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Video Games

I am what some people would call an avid gamer. When I'm not at track practice, doing school work, or with my girlfriend, I'm probably watching TV or playing video games. Recently the video game industry has come under political and legal attack from people such as Hillary Clinton and Jack Thompson. They say things like "Video games are corrupting our nation's youth." They blame video games for all of the violence and crime in our country. They say that a video game's violent nature incites children who don't know the difference between reality and fiction to commit crimes such as burglary or bullying. However, none of this is true. People like Clinton and Thompson know that many American citizens don't understand modern technology. Here they see an opportunity to exploit this lack of knowledge. While it's true that there are many games such as Grand Theft Auto 4 and Call of Duty 4 that aren't acceptable for children to play, responsibility lies with the parent's. There are games that children shouldn't play, true. But there are also some games that not only are fine for children to play, but actually help expand their horizons. Many parents don't understand the ESRB rating system. E= acceptable for all ages. T= acceptable for people age 13 and up. M= acceptable for people age 17 and up. AO= acceptable for people age 18 and up. Most parent's that understand this rating system don't let their children play M games. Any game with a rating less than M is guaranteed not to have any really controversial material in it. And yes, M rated games do include killing, strong language, robbery, etc. However, it is, in most stores, policy that anybody without picture ID proving that they are over 17 will not be sold an M rated game. This being the case, how is it possible that video games are what is responsible for the nation's youth acting out? Here's the answer: they aren't. So next time you hear somebody like Hillary Clinton or Jack Thompson say that video games are evil, don't believe them. Remember that they are trying to use America's lack of knowledge about technology to their advantage. They are slandering a perfectly legitimate industry because they have no legitimate topics to gain themselves support.