Is Your Kid a First Person Shooter?

Many politicians seek to advance their pro-family credibility by launching battles against video games and the people who play them. Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Hillary Clinton, 2000 Vice Presidential Candidate and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman, and Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are just a few of the politicians who have argued against violence in video games.

Schwarzenegger’s fight is unintentionally funny due to his acting career and appearance in several violent video games.

But are video games really that bad?

The 1980s nearly destroyed civilization thanks to heavy metal. In the 1950s, concerned parents and politicians worried about the influence of comic books. In the 1920s, jazz and short dresses were considered major societal ills.

Video game violence is accused of causing the Columbine massacres and the shootings of police officers. Impressionable youngsters, it is argued, play a game that depicts violence and then, because they are so weak-willed and eager to emulate what they see, go off and wreak destruction in the real world.

It’s always possible to point out other culturally significant works like the Bible, popular television shows, and even the nightly news depict graphic violence, but anti-game crusaders generally skip that point.

And even video gamers acknowledge some games are tasteless. Postal, for instance, was a game where the player took on the identity of a sociopathic postal employee and went around killing everyone else in the game.

Games like Postal, Mortal Kombat, and Grand Theft Auto serve as the basis for overblown news stories, complete with dramatic sound cues and graphics, warning parents their children may be learning to kill with murder simulations on their Nintendos and X-Boxes.

But do violent video games really make children, teenagers, and the adults who play them killers?

Unlikely. Comprehensive studies (and studies of those studies) consistently fail to find a causal link between playing violent games and increased aggression. One British study released this week even found that gamers were more relaxed after playing violent games.

That doesn’t stop games from being blamed whenever someone commits a high-profile crime. Every time a school shooting appears on the news, video gamers cringe – they know the media will try to blame the violence on video games. Politicians appear, promising tougher restrictions.

But something smacks of hypocrisy. Seventeen-year-olds shouldn’t be allowed to play Halo, but it’s perfectly okay to see Hostel 2 in a theater?

The root cause of violence is a recurring theme, but parental responsibility is the key to well-adjusted kids (and after that, well-adjusted adults). Nobody is arguing that five-year-old children should be playing games like Grand Theft Auto. But banning adult-oriented games because children might play them is ridiculous.

Television shows like Law and Order: Special Victims Unit regularly depict extremely graphic murders and violent reenactments of crimes. These are popular shows, watched by hundreds of thousands and even millions of people. Young children are undoubtedly seeing these shows as well, yet the vast majority of Americans are satisfied with parental controls and TV rating guides.

The video game industry has similar controls available. The Nintendo Wii has parental controls, for instance, and video games come with age guidelines.

The best way to ensure children aren’t exposed to material above their age is smart consumers. Parents need to make sure they understand what their children are playing by playing games with their children. Video games can be a great way to have fun with family. This writer’s grandparents even got into it by playing several games of Wii Bowling.

Of course, Wii Bowling is a far cry from Grand Theft Auto. But adult-oriented video games should not be treated differently than adult-oriented movies, music, and television. It’s all out there, available for consumption. It’s up to the individual to decide what they and their children should and shouldn’t access.

Pro-family politicians (as if there are anti-family politicians) should accomplish this through education. The video game industry learned the hard way through a series of massive public relations failures to promote the ratings guidelines and take steps to ensure children don’t access violent media.

Now it’s our turn to make sure we don’t commit an even worse crime and turn adults into children.