I received an e-mail early last week that is worth sharing. It touches on a subject that I’ve written on before, the correlation between violent video games and acted-out aggressive behavior. The statistics themselves tell the true story, but for those who are not convinced, let me offer that one has to admit that playing violent video games involves some level of interaction with the story line, plot and overall demeanor of the video characters. Ultimately, it is this involvement that causes a percentage of players to take the behavior away from the television and into society.

The Indianapolis Star reported this week that State Senator Vi Simpson (D-Ellettsville)— who is one of the brighter of the bunch—is filing legislation banning the sale and rental of certain video games to minors in Indiana in an effort to protect Hoosier kids from violent and sexually explicit video and computer games.

Under Simpson’s proposal the state would ban the sale or rental of violent or sexually explicit video games to anyone 18 years old or younger and would require retailers to place a warning label on those games.

“Right now kids can walk into just about any store and get their hands on a video game in which they can shoot police officers, use drugs, steal cars, rape women or even assassinate a president. That’s frightening to say the least,” Simpson said.

She continued by stating that the games, and the images and scenarios that are depicted in them, are not intended for minors. However, because there are no real restrictions on their sale or rental, kids have easy access to them.

The fact is that 83 percent of young people have a video game console at home, with 65 percent having two or more and 87 percent of boys under the age of 17 playing “M” rated games, which is a rating system set forth by the video game industry showing the game is intended for mature audiences only. That means that with or without an adult, a large percentage of youngsters are shooting police officers, tearing off people’s torsos and chasing depicted enemies with guns to enact revenge. The actions that are being carried out in the games require the player to get involved so much so, says the April 2000 issue of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, that aggressive thoughts in little Billy’s or Suzie’s head are being primed.

"Violent video games provide a forum for learning and practicing aggressive solutions to conflict situations," psychologist Craig A. Anderson, Ph.D., who conducted this particular survey, said. “In the short run, playing a violent video game appears to affect aggression by priming aggressive thoughts. Longer-term effects are likely to be longer lasting as well, as the player learns and practices new aggression-related scripts that can become more and more accessible for use when real-life conflict situations arise."

The APA study also shows that playing violent video games like Doom, Wolfenstein 3D or Mortal Kombat can increase a person's aggressive thoughts, feelings and behavior both in laboratory settings and in actual life.

Furthermore, violent video games may be more harmful than violent television and movies because they are interactive, very engrossing and require the player to identify with the aggressor, said the researchers.

Simpson’s solution to the problem in Indiana is that the decision to purchase or rent the adult games is something that the parents should be making, not kids and store clerks. The only thing I find frightening in Simpson’s proposal is this statement: “If parents want their kids to play these games, then parents should go to the store and buy it, not the child.”

We don’t live in a perfect world, and suffice it to say that a portion of parents don’t even know what keeps their kids glued to the television—but they know they aren’t being bothered. So, will Simpson’s proposed legislation work? I hope so, but wish even more that parents would pay more attention to what is occupying the preciously impressionable minds of their children. They might be frighteningly surprised.



Starr Shuppert can be contacted at (765) 932-2222 or via e-mail at starr.shuppert@cnhimedia.com. To add a comment to this story visit our Website at www.rushvillerepublican.com.