Online: Violent games dangerous to kids?

Online games nowadays are adopting the violent theme to the gaming experience. To those who enjoy playing and watching the characters in the game being shot or their arms being ‘cut off’ it’s fine, but what about kids who has the access to these sites?

Isn’t it detrimental to kids from the age of seven till 14? Games such as Max Payne, Counter Strike, Resident Evil and The Torture Game can become a bad influence to these kids with the awry images.




Left to Right: The much anticipated violent games –ResidentEvil,CounterStrike and MaxPayne (Source: Google image 2008)

Parents should not let the kids decide on their own on what online games they can play. It is important to control the access to the internet and to the online games that they want to play

Basile .R (2008) stated that video game makers also have a responsibility to their consumers to protect children from these violent video games. The first positive step in the right direction is the decision made to start a rating system for video games. Parents can now look at the rating and have a basic idea of whether or not it's the right choice for their 10-year-old son.

There are many ways that kids are affected by the images, audio effects from the games. Huessman (2008) explained that there are two ways a violent media can cause aggression especially to kids.

First is imitation; children who watch violence in the media can internalize the message that the world is a hostile place, he explains, and that acting aggressively is an OK way to deal with it. Kids can become desensitized to violence. "When you're exposed to violence day in and day out, it loses its emotional impact on you," Huesmann said. "Once you're emotionally numb to violence, it's much easier to engage in violence."

It’s bad enough that the images and audio effect somehow looks realistic, you don’t want the little ones to be aggressive too right?

Basile. R 2008 Violent Online Gaming, online, viewed 6th November 2008 http://ezinearticles.com/?Violent-Online-Gaming&id=940649

Huesmann.R,L 2008, Violent Games Make Kids More Aggressive, online, viewed 6th November 2008
<http://news.mmosite.com/content/2008-11-04/20081104193122908.shtml>

Max Payne 2008,online, viewed 6th November 2008 http://www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne/