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Tuesday, June 28, 2011
What Messages We Send
By Macy Kee-Jarmon
Raising children in the society we live in is difficult at best. We try to teach our children to be kind and caring their fellow man. We punish and reward them to teach them that every action has consequences and repercussions. We teach them about social norms like covering their mouth when they cough or sneeze, excusing them selves when they pass gas. Then after all that we turn around and give them video games that teach them violent acts.
We as parents spend so much time trying to teach our children to do the right thing and be productive members of society. They are given examples of positive things they should be doing, then we turn around and give them a game that teaches them to rob and steal.
Yes these games are for entertainment and designated for a mature audience but who knows the age range of who plays the games, they are only monitored when purchased. Do these games teach that there are consequences? Sometimes they do show that there are consequences, but there not realistic how could they be it's a video game! Video games of the past like Super Mario Brothers, Dig Dug, and Donkey Kong were about entertainment and strategies. Video games of today like Grand Theft Auto, Call Of Duty, and Saints Row teach our children violent acts. So often we want our children to mimic the lessons they've learned, so why aren't we more concerned with the negative images they see?
Nice post! But i would have to disagree with you on this one. Teens already have access to extremely violent and sexual content through the internet . You can literally go and watch a REAL video of someone getting their head sawed off with a knife very easilly as well as pornographic videos and other things. Should the internet be banned for teenagers as well? They are just trying to socially condition everyone into thinking we live in this perfect, fantasy world where nothing bad happens which is just wrong. The games are just like most other things like porn, cigarettes and rated R films are only available to 17 year olds and above. And regardless of whether or not the games are made available to strictly 17 year olds, most people will still get someone to just buy it for them. Its up to the parents to decide what their kids play and watch, this isn't the developers fault. I think it's the parents' responsibilities to tell their kids the right thing to do.
It depends too. Its not the video games fault either because rating labels exist for a reason. Any little kid who plays these games A) Has parents that don't care or B)Is being sneaky playing them when they know they shouldn't. An 8 yr old simply can't buy this game even if they wanted too. They're are precautions taken but I say the parents are to blame.
Nice post! But i would have to disagree with you on this one. Teens already have access to extremely violent and sexual content through the internet . You can literally go and watch a REAL video of someone getting their head sawed off with a knife very easilly as well as pornographic videos and other things. Should the internet be banned for teenagers as well? They are just trying to socially condition everyone into thinking we live in this perfect, fantasy world where nothing bad happens which is just wrong. The games are just like most other things like porn, cigarettes and rated R films are only available to 17 year olds and above. And regardless of whether or not the games are made available to strictly 17 year olds, most people will still get someone to just buy it for them. Its up to the parents to decide what their kids play and watch, this isn't the developers fault. I think it's the parents' responsibilities to tell their kids the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteIt depends too. Its not the video games fault either because rating labels exist for a reason. Any little kid who plays these games A) Has parents that don't care or B)Is being sneaky playing them when they know they shouldn't. An 8 yr old simply can't buy this game even if they wanted too. They're are precautions taken but I say the parents are to blame.
ReplyDelete