5I was going to write a review, but the more I thought about the subject the more I felt that I had to say, so an essay is the place for it rather than a review.
I am not going to make the argument against video games causing violence in anyone, I am far from qualified to have a definitive say in that argument. Rather I will pose the question does it matter?
If, say, it is true that video games have caused any violent incident or even a death, then in any event it is tragic. If a game has acted as a trigger to cause an act of violence alone it is a very sad event. I for one would think myself unlucky if I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, if I was directly affected as a result of someone blasting me in the head thinking it was a video game.
But that is the thing, I would be unlucky. These events come out of the blue and are unpredictable. They are also incredibly rare, and I doubt that any single incident has been proved (though some would say that it hasn't been proved that smoking is harmful.).
In my opinion society as a whole has done what it can to limit exposure to the young to violence in video games. There is a rating system in the UK for games suck as 'GTA: Vice City', and it is rated 18, which means that no one under 18 may buy it. Of course people younger than that get access to the games, they have older siblings who have it, and they are not exactly going to lock it away so their kid brother or sister can't play it. And although most high street stores will not sell these games to under 18s, I was recently outside a second-hand game store in Edinburgh and saw a couple of definitely under 18s clutching a copy of the above mentioned game. Now, they may not have bought it there, they may have just tried to sell it and not got a good price offered. The thing is they were under 18 and looked like they were keen to go home and play it.
I don't think for a minute that they or anyone else under 18 would be adversely affected by that game, and if it was likely, then I think that publishers would think twice about releasing it.
If something exists that people want you are not going to stop them getting it. Alcohol for instance is not sold to anyone under 18 in this country. But that doesn't mean that people under 18 can't drink. There is no real law (that could be enforced) that would stop anyone drinking in their own home. I was certainly exposed to alcohol at a relatively early age, and every so often would have a try some of my grandfather's home made beer. Apart from the odd incident since then (due to high-pressure factors in my life) I only drink socially, and not to excess. I drink beer because it has a high liquid volume, and by the time I reach the stage that I want to be at (warm and tingly, slightly tipsy, 'happy'), I can carry on chatting with friends, and just keep that level going. Or I have wine with a meal, and generally nowadays steer well clear of spirits.
The same is true for most people with any substance either addictive or 'bad for them'. The problems come with people who haven't learnt to control themselves, or can't deal with life's pressures. That is not a fault of the video game or alcohol in itself, there are many other influences. I read a report recently that stated that a much larger proportion of crimes in this country than I thought were alcohol related. This may just be a trace however, but it showed that alcohol was involved to some extent (the measurement may be taken sometime after the crime was committed). Any amount changes your perception and may make you deal differently with a given situation. It seems therefore that more people than I thought steal, rape or kill while under the effects of alcohol.
So should we ban alcohol?
Obviously no. You just have to look at what happened during Prohibition.
There may also be a good side to games. I am prepared to admit that there may be events that can be linked directly to video games.
But, given that alcohol is such a factor in crime, isn't it a good thing that these days it seems to be fairly common for young men especially, once they have finished drinking in the bar, to head home together to play video games? How many potential crimes have been stopped by people doing this, rather than continuing to drink elsewhere, thus becoming less aware of their actions? You can't count things that don't happen, but I would be willing to bet that the net affect on crime is to lessen it.
And before anyone suggests that I am saying 'play games and crime will decrease', I am not. What I am saying is that the existence of games has probably stopped some people somewhere getting killed.
So to finish this up, does it matter that games are violent? In my opinion no. There are so many factors involved in anyone's decision to do anything, to single games out would be wrong, and as I said before, there are influences that cause more problems, but these can't be banned, so why bother banning violent computer games?