User Control Panel
Search iVirtua
Advanced/Tag Search...
Search Users...
What is iVirtua Exclusive Community?
  • An exclusive gaming industry community targeted to, and designed for Professionals, Businesses and Students in the sectors and industries of Gaming, New Media and the Web, all closely related with it's Business and Industry.
  • A Rich content driven service including articles, contributed discussion, news, reviews, networking, downloads, and debate.
  • We strive to cater for cultural influencers, technology decision makers, early adopters and business leaders in the gaming industry.
  • A medium to share your or contribute your ideas, experiences, questions and point of view or network with other colleagues here at iVirtua Community.
Guest's Communication
Live Chat
Teamspeak (VOIP) Audio Conference
Private Messages
Check your Private Messages
Themes
Choose an iVirtua Community theme to reflect your interests...
Business Theme
India/Arabic Theme

Gaming Theme
iVirtua Recommends
Fly Emirates Advertising
Have videogames become too violent?
Digg This Digg Topic Tag it on del.icio.us Tag topic on On del.icio.us Technorati Search Technorati Search Post to Slashdot Post to Slashdot
You are currently in The Great Debates!
Post new topic Reply to topic
Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:09 pm Reply and quote this post
Moral campaigners have long been concerned about the detrimental effect of violent games on younger players.

At the moment, the Video Standards Council oversees ratings for games aimed at players under the age of 16, while the role is taken over by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) for those above that age.

However, there is anecdotal evidence that some retailers are not taking ratings seriously and are selling inappropriate games to children.

Do you think that videogames have become too violent? Is the current system of classification working? Should one body have resonsibility for all game ratings? Is enough being done to protect younger players? Send us your comments.

See some views here: http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/threa...tl=20060823180847

However the main problem is weather the gamer can tell the difference between fantasy and reality is when the real problems occur.

The main tragedy occurs when parents buy their underage children games that have a BBFC rating of 18 then blame the developers when they find out what the game is like. Last I checked, BBFC rating are legally enforcable and as such, it should be the parents responcibility to monitor their child's gaming habits ensuring that the games are suitable.

Of course, like all things in life now, why take the blame for your actions or lack of action when you can pass the blame to someone else.

Contributed by Editorial Team, Executive Management Team
372659 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Wed Aug 23, 2006 1:28 pm Reply and quote this post
well, i can quite easily buy games for over 18's from my local corner shop and then freely play them at home. the ratings usually are quite sufficient and correct, but its a problem on the side of the seller's, the parent's and indeed the child. depending on the maturity of a child the ratings don't matter too much. with very mature children they understand the difference between a virtual game world and the real world. i'm always fascinated at how parent's can look at game's where it explicitly says 18 pretty much all over it but still let their children play the game, and i've seen many argue with a shopkeeper after seeing the game being played. a common game was teh late doom 3, when there were 10 year old kids playing it at midnight, which leaves me to question how stupid children can get sometimes  

all in all there are many people to blame   teh children, the prents, the sellers.

Contributed by Noobarmy, Editorial, Marketing & Services Team
9726 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:06 pm Reply and quote this post
I had to put doom 3 down and im 18. Was to scarey for myself, but how can a 10 year old play it till mid night :'( lol.
Contributed by Lucas McCartney, Executive Management Team
14240 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Fri Aug 25, 2006 11:37 am Reply and quote this post
I love violent video and computer games. Im 28 now so the ratings don't really affect me but I think the rating system is very good. I think its the parents who need to get more educated about appropriate games for there kids. All though I think the real problem is that some kids may actually seem more mature then there age and can handle games like that. Also I think the kids may actually get a hold of games from there older siblings. I don't know if anything can really be done about this issue. But No I don't think games are too violent. alot of stuff that you see in games happens in real life and on tv. Thats enough of my rant for now.
Contributed by Thomas Lohse, iVirtua Ultimate Contributor
30700 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Fri Aug 25, 2006 5:40 pm Reply and quote this post
any child with access to the internet has probably already seen pron (all types), self-mutilation, s&m, dead bodies, or pieces of dead bodies thanks to the internet.  I know I did when I was growing up and had an internet connection.  I think I'm a pretty normal person with infrequent homicidal tendencies.  

So why don't we expose kids to the sick natures of the world earlier in life, that way they won't get all confused when they see it for the first time and believe it is real life or some twisted shit.

Contributed by Gprime, iVirtua Recognised Member
1318 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sat Aug 26, 2006 12:54 pm Reply and quote this post
You have a good point there Gprime But if we had a system in place from the very beggining kids would never have to see any of that stuff. Thats the point im trying to get across if they would have tackled the problem from the start of the gaming  and movie  and tv industry then it would of never had to deal with it in the future.
Contributed by Thomas Lohse, iVirtua Ultimate Contributor
30700 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:01 pm Reply and quote this post
I dont believe games are to violent well some are like manhunt i see that as a pointless waste of time, but im 14 yet i play 18 games, it annoys me when they say violent games are a bad influence on people my age, because im fine i havent hurt anyone because of a game, but i believe some games ARE too violent, and its the responsability of a parent to determine wether or not the game is suitable for there child.
Contributed by MYNA, iVirtua Active Contributor
1932 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Fri Sep 08, 2006 9:49 pm Reply and quote this post
I think the problem is that most parents don't actually play the games there kids are getting into and seeing how violent some of them are. I don't think games are getting too violent just yet but I have to agree that some games like GTA San Andreas, Doom 3, and Fear for examples are not appropriate for the real young child. I think its time for the Parents to step up and do whats right for there kids.
Contributed by Thomas Lohse, iVirtua Ultimate Contributor
30700 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sun Sep 10, 2006 12:03 pm Reply and quote this post
Violance adds realism and can reduce aggressions, but also lower the bar of things it takes to make the player hurt someone...especially if the player is menthaly weak.
Contributed by Jakob, Executive Management Team
29093 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Mon Sep 11, 2006 1:40 pm Reply and quote this post
Thats a good point Andurion. Yes It does do that but when does it become to much.?
Contributed by Thomas Lohse, iVirtua Ultimate Contributor
30700 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sun Feb 18, 2007 8:58 am Reply and quote this post
I think some video games have been taken too far. It's an easy selling point. If a game is said to be one of the most violent ever seen, people will buy it to check the hype. On the same note, it's become a bit ridiculous
Contributed by Zippy, iVirtua Recognised Member
1136 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:07 am Reply and quote this post
Lucas McCartney wrote:
I had to put doom 3 down and im 18. Was to scarey for myself, but how can a 10 year old play it till mid night :'( lol.


Doom3 scary? lol is that a joke?

What alot of people do is blame games when its bad parentting thats causing this.

Contributed by Nitronumber9, iVirtua Valued Contributor
2048 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:09 am Reply and quote this post
The trouble with ratings, and this counts for films just as much as games, is that the ratings mean different things, depending on when they were released.  The biggest instance I can rememer of this in a film is American Ninja.  The film is an 18, but why? ther is no strong swearing, no sex, no blood and gore.  But then again, it is from the 80's.  Today, it would get maybe a 12, or even PG.
I bought command and conquer Red Alert for PS1, and that was an 18.  This was basicaly because it was a war game.  Why then, dont you have to be 18 to watch the news? when that is mostly pictures and videos form Iraq and Afghanistan.  Things like British convoys getting blown up by American A-10's.

Contributed by Evenith, iVirtua Active Member
489 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Sun Feb 18, 2007 10:19 am Reply and quote this post
It;s a good point. I remember Red Alert coming out and being an 18. With pixel people, it's difficult to make it particularly violent lol. The worst it got was people suddenly turning one shade of red, and they were only about 5 millimetres tall anyway...
Contributed by Zippy, iVirtua Recognised Member
1136 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:43 pm Reply and quote this post
It is not the store's business to worry about video games. (Which, have become too violent) The parents need to take action on what they want their kids to be playing. It is not the government's job to monitor games.
Contributed by kurt, iVirtua Active Member
521 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Related Articles
Post new topic   Reply to topic


Page 1 of 2
Goto page 1, 2  Next

iVirtua Latest
Latest Discussion

Discuss...
Latest Articles and Reviews

Latest Downloads
Subscribe to the iVirtua Community RSS Feed
Use RSS and get automatically notified of new content and contributions on the iVirtua Community.


Tag Cloud
access amd announced applications author based beta building business card case company content cool core course cpu create data deal dec demo design desktop developers development digital download drive email feature features file files firefox flash free future gaming google graphics hardware help industry information intel internet iphone ipod jan launch linux lol love mac market media memory million mobile money movie music net nintendo nov nvidia oct office official online patch performance playing power price product program ps3 pst publish ram release released report rss sales screen search security sep server show size software sony source speed support technology thu tue update video vista war web website wii windows work working works xbox 360 2006 2007 2008

© 2006 - 2008 iVirtua Community (UK), Part of iVirtua Media Group, London (UK). Tel: 020 8144 7222

Terms of Service and Community RulesAdvertise or Affiliate with iVirtuaRSSPress Information and Media CoverageiVirtua Version 4PrivacyContact