Mr

Regulations on Video Games

By:Matthew Swiger

Eng:1108

In today's

society many people use multimedia. Everyone has watched enough television to turn their brain to mush if that really happens. Being a young person who has grown in this generation of "technology users" I've discovered my favorite type of multimedia is video games.

I guess you really couldn't call me an expert on every video game, but I have had about every game system that has been out. I've had Atari, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, Sega dream cast, a Nintendo sixty four, a Playstation, a Playstation 2, and many other gaming systems that are just really old. Many games that you buy in a store when you are a kid expecting another game in that great saga of games to come out, but it never does? Well me too!

Through some research ive discovered, there are like twelve versions of super Mario brothers. The only thing is that it never had come out in the United States. Looking deeper into the matter of not having as many games as other countries, I found out why we don't have as many. I found out that sometimes the government regulates the game, because of to much violence, adult themes, or the game was so vaguer and twisted that they didn't want it here in the United states. "Why regulate games?" I asked myself after this I had to know just what regulations the government has on video games.

Some of the reasons were like I found out earlier, that games were getting to violent and were making kids do things, and think about stuff a kid just shouldn't think about. For example, today's

video games have evolved into a gruesome blood bath of brains, guts, and green stuff. As technology gets more advanced the worse the games become. Many children have played or have the game Grand Theft Auto, which is a game that you basically go around and shoot stuff, take peoples cars and run them over, pick up hookers, and do a couple drive bys, just for fun. More than 71% of boys in this country had played this game. (Phang)

This game has caused a lot of questioning between many adults, and the government as well, because some kids who play their playstation all the time are starting to be more violent day after day. The latest issue of Reader's Digest there is a story of an 18-year-old who loved to play "Grand Theft Auto" On June 7, 2003, he was taken to a police station by patrolman for receiving stolen property. After he was booked, he snatched Strickland's pistol and shot three officers, and Strickland, dead. (Phang) Video game violence has gotten so bad that Hillary Clinton has actually taken steps to help against children getting these games. She created a "video game report card" , which helps parents pick out safe games for their children, instead of buying something like doom3.

On the other hand some people feel that when you play so many games with so much blood and gore that it is ok for you because it helps you cope with stress, because it puts your mind off of things. I know since I was little my brother has played violent games when he becomes stressed, or just needs some alone time he uses them as a sort of coping mechanism to escape from reality for a few moments, and become something great. Some people who like violence in games, asks the question why not put parental controls on video games?

Sometimes violence isn't just the factor in bringing a game to the states sometimes you just don't have enough money. The original Mario cost the Nintendo over 2 million dollars to produce for this country. If you have ten different versions of Super Mario brothers that cost two million a pop that would be twenty