another game on Blagojevich's hit list, players steal cars, kill police officers, and run over pedestrians. An Iowa State University study found that kids who are exposed to such violence in video games are more likely to have aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

"I'm convinced that violent video games do contribute to adolescents' becoming more violent, having more hostile feelings, and [experiencing] more desensitization," Joanne Cantor, a professor who recently retired from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told The Washington Post.

Fun and Games

Eleven-year-old Deshaun Cordova is quick to point out his favorite part of Halo. "I like to hit [aliens] on the ground with all of their guts," he said. Deshaun's dad plays Halo and other mature-rated video games (targeted at people 17 and older) with Deshaun. That way, Tajai Cordova said, he can explain the violence, much of which his son has already seen on TV.

John Beck, the author of a book about video games, says kids know that video games are just that--games. "I think the kids distinguish pretty clearly between the cartoonish nature of a video game and reality," he told reporters. "I grew up with Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd shooting at each other's heads all the time."

Courts have struck down similar laws, saying that video game content is protected by the First Amendment's free-speech clause. U.S. Court of Appeals judge Richard Posner overturned one such law. In his decision, he wrote, "To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it."

Take part in a CE poll on this News Debate at www.weeklyreader.com/ce.> Get Talking

Ask students: Do you play video games? If so, which ones? Do you consider the video games you play to be violent? Why or why not? How do you feel when you play them?

Notes Behind the News

Iowa State University recently conducted two video game studies. In the first study, 227 college students reported their aggressive behavior and their video game habits. Each student was also tested for aggressiveness. The researchers found that students who reported playing more violent video games in middle and high school displayed more aggressive behavior.

In the second study, 210 college students played a violent video game (Wolfenstein 3D) or a nonviolent video game (Myst). Afterward, the students were given the opportunity to punish other students with a noise blast. The students who had played the violent video game punished other students with the noise for a longer period of time than did students who played the nonviolent game.

The researchers concluded that violent video games prime players for aggressive thoughts and provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflicts.

They also warned that playing violent video games may be more harmful than watching violent television and movies because video games are interactive, absorbing, and require the player to identify with the aggressor.

Doing More

Share the findings of the Iowa State University studies with your students. Tell them that some people question the validity of the studies. Ask: Do you think violent video games spark aggression? Or do you think aggressive people seek out and play violent video games? How might each scenario affect the studies' results? Explain your answers.

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