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The truth is that the big targets of moral concern come from games such as Grand Theft
Auto, Doom and Call of Duty which are all undeniably about killing and they are popular
amongst male teenagers.
Games may be more harmful in affecting the behaviour of younger viewers compared to
films. This is because video games are active you play the games and are interacting with
the characters in the games and are experiencing the action, whereas movies are more
passive - they are just watching and spectating the action as it is happening.
There is concern within the media of how games that contain content which may be
unsuitable for younger players of that age rating, may be affecting younger players and
encourage certain behaviours created from the game. For example, in games like Call of
Duty and Battlefield, they include campaigns which usually involve the US force as being the
good guys and the main character that you play, and the enemies are Iranian terrorists. This
could both play on and encourage racial views of world events amongst the gamers,
especially if they are younger audiences playing these games, when the age rating is
normally 18.
http://www.pegi.info/en/index/id/23
Age ratings have been set on games and films due to the content involved in them. There
are 5 age ratings for films, set by the BBFC: U, PG, 12A, 15 and 18, and in games there are 5
also, set by PEGI: 3, 7, 12, 16 and 18. The reason for age ratings is because the older age
rated games or films would involve content which arent suitable for younger viewers. For
example, in theory, anyone can watch a U or PG rated film, (as long as the parent or teacher
thinks it is okay for anyone under 8 or 9 to see the PG rated film), but films that are rated 12
is where some content becomes more explicit and there may be a
guardian required if anyone under that age should watch the film. 18 age
rated games have been rated for a reason. The main reason is because of
the content, but another reason is because older audiences do not want
to play the same game a young child would play, for example Rayman
which is rated 7+. People who are suitable for playing 15 or 18 rated
games would want something that would be more detailed or graphic in
the content. For example Red Dead Redemption is a game set in the Wild West in the US
and the borders of Mexico, in year 1911. You play the character of
John Marston - a former outlaw whose wife and son are taken
hostage by the government in ransom for his services as a hired
gun. The game is published by Rockstar Games, the same
publishers of Grand Theft Auto. It is an open world but has a main
storyline. It involves a lot of graphic content where you shoot and
kill other bandits or innocent civilians, and when playing the main
story, there are cut-scenes, in which one involves a sex scene. This
sort of content would not be suitable for audiences under the
rated age range. There are a lot of reasons for this, and one of the main concerns of children
under the rated age range playing these types of games is because there is a possible link
between the violence in computer games and the level of anti-social behavior that tends to
be given to children who play video games.
The American Psychological Association has carried out research and whilst they found that
there was no single risk factor to blame for aggressive behaviours, violent video games did
contribute. The research demonstrates that a consistent relation between violent video
game use and the increase in aggressive behaviour, cognitions and affect, and a decrease in
pro-social behaviour, empathy and sensitivity to aggression. Research has concluded that
the playing of violent video games is often cited as a factor in motivating and encouraging
violent youth crimes such as High School shootings in the US.
One example was the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999. Two teens went on a
shooting spree at the high school in Littleton, Colorado, resulting in killing 13 people and
wounding more than 20. They ended up turning the guns to themselves and committing
suicide. It was the worst High School shooting in US history at the time, and became a major
investigation to determine what motivated the gunmen. There were speculations about the
two who committed the killings because they had been bullied and were part of a group of
social outcasts which was fascinated by Goth culture, or even a possible influence by violent
video games (and music) but these theories were never able to be proven.
Fear of Media measures being injected into an audience to persuade them to act a certain
way, comes from the Hypodermic Needle Theory. This runs alongside to the Use of
Gratification Theory, suggesting that audiences are active consumers of Media Products and
pick and choose the gratification that they wish to receive from them.
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