I’ve been a gamer my whole life, and I’ve played almost every genre of game possible. However never once in my life can I say that I’ve played a game that has influenced me to act in any negative way. However, we are all different and can be influenced in many different ways. For some people, video games are a form of quick entertainment and for others, it’s a form of escapism. its also not a secret that video games have engraved itself into our culture for good, so whos playing these games? Big companies have the difficult task of creating fun new immersive ways to allow the gamer to delve into a world separated from reality, however, I don’t believe that they should be held liable for the negative influence behind the games that they make.
When we look at a game like GTA for example, the player has the liberty to do virtually anything the game allows you to do. That can range from a simple mission involving cars to murder, and much much more. This isn’t the only game with a high level of freedom, there are a huge plethora of games that can be held responsible for its negative influence. When a person who suffers from mental health decides to lay one of these games, they can be influenced to reenact some of these actions. However, it would be naive to think that big companies create these games to influence the gamer to replicate what there playing. Although some games technically encourage violence, there are also warning in the games that inform the consumer that the product they have is for mature audiences only. As such there must be a level of consent (and a small background check) between the consumer and producer. If a child with mental issues is playing a game that encourages violence, its the parents(or any other friend and family member) responsibility to know what their child is playing. Video game companies have a job to produce games that will sell out, and they make sure that the demographic is correct for whatever product they make. Therefore I believe its wither the parents (or sometimes second-hand sellers) responsibility to monitor what their children are playing.
In conclusion, although some tragedies have been linked to video games, I don’t believe that the creators are at fault for this. Video game companies create games for the purpose of entertainment and profit. It is near impossible to find a generally released game that has been licensed to influence negativity in society. The parents should be aware of their child’s mental health and what they are playing so that there won’t be any conflict amongst anyone (influenced by video games). It should also be noted that there are also many other games that are made for a less mature audience that someone can enjoy just as much as a mature game. Ultimately we can’t stop everyone who is easily influenced to stop playing bad games. However, we can try to help these people with any mental issues they may have. By monitoring the games they play, we can involve ourselves in bettering those who need help. Ultimately video games are something very special to me, and many other people. I think that the special feeling of playing a game during a bad day should be shared with everyone. However its not the companies responsibility to see whos playing bad games, it’s our responsibility.
I agree with what you’ve said. I believe that video game producers do have an important responsibility to society, but a rather basic one. Just to make sure that they’re not supporting a political or negative motive, and to prevent cyber bullying as best they can. I feel that people try to take gaming out of hand and portray it as a bigger issue then it really is. No game creator is designing their game in the hopes of increasing violence or anything of that nature. It is 99% of the time meant just to have fun. People critique the games like their is malicious intent behind the creation of it. That is simply not the case
I agree with your statement because games are made to either have fun or you can take the game a little more serious and play it on a professional level. There’s no reason the game should influence society to replicate what your doing in real life, that’s not what the game companies are trying to accomplish. If someone actually blames violent games for violent acts in society, you shouldn’t blame the game, you should blame the person because they might have a mental problem. And another thing I agreed with you on is when you said “Video game companies have a job to produce games that will sell out”. At the end of the day, the gaming industry is just trying to make money, they don’t really care what type of games they make, as long as they their game is good, people love it, and it make profit, that’s all they want.
Ah yes… the profit motive. Y’all bring up interesting and important points. Gian, I noticed you mentioned “background checks.” Is that a reasonable thing to expect of the industry/sellers? As a creative myself, I’m totally on the side of the game makers (might not be able to tell that from some of the other discussion threads), but if it’s always all about profit, where does that leave us?
I agree what you said. What I think is that game company shouldn’t take all the responsibilities. We can blaming everything on games and companies. I believed most of us did read a “disclaimer” or “warning” before the game start. Some game you should click accept to keep playing and most of us just skip that part. Some game just warning you before the game actual starts. I think this is all the companies can do. Tell you what kind of people can play this game. What will happen in this game. Since we pass these ” warnings” and touch the keyboard or controller. The responsibilities are actually on us or our guardiens. We can’t ask the game companies to take care everyone or do everything. And there’s no way we can let it happen.