Violent Video Games: Should Kids Be Able to Buy Them?

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Video games should be treated no differently than Movies, Books, or Music. They all should be treated equally. I grew up playing a lot of video games, and a lot of violent ones at that. I have never been charged with a violent crime, nor would anyone that knows me describe me as a violent person. I am 28 years old, attend College with a 3.9 GPA, and have a family with a three year old child. I feel that myself and my family live a good life, and neither myself nor anyone in family have any "violence issues". Parents need to step up and take more responsibility for their children.

Joshua Buchea of OR 11:39PM May 17, 2010

How does violence in a media like “Gears of War” where the gameplay is largely based on violence, for fun, pose a threat to anyone over the age of twelve?
Further defining this threat, does a video game like this promote the emulation or teaching of violence and killing to young people through in-game rewards, or does the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), that demarcates “Gears of War” as Mature, form an alarming censorship on particular forms of interactive media that display anything deemed beyond the subjectivism of what this “self-regulatory body” (ESRB.org) insists falls into its own Content Descriptors?
“Gears of War” is considered by many to be “one of the most graphically violent video games every produced” (Juliano) and has frequented websites, such as GamePolitics.com, boasting this apparent condemnation or glorification. I will center this essay around this one particular violent game, “Gears of War,” so as to more easily comply with the ESRB ratings methodology, which bases its own ratings primarily on a “wide range of pertinent content” (ESRB.org) that can be defined as both “the most extreme content of the final product – in terms of relevant criteria such as violence, language, sexuality, gambling, and alcohol, tobacco and drug reference or use; and the final product as a whole – demonstrating the game’s context (such as setting, storyline and objectives) and relative frequency of extreme content” (ESRB.org). This will be done in order to answer the questions posed and to attempt to convey whether or not at even the most extreme end of violent media forms, wherein lies “Gears of War,” the approach to these games should be to study, educate and think critically about them, in order to help everyone better understand the medium, rather than to subjectively censor the media.
See more of this here: http://www.thekartel.com/r.j.huneke/blog/2010/05/17/censor_gears_of_war_

R.J. Huneke of NY 4:51PM May 17, 2010

This argument is as old as movies, just a different format. People just don't want to admit that they might be to blame for not raising thier children properly or responsibly. If a parent notices something wrong in childs behavior then they need to take appropriate action, like theripy if nessisary. Plain and simple. Stop triing to blame anything and everything for one's problems, for that is the biggest problem in our society today.

graham gibson of CA 2:10PM May 17, 2010

Here we go again. These groups trying to put the blame on videogames and not the parents who failed to do their job and raise their children appropriately. I have beeen playing videogames all my life including many violent ones since I was little and have never been violent, arrested, or aggressive to anyone my whole life. I am 25 years old and in college now and have a 3.8 gpa but these groups will never point out me. They will go and look for the one person who acted out violently and say that videogames caused him/her to act that way. Some people want to do nothing but put the blame elsewhere and never look in the mirror at themselves. Videogames don't kill people, violent sick people do.

Ross McLellan of MN 2:59PM May 16, 2010

I am so sick of this debate. I am 22 years old, I have been playing video games of all varieties since NES, whether the games were sports, fighting, racing, shooting, etc. I typically prefer first-person shooters. Guess what, I just graduated with a civil and environmental engineering degree less than 2 weeks ago. And I'm not insane to boot. People need to stop blaming video games for kids becoming anti-social or for kids going on shooting sprees. Did we ever take a step back and question the PARENTING!? NO! Me and millions of others that play "violent" video games are perfect examples. Our parents paid attention to our behavior when we were younger. If our behavior was abnormal, they probably wouldve taken the game away, as a good parent would. And by good I mean responsible.
There ARE ratings on games now anyways, so why are we worrying about this? The laws and ratings dont even matter as the parents or older siblings can buy the video games for the kids anyways. This just goes back to prove the same argument (which should be the ONLY argument), that PARENTS, NOT GAMES are solely responsible for abnormal adolescent behavior, IF induced by video games.
Anyways, how about we concentrate our effort, time, and money on solving important areas such as energy, mass unemployment, and apparently COMMON SENSE.

Kevin of PA 12:09AM May 16, 2010

Thank you so much, that was one of the few intelligent things I've heard someone say lately. Seriously, I am relieved that someone else is actually using their brain

Musk of PA 11:55PM May 15, 2010

If California thinks that enacting this law will prevent the sale of violent rated video games to minors, they apparently either mistrust their existing system or have evidence that their retailers are not following guidelines and ratings that are already in place.
Here in Virginia, retailers do not sell violent rated or mature games to minors. And, parents can and do still refuse to allow their minor children to play any game they find offensive or inappropriate, whether allowed by law or not.
Parents and consumers in general have a lot more control over what their children can do (or buy)than the special interest (read: well funded) groups want us to believe.
Pass the law out there if you fear for your own children's safety, or if you are just too lazy to monitor what they buy any other way. We dont need that law here.

K Olinger of VA 9:50PM May 15, 2010

This law is just redundant at best Kids(under 17) are not allowed to buy violent("M" Rated) games thanks to the ESRB(Electronic Software Rating Board). Why is the Gov. so concerned about this nonsense when there are so many far more important issues they could be focusing their minimal skills and intelligence on.

Tyme of OR 3:54PM May 15, 2010

Why not just phrase the question like this:
Should kids not not be able to not buy video games?
Whoever wrote this poll should really consider how to phrase their questions better in the future. A better way to ask this question would be:
Should kids be allowed to purchase violent video games without a parent present?

Ariel of IL 10:50AM May 15, 2010

It seems that people would rather blame video games for all the problems in the world rather than take responsibility for their own choices. This law is essentially saying that video games are to blame for problems, not people. I have played video games since the beginning of time when the Nintendo was around. If anything, playing video games kept me from going insane rather than ended up making me insane. It seems like it is the American way to pass the buck and place blame on somebody else for our own choices. This is a bad law and it should not be passed. What are we going to start doing next? Are we going to start holding cell phone companies responsible for motor vehicle accidents?

Eliot Trimberger of WI 8:35AM May 15, 2010