This again is more of a personal opinion of mine than keeping neutral; some people may agree with me some may not but if we all agreed on everything the world would be pretty boring. You hear all the time on the news and in magazines about someone who has gone out and killed people in a street or in a school etc and then suddenly a video game like Manhunt or Condemned is brought up as the cause of it all. A video game does not force people to kill other people….people kill people; it is of their own mind that they do it. I know there are some who have mental disorders and maybe they are more likely to re-enact something that they see rather than what they hear. Is this is the case then don’t let people like this watch violent films or video games, I love GTA: San Andreas but I don’t suddenly get the urge to steal a car and then do a drive by.
I think it is mostly the government and these “do gooders” if you will pardon the expression, that force their ideals onto others by telling the media that manhunt should be banned in the UK because it is too violent. Well let me tell you something the real world is far more violent than a video game could ever portray what about all these stabbings on the streets now they are very violent and are in the view of the public including young children. Does that mean every one of these stabbings was fuelled by a video game? I find it really frustrating that video games are being blamed for violence, when will people just stand up and admit they did a crime because they wanted to not because they were influenced or forced. I know some can be influenced but the majority know exactly what they are doing and should be punished accordingly. Those who blame video games and films etc should really take a good look around today and see the state that the world is actually in, then they may realise games do not influence actions people do.
This seems more of a rant at the system but it isn’t video games are a form of entertainment and that’s it nothing else, I play Final Fantasy 8 because I want to and because I enjoy the Final Fantasy series. As for games influencing lives I don’t believe they can just snap someone into buying a shotgun then go out and kill innocent people, but I do think they provide a sort of comfort release from the real world. I was picked on a lot in school and I found myself playing video games like Final Fantasy and Harvest Moon (I know forgive me but it’s addictive), this gave me a break from the torment I had to endure day in and day out. It helped me through some dark times and after a while I found more people who enjoyed playing video games, this brought my confidence back up as they told me why they played video games and found their reasons to be the same as mine.
What the public needs to remember is that video games are entertainment not a source for violence, and not to just blame them because they are an easy target. Maybe everyone should start playing video games that way there would be less hassle on the streets, but again it’s just my personal opinion so to those who are so up tight about games lighten up and stick an easy game on…like Rayman.
