Gamers, Are They At Risk?

        

        A 12-year-old boy “trapped an unarmed foe and held the gun to his head at point-blank range. ‘You can’t get away!’ the boy said with a maniacal sneer, taunting the character on the screen. ‘You’re mine!’ The boy pressed the button and shot the foe in the face. Blood splattered the lab coat of the character as he whirled and fell. ‘You’re down!’ the boy said, laughing.”
                                                                                   (derived from the article “Computer Violence: Are Your Kids at Risk?” written by Stephen Barr)

        This is an example of a common computer game story. Video Game are considered to be both educational and harmlessly entertaining. But it has Dark Side.

The Dark Side of Video Games

Many cartoons and video games deceive

youths into thinking that

violence is acceptable

       “A segment of games features antisocial themes of violence, sex and crude language,” says David Walsh, president of the National Institute on Media and the Family. “Unfortunately, it’s a segment that seems particularly popular with kids ages eight to 15.”

        One study in the United States showed that almost 80 percent on video games young people preferred contained violence. Rick Dyer, president of Virtual Image Productions, says: "These are not just games anymore. These are learning machines. We're teaching kids in the most incredible manner what it's like to pull the trigger. What they're not learning are the real life consequences."

        Public outcry against violent games was made as early as 1976 in response to the arcade game Death Race. The idea of the game was to run over pedestrians walking back and forth across the screen. The player who ran over the most pedestrians won. The new, more sophisticated games have better graphics and allow the player to participate in even more realistic violent acts.

                                                                                       ( Source: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102002922)