The Consequences of Brutality and Sexism in Video Games

The expanding technological ways and extended potential outcomes of video game choices have created a good amount of controversy. With that in mind, arguments and debates are made over their portrayal of grown-up and sometimes gorey topics. Due to the change and growth in technology, graphics, in-game brutality, and dialogue, have also changed. Worldwide news and culture have been battling to deal with this since video games' popularity rose. In this argumentative essay  “Brutality and Sexism in Video Games Essay”, I will help illustrate why video games need stricter ratings. I will cover the brutality in games, issues with ratings, and even sexism and sexuality issues within video games.

Brutality

Brutality in computer games has been questionable from the beginning. The first documented case of this is in Death Race, an arcade game from the 1970s, in the game you'd run over stick figures, which at that point transformed into Xs, meaning they died. Despite the fact that the game creators and programmers guaranteed that the stick figures were not human, the game made national news on TV. Infuriating parents and the older generation to the point where petitions were made to get the game removed. What upset people the most was the capacity to reenact murder, stick figure or not people were absolutely enraged. Then came the 1990s when it is most documented that very violent video games came out by the dozens. This is when the debate on whether or not video games make children more violent or not was beginning to be discussed and even more petitions were created to get video games, even as a whole, banned. Not only that but it was also a big discussion about whether or not video games were being rated correctly.

But it also must be kept in mind that the 1990s-2000s were a time in which America witnessed some first mass tragedies, and you may wonder, how did video games get linked to violence? Well, according to Jack Thompson's lawsuit it was stated that the 1999 Columbine shooting was immediately connected to the shooter's love of video games. In “Journal of Research of Personality” the academic journal even states “Following the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, lawmakers, researchers, activists, and laypersons became increasingly concerned with the potentially dangerous effects of violent video games. In the case stated before, Jack Thompson even stated “In every school shooting, we find that kids who pull the trigger are video gamers.” This being said in my research I documented claims made against 25 game-creating organizations, in which the main argument was that if the games had not existed, the shooting would not have happened. The 5 largest ones are as follows

• Mark Ward, 'Columbine Families Sue PC Game Creators,' BBC News, May 1, 2001,
• In 2008, a 17-year-old kid shot his folks after they removed his computer game framework, killing his mother.
• Mike Harvey, 'Young person Daniel Petric Shot Guardians Who Removed Xbox,' Times (London), January 13, 2009,
• 6 adolescents were captured for endeavored carjacking and burglary, they expressed that they were reenacting scenes from GTA. ABC News, June 27, 2008,

Many outlets have connected violence, crime, and general evil actions to video games. At one point it got so serious it was brought to the supreme court in Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n, 131 S. Ct. 2729 - Supreme Court 2011 and in that case, it is stated that 'like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas—and even social messages—through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium…” implying further that video games affect the actions of others and should be held responsible. From reading many different cases it's come to the conclusion that video games need stricter ratings and age requirements. Different pundits bring up that fierce games are intended for grown-ups, similarly as brutal motion pictures seem to be, and that guardians ought to uphold stricter gauges for their kids.

But as stated previously this issue is a very complex one. For example, how do different evaluators decide what rating a game is, and the majority agree with it. In life, movies with brutality or sexual topics are evaluated R typically. But it is a bit different for The Amusement Programming Rating Board (ESRB), who is in charge of rating video games. The two most prohibitive evaluations the ESRB has advanced are 'M' which stands for mature meaning 18 and older or AO if the themes are mostly sex-related. Many people claim video games and movies should have the same rating system but video games are an experience while movies don't require much interactivity.

Sexism

It's an obvious fact that men make up most of the video gamers statistically. A study in 2009 found that 60 percent of gamers were male, and the normal age of players was up to 35. While the gender has positively grown in the previous 30 years, video gaming is still mostly a male-ruled medium. Interestingly so Ladies make up under 12 percent of game designers and software engineers, and the individuals who do enter the field frequently end up confronting “inconspicuous—and not all that unobtrusive—sexism.”

Sexism in video games has existed since the beginning of games as well. One of the earliest examples of this is The plot of the notorious Custer's Vengeance, created and designed for the Atari 2600 and it came out in 1982. It focused on the assault of a popular American female. Also ultra-popular, for example, Super Mario Brothers. also, The Legend of Zelda highlighted a male figure saving a damsel in distress. “Both the hero and opponent in the first Tomb Raider game had hourglass figures with large breasts and nonexistent abdomens, a pattern that proceeds in the establishment today.” 

Although it is not only in video games females are sexualized there are TV, and other media structures, computer games frequently fall back on sexual orientation stereotyping so as to draw males being that the demographic is mostly them. But in some situations, men are also portrayed wrong like in Mortal Kombat where the have huge muscles and large jawlines, and their physical strength is displayed over everything.

Conclusion

I believe it's important for the guardians or sponsors of children to play a part in their kid's video game play. In multiple studies, I read it was made apparent to me that if parents don't take the part of the parent in raising and monitoring what games their children play then instead of the parents raising them children then rely on the media itself to raise them and they will be more likely to copy what they see there. But that also means its is the rating companies' job to appropriately examine and rate the games they review without worrying about business deals or what money might be lost. And although parents might be hesitant to pay attention to ratings and the framework of it, ESRB appraisals are important to look at when setting rules for minors while they game. Russel N. Lazinak says '“It’s important that parents set specific rules for their children regarding video game play. However, parents need to consider their own behavior, Our previous research shows that parents who are warm and restrictive are more successful in limiting play for violent games. If parents are highly emotional and anxious, children will tend to play more, regardless of their use of mediation and ESRB knowledge.” This proves that in order for video games to be moderators within the rights of the first amendment it is vital that both rating companies and parents work together to make sure inappropriate content does not fall into the hands or minds of those too young or impressionable to handle it.