Wells 1 Sadie Wells Mr. Kurland English 10 April 5, 2009 Dude, You Just Stole Her Car I. What I Know You gotta play this game, my friend says excitedly. I look at the television screen in my friend s family room and see the game Grand Theft Auto on the screen. You just stole that chick s car! I say in shock. The sound of police sirens echoes through the whole room, followed by random cursing of pedestrians. This game is amazing! my friend says excitedly. He hands me the controller. I stare at the screen and start to wonder, How can anyone get enjoyment out of virtual criminal acts? In curiosity, I start to play this very angrily-toned game. As the game goes on I realize, Mom would kill me for playing this. I set down the controller. I m not usually one to say that I don t like video games, but this game fills me with disgust. It has so many suggestive themes that those under the rated age should not be exposed to. II. What I Want To Know Later on that evening, I start to wonder if this type of game style stimulates people to do crazy things. Can it cause people to go insane or possibly even kill themselves? I wondered if gaming under these conditions could cause people to do violent things in real life. These games are very popular, so I also wondered why people are drawn to these violent games. I tried to figure out the answer myself but then ended up trying to forget about it and sleep. But I couldn t stop wondering if playing these games could affect a person s attitude
Wells 2 towards other people or their attitude about violence. With that question in my head, I have decided that the goal of my research is to answer this question: is there any evidence that playing these games can lead to violence? III. What I Learned My first step to figuring out what would happen if someone proceeded to act upon his or her violent video gaming was to find out about an actual occurrence. I recalled reading an article about this in English class in the beginning of the year, so I got another copy of the article and started reading. According to 60 Minutes, in February of 2005, 18-year-old Devin Moore of Fayette, Alabama shot down three police officers due to the influence of the game Grand Theft Auto (Leung). The game makers were being sued for millions of dollars for this outbreak. After Moore was taken into custody, he reportedly said, Life is like a video game. Everybody s got to die sometime (qtd. in Leung). As I read this statement I thought, People have to die eventually, but they should be able to live a happy, long life. What s wrong with this guy? After reading that article, I talked to my mom about the article and what I found. She read the article and agreed with me. At dinner that evening, we began to talk and brainstorm about what my next step should be in my search. We put together a few questions and made a survey for the people that play the game Grand Theft Auto. After typing up the surveys and giving them out, I received twenty questionnaires back. Out of those twenty, only five people said they felt violent or angry after playing the game. Thirteen of the gamers said that they felt calmer after playing the game than before they played. The last three gamers said they felt the same as when they started playing. Ten out of the twenty people said that teenagers should not be exposed to video games such as these, but only one specified why. The voter said that the game is too much of a bad influence on adolescents.
Wells 3 After getting mixed reviews on the survey, I thought it would be a good idea to call in a professional for help. My aunt s neighbor, Sarah France, a counselor specializing in childhood and adolescent development, was happy to help me with this case. I interviewed Sarah over the phone one afternoon. She said that these violent games influence brain development because the human brain does not stop developing until the age of twenty-five. She also said that, These games activate the violence center of the conscience. They can also stunt the growth of the prefrontal cortex of the mind. These games plus the violence center add up to make a bad recipe. According to Sarah, the body releases adrenaline and stimulates feel-good chemicals called endorphins when people play these games. These chemicals can cause the body to feel good and train the mind that violence is a good thing and that it can answer many of life s problems. Sarah went on to say, It s like what you learn in school. You take what you learn from school and apply it to real life. It s the same concept with these games. I went on to ask her about other role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Mabinogi, and World of Warcraft and what impact they have. She replied that the impact can be the same as Grand Theft Auto. However, instead of violence, other influences can be substituted. These influences can lead to many problems with the human being such as alcoholism, drug use and abuse, violence, mind development, and even isolation from the outside world. When I asked Sarah what she thought society should do to keep games from getting into the wrong hands, she responded by saying that age and criminal records should be checked before the purchase is finalized. She also thought that the ratings should be set to the age of twenty-five and above. It would be tricky to regulate these things, she said, but it could be possible. After my interview with Sarah, I figured that I should get another article about what this game has done to people. While on the computer one night, I decided to look up more on this
Wells 4 controversy. According to the online magazine Finding Dulcinea, Polwat Chino, a 19-year-old high school student, had been playing Grand Theft Auto IV in a shop in Bangkok just before he ran out of money. He was going to rob someone. The question was who? Chino saw a passing taxi cab and thought it would be an easy target. According to the Bangkok police, Chino said that he had wanted to find out if it was as easy in real life to rob a taxi as it was in the game (Cummings). Chino stabbed the driver many times and threw him into the back of the cab. Not being able to control the car, Chino was arrested for robbery, causing death, and possessing offensive weapons. The game was pulled from Thailand shelves after this incident (Cummings). After reading this, I figured that I needed to talk to someone in law enforcement to get another opinion. I called up my grandmother s friend Kevin Harris. He was the deputy superintendent of Eastern State Correctional Facility. Kevin thought that more people should pay attention to the ratings on games. It can contain many themes that are inappropriate to young people. He went on to say that people could be resorting to these games because of a life surrounded by violence, People that live in harsh places like ghettos or have abusive relationships with people are used to that kind of hate. They think that it s only natural. I asked him about what he thinks makes violent gaming so addicting. He replied, It s out of the box. Gaming hasn t ever been like this before. Kids want to do what they aren t allowed to. In order to stop video games from getting into the wrong hands, Kevin thought that strict age limits and parental consent should be required. With all of this information and opinions of professionals and the gamers themselves, I feel that I have come to a conclusion on the affects of violence in video games.
Wells 5 IV. What It All Means I believe that I have learned a great deal of information from the people that I interviewed and what I have read. After reading about Devin Moore and Polwat Chino, two young men who committed violent acts that were influenced or inspired by gaming, I think that gaming can cause someone to go insane and that people can change due to the influences of video gaming. This conclusion was also supported by the two experts I spoke with: a counselor and a superintendent at a prison. The game Grand Theft Auto should not be sold to minors and that the age limit should be raised to a higher age. The content in this game is wrong for those in their developing years. People should be checked for age and criminal records. I also believe that parental consent should be asked for before a game is purchased. The youth of America, even the world, should not be exposed to mass amounts of carnage in a video game. What ever happened to Pong and Pac-Man? What happened to not so violent games? I think that games like these should replace the Grand Theft Auto series. And for those who have committed crimes due to the influences of these games, I think they need help. Violence is not the answer to anything. Not even virtual violence should be allowed in society. The world is filled with enough violence from war. Why do we need more?
Wells 6 Works Cited Cummings, Denis. Murder Reignites Grand Theft Auto Controversy. Finding Dulcinea. Dulcinea Media, Inc. 5 Aug. 2008. Web. 9 Mar. 2009. France, Sarah. Personal Interview. 24 Mar. 2009. Harris, Kevin. Personal Interview. 31. Mar. 2009. Leung, Rebecca. Can A Video Game Lead To Murder? 60 Minutes. CBS Interactive, Inc. 11 Mar. 2005. Web. 9 Mar. 2008.