The Video Game Industry’s Rating System

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Since the introduction of video games in the late 1900s, people of all ages have been captivated by virtual reality and experiences that can be shared by family and friends. Like many forms of media, video games have been the subject of continual controversy and censorship, due to the use of graphic violence, sexual themes, substance abuse, gambling, propaganda, profanity or any other sensitive subject matter in various games. The video game industry has dealt with several issues concerning their rating system in the past and people have wondered whether they need external help to address this problem. The video game industry is doing a sufficient job of regulating itself when involving mature content in violent games and the government should not interfere in this industry's ratings system. The early 1990s brought with it increases in technology and violent video games emerged with “person-on-person violence” which include games such as two graphic fighting games, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter and a first-person-shooter zombie infestation game called Doom. By this time, youth violence had dramatically increased and peaked to one of the highest levels on record and various groups of school shootings shocked the United States. The more drastic response to this was the belief that video games were training young children to become murderers by simply playing these violent video games (Ferguson). In view of consumers’ violent nature, the vast majority of research concerning video games has focused on “the way game play impacts anti-social behavior” (Tear). The video game industry was aware of this issue and had to improvise quickly on a solution or there would have been a noticeable decrease in sales. Parents were and still are ... ... middle of paper ... ... Regulations That Protect Children from Violent Entertainment." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 22 Aug. 2013. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. McCauley, Dennis. "The Political Game: A Brief History of Video Game Legislation." Joystiq. N.p., 18 Aug. 2006. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. Robinson, Nicholas. "Video Games And Violence: Legislating On The 'Politics Of Confusion'." Political Quarterly 83.2 (2012): 414-423. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. Schiesel, Seth. "Recruiting the Inner Military Hero in Men." The New York Times 15 Nov. 2011: C1. Print. Tear, Morgan J., and Mark Nielsen. "Failure To Demonstrate That Playing Violent Video Games Diminishes Prosocial Behavior." Plos ONE 8.7 (2013): 1-7. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. Thierer, Adam D. "Regulating Video Games: Must Government Mind Our Children?" Cato Institute. N.p., 24 June 2003. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.

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