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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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...
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.