Violent Video Games’ Popularity Skyrockets
The National Institute on Media and the Family, USA’s resource on the effects of media and video games on children, has released its tenth Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card along with a Ten Year Overview on the Past and Future of the Video Game industry.
The focus of this year’s MediaWise Video Game Report Card is on grave issues with the ratings system; lack of parental involvement; and commends responsible retailers and game console makers.
After a decade of research and monitoring, the Institute gave the video game industry a collective grade of “D plus”.
David Walsh, Ph.D., president and founder, the National Institute on Media and the Family, said, “There has been significant industry progress and reforms over the last decade, but ever more violent and sadistic games are still ending up in the hands of children. We feel the ESRB, which is owned and operated by the video game industry, needs to be overhauled. Retailers need to stop selling violent video games to children, and lead all entertainment sectors by embracing a universal independent ratings system.”
Further areas of special concern in the Report Card were firstly the immense popularity of M-rated video games through a student survey. Another aspect that was highlighted was the widening gap between what kids do and what parents know and lastly an update on the arcade industry’s development, implementation and enforcement of its rating system.
Similar to previous years, the Annual MediaWise Video Game Report Card provides parents a list of recommended video games and games to avoid. This year the list featured games like Far Cry, F.E.A.R, The Warriors, Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse, True Crime: New York City, Blitz: The League, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, God of War, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, Urban Reign, Conker: Live and Reloaded and Resident Evil 4.
The recommended games for children and teens in that list included: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer, Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Sly 3: Honor Amongst Thieves, We Love Katamari, Sid Meier’s Pirates!, Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX3, and Backyard Baseball 2005.
Despite 10 years of alert and repeated calls for improvement, the Institute has concluded the ESRB system is beyond repair. The Institute will convene a Ratings Summit in 2006 to be held with leading parent, health and child welfare groups. The Institute is also calling for an Independent Universal Ratings System, to replace the ESRB.
The survey of 2005 for the retailer’s found that as compared to last year, the retailers were much more indulgent this year. The number of young girls who were permitted to buy the M-rated video games without adult supervision was extremely high. The secret shopper survey found that boys as young as 9 were allowed to buy M-rated video games 42 percent of the time, and girls were able to purchase M-rated games 46 percent of the time. As compared to 2005, last year girls were only able to purchase games 8 percent of the time.
The Report said that parents and children are on different planets, when it comes to what parents think their children are playing, and the games they are actually playing, in other words which reflected the communication gap between the parents and their children. The Report also said that with the amount of time that kids spend playing games, even non-violent and educational games, it seems the average gamer is getting heavier, in effect contributing to the obesity epidemic among American youth.
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October 3rd, 2007 at 4:03 am
I just want to comment on the fact that video games with a more violent rating seem to be selling more so than in the past.
Has it ever occurred to anyone that younger children, who may have grown up in the days of the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo (systems that were out in the early 1990s), are now also reaching an adult age, and so along with their generational love for the video game medium, are also reaching for more adult-oriented games to play?
I don’t think the report shows that more violent video games are reaching the hands of younger children, but rather that a generation of gamers are growing up and also developing more adult tastes. It seems the idea that “video games are just for kids” is still stuck into our minds, without looking into the possibility that the medium is becoming more prevalent as a form of entertainment in our society as a whole, for both older and younger fans.
Also can we seriously contribute the obesity epidemic entirely on the growing popularity of games? Food choices, the increasing demand of parents to be more out in the workforce to support a family in a high economic society (and therefore not being as present as earlier), and other factors do contribute to the epidemic.