One of the more interesting debates I find is about the whole ‘Video Game Controversy’.
Like other forms of media (such as models are way too thin in magazines… you know the deal), video games are also subject to criticism between leading professionals and are said they should be restricted or prohibited.
The main issues people seem to bring up concerning video games revolve around game violence, unsuitable ‘exposure’, violent and gory scenes and other unpleasant material. Not only this but people also claim that it is possible to become addicted to certain games (I guess one of the more famous examples would indeed be World of Warcraft) and that by playing some games it can in fact induce aggressive behaviour.

When the first of ‘video games’ came onto the market it was perhaps in the 70’s. The first phase of games was like playing with random shapes. You’d do things like ‘follow the shape’ or play virtual Ping Pong. Not much fun and no reference to violence – unless you call pushing a circle around violent. If you do… you have issues.
According to my research, the first of the more popular games to be accused of being ‘violet’ was Pac Man. This wasn’t just a circle… No… this was a circle with a mouth!!! And it ate stuff… RUN FOR YOUR LIVES. Of course to us nowadays that is pretty lowkey. If I remember rightly Pac Man’s victims didn’t lose blood or limbs weren’t hacked off. But for when it was first about it all seemed pretty ‘extreme’. It was a game focused on destruction and so the first of the issues were born.

About a decade passes by and you have the release Nintendo Systems and add another 10 years and you get Sony’s PlayStation (FF ftw! xD). This brought along with it a new generation of games. This new generation involved better graphics… and with this came new ideas. As you can guess – this led to more violence inspired ideas. One of the earlier games was ‘Soldier of Fortune’ released in 2000. In that game you played through the eyes of the character and had to shoot stuff. This of course caused a few ripples in the pond.

For now, I just want to address how people say that by playing a game it can induce ‘Aggressive Behaviour’. This is in fact maybe one of the most common criticisms of video games (and hence why it is a good place to start). It is said that these games increase violent tendencies between teens etc.
Of course studies have been launched. The issue researched. Several of the bigger research projects – such as Havard Medical School Center for Mental Health – have shown us there is no actually proof that by playing these games you increase your violent behaviour. However! Where there were some research projects on the side of video games there were projects fighting against it. There was a study which ineed found an increase in the reports of bullying.

One of the first of the truly ‘Controversial Video games’ was the game Death Race. This game raised such a bad reaction that in actual fact it was removed from store’s shelves!

Many people believe that by playing these games it actually affects our personality. That maybe if we play shooter games we may just take a gun in real life and start shooting people on sight. That if we play GTA we’ll start to hi-jack cars…
I couldn’t disagree more. If you’re that weak willed a person then don’t play the games. If you think it could possibly change… well you… If by playing a game you’re going to become more aggressive then that will be case for movies, music and real life. It makes me so angry to think that people accuse games for the faults of modern day society. Perhaps the media isn’t blameless… but I’ve been playing games for a long time now, and I’m not a violent person at all. Anyway…

While there are people trying to put a ban on these games there are others fighting for them.
Several studies have discovered that not video games not only don’t contribute to violence but in fact they also hold benefits as well. Numerous researchers have discussed potentional these benefits of video games. Some of these being on aspects of social and cognitive development and psychological well-being.

What this thread is about is what is your opinion on the whole ‘Video Game Controversy’.