5/09/2005
Do You Know What Games Your Kids Are Playing?
Parents, psychologists and legislators are weighing the social, physical and behavioral pros and cons of video games. The questions is who is ultimately responsible for monitoring what youths buy. No regulations to restrict sales to minors have been effective.
By M. Zapp
May 8, 2005
Alex Cade, 15, a Rock Bridge High School sophomore, talks on his cell phone while playing “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” at a friend’s house. Before he steals a few cars, hijacks a helicopter and shoots police and innocent bystanders, Alex Cade, 15, pushes his controller and walks past a prostitute. If he wants, he could pick her up, take her to a dark alley and pay her for sex. His health points would go up, and if he felt like it, he could shoot her and get his money back. But Alex is not interested in sex right now, so he merely slaps the prostitute around a little bit. Alex is not wandering the streets alone or even thinking of engaging in any illegal activity. Rather, this high school sophomore is sitting inside playing “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” with his friends on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
“Grand Theft Auto” is one of the many violent video games that kids are playing by the millions, which has some parents, legislators and social scientists worried about what messages these games are sending. “Grand Theft Auto” is rated M, for Mature. It was the top-selling video game of 2004. The label on the back of the game box explains why it received the rating: blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs.
Joel Hensley, regional manager at Slacker’s CDs and Games, acknowledged the extent of realistic violence in some video games.
“The games are a lot worse now as far as violence and sex. I don’t think they’ve ever been as bad as they are now,” Hensley said.
The video game industry is huge, with sales reaching nearly $10 billion dollars in 2004 — just slightly above the box office sales for movies.
According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, 92 percent of children age 2 to 17 played video games in 2003. Psychologists are taking note, and research suggests that video games can have a variety of negative impacts on players, including increased aggression and decreased empathy.
Video games are self-regulated and rated by the industry. But legislative efforts to ban the sale of M-rated games to minors have been introduced in at least 12 states, including Missouri.
Alex and his friends James Wheeler, 15, and Hunter Reeve, 16, say they play video games for fun and do not take the violence seriously.
“It’s not like we’re going to shoot hookers in real life,” Alex says.
The outrageous circumstances are part of the excitement. James says the games represent “the stuff you can’t do, but want to do.”
Aggressive Involvement
Child psychologist Douglas Gentile is the director of research at the National Institute for Media and the Family, a nonprofit organization that studies the impact media has on the family. Gentile said that parents should be “very concerned” about their children’s video game habits.
“The research seems to be pretty clear that two things matter: the amount of time that kids are playing and the content of what kids are playing,” Gentile said. “Kids who play video games a lot have poorer school performance. The content seems to matter for things like behavior but not for performance. Kids who play violent video games, regardless of the time spent playing them, seem to be more aggressive and less pro-social.”
Bruce Bartholow, an assistant professor of psychology at MU, has been studying aggression since he was a graduate student in 1994. Bartholow said that according to many studies, violent video games cause an increase in aggression, desensitization to violence and, perhaps more alarming, a decrease in positive behaviors, such as helping and expressing empathy.
“These kids might become more irritated or irrational,” Bartholow said. “They might be slower to provide help or faster to engage in road rage. Playing video games doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to kill someone, but that’s not necessarily the only outcome we care about.”
Gentile said he conducted a study of more than 600 eighth- and ninth-graders and found that kids who play more violent video games are more likely to fight.
“If a naturally hostile kid is playing violent video games, they’re more likely to engage in fights, but even non-aggressive kids are still 10 times more likely to fight if they play violent video games,” Gentile said. “We used to think it was just the kids who were already at risk, but that doesn’t seem to be true anymore.”
Bartholow’s concern with violent video games does not just come from a psychologist’s perspective. He has a son, Jack, who is 8. Jack only has a Gameboy, so he doesn’t play video games that much. He loves them anyway, and he gets to play the more violent games at friends’ houses.
“What is scary to me as a researcher and a parent is that we are starting to see more and more kids playing games a lot,” Bartholow said. “Boys, for the most part, are spending the vast majority of their free time with these games.”
A 2004 study by psychologist Craig Anderson, who Bartholow once worked with, said boys spend an average of 13 hours each week playing video games, and girls play five hours per week. The National Institute on Media and the Family said 87 percent of pre-teen and teenage boys play games rated M. Bartholow said violent video games are so popular because there is a lot of color, excellent graphics, action and excitement.
“They’re fun in the sense that they’re simple,” Bartholow said. “You just kill as many things as you can. You don’t have to be smart to play the games and do well in them.”
Gentile said people are drawn to violence as part of the brain’s unconscious survival instinct. But he also said children do not automatically enjoy violence — in video games or elsewhere.
“Look at a 4-year-old kid watching violence — he doesn’t like it,” he said. “Parents make an error on this one saying, ‘Don’t worry, its not real, it’s only TV.’ The kid is having an appropriate reaction to the violence, and we tell them to get over it.”
Gentile suggested that parents watch the games with their children and talk with them about the violence.
“Sit and discuss the games and help your kids understand that what’s seen on the scene is not real life, that your family’s values are different from what’s seen on the screen,” he said. “That seems to be a very positive factor for kids.”
Gentile said the age-based ratings system also contributes to children wanting to play violent video games.
“You call the game ‘mature’ — what kid doesn’t want to be mature? You make the kids want it more by giving it a label like that. When you label what’s actually in the games — graphic violence, blood and gore, etc. — kids don’t seek it out,” he said.
Mixed Messages
Patrick Wheeler, 48, is not worried about the content his son, James, is exposed to in the games he plays.
“The games talk about drugs, sex and drinking, but those are things that kids are exposed to one way or another almost every day at school,” Wheeler said. He is “skeptical” of reports that suggest a link between games and aggression.
Back in James’ room, the boys continue to play video games for a few more hours. The ethereal chanting of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” battles the gunshots and explosions coming from “Halo 2.” In the corner of the room is a guitar and amp, juxtaposed next to model Vipers and Hummers.
Hunter Reeve, 16, concentrates on “Grand Theft Auto” as his friends in the background yell, “Shoot her, shoot her!” Reeve is a junior.
“Don’t let him kill you, Hunter,” James says, focused on the screen.
“He won’t let me, but I’ll do it anyway,” Alex says, sitting on the edge of the bed, intensely working the controller.
At first, Hunter, Alex and James said violent games do not make them more aggressive. But when playing “SWAT: Global Strike Team,” the boys became more engrossed and reactive to the scenes.
“We take this game a little too serious, I think,” Alex said. “We get really mad if we don’t win.”
“SWAT,” which is rated M, depicts human-on-human shooting, where the boys play against each other. Alex said they become more involved in this game because it is more like real life.
“It’s not really our aggression, we just get competitive,” he said.
But James added, “Some games raise aggression. When I’m mad, I’ll play.”
Cody Bennete, 11, said he sometimes throws the controller when he gets mad playing “Grand Theft Auto” and “Tony Hawk Underground 2,” which is rated T for Teen.
“One day I got mad and broke the game disk for ‘Grand Theft Auto,’” Cody said.
Potentially making children more violent is not the only concern some psychologists and parents have.
Stereotypical gender roles are often portrayed, with few strong female characters and an overabundance of hyper-masculine male characters. Even when female characters are seen as strong, they often have heavily exaggerated sexual features, such as Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider” and the prostitutes in “Grand Theft Auto.”
“Within games, very traditional gender stereotypes are perpetuated,” Bartholow said. “Very stereotypical male behaviors, like violence and aggression, are encouraged because players are often saving the damsel in distress or brutalizing the women.”
In “Grand Theft Auto,” women characters participate in the action as scantily-clad prostitutes with guns. Playing a two-person level as a team, James plays a gangster and Hunter plays a hooker. “Can I make out with you?” Hunter says, laughing. They push a few buttons, and the gangster and prostitute kiss on screen. Later, as the team tries to evade police while stealing a plane, Hunter yells, “I can’t really run in my stilettos!”
The list of gaming concerns continues. Gentile said video games have been accused with contributing to childhood obesity and fostering social isolation. In addition, some psychologists and researchers warn of video game addiction, where the games replace normal social interaction with friends and family.
Wheeler does not worry about his son’s socialization because James often plays with his friends. He is concerned that his son plays the games too often.
“I think the games become like an addiction or an obsession,” Wheeler said. “Once he starts playing a game, he can’t get off.”
James said video games can be addictive sometimes. “You don’t want to stop playing. You want to beat the games,” he said.
But the fact that some games are violent does not mean all video games are potentially dangerous. Gentile said that most games are simply benign forms of entertainment, and that some games can actually be beneficial.
“It seems that playing certain types of games are good for certain types of I.Q. For example, playing lots of ‘Tetris,’ where one has to rotate and maneuver blocks, may be good for mental attention ability,” he said. Games can also increase visual attention skills. He said that a game could have both positive and negative effects at the same time.
“If kids are playing a lot of ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ it’s likely bad for their grades and behavior but can be good for visual attention and hand-eye coordination,” he said.
Gentile said there are plenty of nonviolent and educational games that kids like just as much, if not more, than violent ones. “But, unfortunately, unless kids are directed to educational games and forced to play them, it is unlikely they’ll seek them out,” Bartholow said.
Gentile and Bartholow encourage moderation even in the use of educational games.
Wheeler said he is concerned that the time spent playing games has interfered with James’ schoolwork, but James disagrees. Regardless, his father wants him to spend less time with games and more time with the books.
Despite trying to turn the games off, Wheeler has not found an answer to the problem.
“We can’t quite find a solution that works,” Wheeler said. “But something has to change.”
Laying Down the Law
After the school shootings in Littleton, Colo., violent video games took heat from people who believe such games caused Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to shoot their schoolmates. Some families of victims filed a lawsuit against 13 video game makers, including the makers of “Doom,” a first-person shooter game that Harris and Klebold played. The lawsuit was dismissed in March 2002 on First Amendment grounds.
Gentile does not think that violent video games have made anyone murder.
“For someone to do something that extreme, they’d have to have many risk factors. School shooters also had uninvolved parents, psychological problems and were bullied,” he said.
Other lawsuits have been filed against game makers, including one against the publisher of the “Grand Theft Auto” series for allegedly contributing to the shootings of two police officers and a dispatcher in Fayette, Ala. To date, no lawsuits of that nature have been successful.
But lawsuits are not where the bulk of the video games industry problems lie. Legislation to ban the sale and rental of Mature and Adults Only-rated games to minors has been proposed in at least 12 states, including Missouri. In some places, including St. Louis, ordinances were enacted only to be struck down by the courts when challenged by the video game industry. In 2001, an Indianapolis ordinance was struck down by the Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision. Still, the courts’ decisions have done little to stop more legislation from being proposed.
Los Angeles media lawyer Douglass Mirell said video games are a constitutionally protected means of expression, and legislation banning the sale of certain games to minors is a violation of the First Amendment.
“This would be a classic case of governmental censorship and any statue that any state would pass that seeks to prohibit the sale of this type of product would be unconstitutional,” Mirell said. “Presumably, the legislation would be immediately challenged by the manufacturers or distributors of these video games, and I would expect that such a challenge would easily succeed.”
Like music and movies, video games are self-regulated. Movies are rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, not by the government. There is no law that prohibits those under 17 from going to an R-rated movie, just as there is no law that prohibits minors from buying music with parental warning stickers. In addition, no retailer can be punished by the government for selling R-rated movies or music with explicit lyrics to minors.
Video games are ranked by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, ranging from E for Everyone to A.O. for Adults Only.
In 2004, the top-selling video game was “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” with more than 5 million copies sold in the United States alone. The second highest seller was “Halo 2” at 4 million copies. Both are first-person shooter games, where the player takes on the role of the shooter, and both are rated M.
Many kids play other types of games as well. Most of the other top-selling games were rated E, including games like Madden NFL 2005 and Pokemon Fire Red. According to the Entertainment Software Association, a video game interest group, 53 percent of games sold in 2004 were rated E and 30 percent were rated T. Only 16 percent of the total sales were from M-rated games.
In a 2003 test, the Federal Trade Commission found that 69 percent of teens were able to purchase M-rated video games. The FTC also determined that out of 118 M-rated games, 70 percent were marketed toward children under 17.
Dan Hewitt of the Entertainment Software Association disagreed.
“M-rated games are not marketed to or aimed at children. There’s an entire advertising code that reviews advertising materials to make sure that games aren’t marketed inappropriately,” Hewitt said. “I think it does a fantastic job.”
Hensley, the Slacker’s manager, said that his store on Broadway does not sell M-rated games to unaccompanied minors.
“For anything that’s rated Mature, we require that they have a parent or show identification,” Hensley said. “We don’t want to sell anyone something they shouldn’t have.”
At an average of $40 a game, parents often contribute to the purchase. Hunter, Alex and James said that sometimes their parents bought their games for them as gifts. Other times they bought the games themselves. They said they had no problems buying M-rated games from anywhere in town except for Wal-Mart, including Slacker’s.
The video game industry supports self-regulation without government control. Hewitt said that parents, not legislators, should be the ones to determine what games their children can play.
“We’ve long been proponents of voluntary efforts of retailers to not sell to minors,” Hewitt said. “Not all of the games are appropriate for children. It’s really up to parents to make those decisions.”
But State Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, does not believe self-regulation is effective. Harris proposed House bill 390 that would make the sale or rental of games rated M or A.O. to minors under 17 a Class B misdemeanor. In addition, his bill would require stores selling video games to display a sign explaining the ratings system.
Harris sees these games as part of a culture that can be detrimental to children.
“I don’t think that our children should be exposed to video games that encourage violence toward law enforcement officers, violence against women and that deal with adult subject matter,” Harris says.
Alex, James and Hunter are against the bill and expressed doubt that any legislation could keep kids from playing M-rated games.
“They know that we’ll get our parents to buy it,” Hunter said.
Wheeler said that he doesn’t object to the legislation. “I think I’m with him when he buys the games most of the time anyway,” he said.
No Easy Answers
Gentile acknowledged that there is not an easy verdict on the nature or effects of video games.
The question of whether games are good or bad, Gentile said, “is far too simplistic. Most games on the market probably do not have a positive or a negative effect but are just entertaining, and there is nothing wrong with just being entertainment.”
Almost all sides agree that parents should be involved with what their children play.
“What my research shows is that kids whose parents limit the amount of time and content get into fewer fights, get better grades and are more pro-social,” Gentile said. “Parents should check ratings and set limits on time spent in front of all screens.” He recommends no more than 10 hours per week of game play.
“As long as protective factors are there, the negative effects will occur, but will be limited and less extreme,” Gentile said.
Alex said he once asked his dad to play “Halo 2” with him. “He was really, really bad.”
Wheeler said that he used to play games occasionally but quit.
“They weren’t any fun,” he said. “James would beat me in all the games.”
With half a dozen cops dead, the stolen cars wrecked and the innocent bystanders long forgotten, the remaining police are hot on Alex’s trail. In a failed blaze a glory, he dies by wrecking the plane he stole. With a laugh, Alex and his friends move onto the next game. In three words, Hunter sums up why they play:
“It’s just fun.”
Missourian reporter Laura Hammargren contributed to this article
By M. Zapp
May 8, 2005
Alex Cade, 15, a Rock Bridge High School sophomore, talks on his cell phone while playing “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” at a friend’s house. Before he steals a few cars, hijacks a helicopter and shoots police and innocent bystanders, Alex Cade, 15, pushes his controller and walks past a prostitute. If he wants, he could pick her up, take her to a dark alley and pay her for sex. His health points would go up, and if he felt like it, he could shoot her and get his money back. But Alex is not interested in sex right now, so he merely slaps the prostitute around a little bit. Alex is not wandering the streets alone or even thinking of engaging in any illegal activity. Rather, this high school sophomore is sitting inside playing “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” with his friends on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
“Grand Theft Auto” is one of the many violent video games that kids are playing by the millions, which has some parents, legislators and social scientists worried about what messages these games are sending. “Grand Theft Auto” is rated M, for Mature. It was the top-selling video game of 2004. The label on the back of the game box explains why it received the rating: blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, strong sexual content and use of drugs.
Joel Hensley, regional manager at Slacker’s CDs and Games, acknowledged the extent of realistic violence in some video games.
“The games are a lot worse now as far as violence and sex. I don’t think they’ve ever been as bad as they are now,” Hensley said.
The video game industry is huge, with sales reaching nearly $10 billion dollars in 2004 — just slightly above the box office sales for movies.
According to the National Institute on Media and the Family, 92 percent of children age 2 to 17 played video games in 2003. Psychologists are taking note, and research suggests that video games can have a variety of negative impacts on players, including increased aggression and decreased empathy.
Video games are self-regulated and rated by the industry. But legislative efforts to ban the sale of M-rated games to minors have been introduced in at least 12 states, including Missouri.
Alex and his friends James Wheeler, 15, and Hunter Reeve, 16, say they play video games for fun and do not take the violence seriously.
“It’s not like we’re going to shoot hookers in real life,” Alex says.
The outrageous circumstances are part of the excitement. James says the games represent “the stuff you can’t do, but want to do.”
Aggressive Involvement
Child psychologist Douglas Gentile is the director of research at the National Institute for Media and the Family, a nonprofit organization that studies the impact media has on the family. Gentile said that parents should be “very concerned” about their children’s video game habits.
“The research seems to be pretty clear that two things matter: the amount of time that kids are playing and the content of what kids are playing,” Gentile said. “Kids who play video games a lot have poorer school performance. The content seems to matter for things like behavior but not for performance. Kids who play violent video games, regardless of the time spent playing them, seem to be more aggressive and less pro-social.”
Bruce Bartholow, an assistant professor of psychology at MU, has been studying aggression since he was a graduate student in 1994. Bartholow said that according to many studies, violent video games cause an increase in aggression, desensitization to violence and, perhaps more alarming, a decrease in positive behaviors, such as helping and expressing empathy.
“These kids might become more irritated or irrational,” Bartholow said. “They might be slower to provide help or faster to engage in road rage. Playing video games doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to kill someone, but that’s not necessarily the only outcome we care about.”
Gentile said he conducted a study of more than 600 eighth- and ninth-graders and found that kids who play more violent video games are more likely to fight.
“If a naturally hostile kid is playing violent video games, they’re more likely to engage in fights, but even non-aggressive kids are still 10 times more likely to fight if they play violent video games,” Gentile said. “We used to think it was just the kids who were already at risk, but that doesn’t seem to be true anymore.”
Bartholow’s concern with violent video games does not just come from a psychologist’s perspective. He has a son, Jack, who is 8. Jack only has a Gameboy, so he doesn’t play video games that much. He loves them anyway, and he gets to play the more violent games at friends’ houses.
“What is scary to me as a researcher and a parent is that we are starting to see more and more kids playing games a lot,” Bartholow said. “Boys, for the most part, are spending the vast majority of their free time with these games.”
A 2004 study by psychologist Craig Anderson, who Bartholow once worked with, said boys spend an average of 13 hours each week playing video games, and girls play five hours per week. The National Institute on Media and the Family said 87 percent of pre-teen and teenage boys play games rated M. Bartholow said violent video games are so popular because there is a lot of color, excellent graphics, action and excitement.
“They’re fun in the sense that they’re simple,” Bartholow said. “You just kill as many things as you can. You don’t have to be smart to play the games and do well in them.”
Gentile said people are drawn to violence as part of the brain’s unconscious survival instinct. But he also said children do not automatically enjoy violence — in video games or elsewhere.
“Look at a 4-year-old kid watching violence — he doesn’t like it,” he said. “Parents make an error on this one saying, ‘Don’t worry, its not real, it’s only TV.’ The kid is having an appropriate reaction to the violence, and we tell them to get over it.”
Gentile suggested that parents watch the games with their children and talk with them about the violence.
“Sit and discuss the games and help your kids understand that what’s seen on the scene is not real life, that your family’s values are different from what’s seen on the screen,” he said. “That seems to be a very positive factor for kids.”
Gentile said the age-based ratings system also contributes to children wanting to play violent video games.
“You call the game ‘mature’ — what kid doesn’t want to be mature? You make the kids want it more by giving it a label like that. When you label what’s actually in the games — graphic violence, blood and gore, etc. — kids don’t seek it out,” he said.
Mixed Messages
Patrick Wheeler, 48, is not worried about the content his son, James, is exposed to in the games he plays.
“The games talk about drugs, sex and drinking, but those are things that kids are exposed to one way or another almost every day at school,” Wheeler said. He is “skeptical” of reports that suggest a link between games and aggression.
Back in James’ room, the boys continue to play video games for a few more hours. The ethereal chanting of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” battles the gunshots and explosions coming from “Halo 2.” In the corner of the room is a guitar and amp, juxtaposed next to model Vipers and Hummers.
Hunter Reeve, 16, concentrates on “Grand Theft Auto” as his friends in the background yell, “Shoot her, shoot her!” Reeve is a junior.
“Don’t let him kill you, Hunter,” James says, focused on the screen.
“He won’t let me, but I’ll do it anyway,” Alex says, sitting on the edge of the bed, intensely working the controller.
At first, Hunter, Alex and James said violent games do not make them more aggressive. But when playing “SWAT: Global Strike Team,” the boys became more engrossed and reactive to the scenes.
“We take this game a little too serious, I think,” Alex said. “We get really mad if we don’t win.”
“SWAT,” which is rated M, depicts human-on-human shooting, where the boys play against each other. Alex said they become more involved in this game because it is more like real life.
“It’s not really our aggression, we just get competitive,” he said.
But James added, “Some games raise aggression. When I’m mad, I’ll play.”
Cody Bennete, 11, said he sometimes throws the controller when he gets mad playing “Grand Theft Auto” and “Tony Hawk Underground 2,” which is rated T for Teen.
“One day I got mad and broke the game disk for ‘Grand Theft Auto,’” Cody said.
Potentially making children more violent is not the only concern some psychologists and parents have.
Stereotypical gender roles are often portrayed, with few strong female characters and an overabundance of hyper-masculine male characters. Even when female characters are seen as strong, they often have heavily exaggerated sexual features, such as Lara Croft in “Tomb Raider” and the prostitutes in “Grand Theft Auto.”
“Within games, very traditional gender stereotypes are perpetuated,” Bartholow said. “Very stereotypical male behaviors, like violence and aggression, are encouraged because players are often saving the damsel in distress or brutalizing the women.”
In “Grand Theft Auto,” women characters participate in the action as scantily-clad prostitutes with guns. Playing a two-person level as a team, James plays a gangster and Hunter plays a hooker. “Can I make out with you?” Hunter says, laughing. They push a few buttons, and the gangster and prostitute kiss on screen. Later, as the team tries to evade police while stealing a plane, Hunter yells, “I can’t really run in my stilettos!”
The list of gaming concerns continues. Gentile said video games have been accused with contributing to childhood obesity and fostering social isolation. In addition, some psychologists and researchers warn of video game addiction, where the games replace normal social interaction with friends and family.
Wheeler does not worry about his son’s socialization because James often plays with his friends. He is concerned that his son plays the games too often.
“I think the games become like an addiction or an obsession,” Wheeler said. “Once he starts playing a game, he can’t get off.”
James said video games can be addictive sometimes. “You don’t want to stop playing. You want to beat the games,” he said.
But the fact that some games are violent does not mean all video games are potentially dangerous. Gentile said that most games are simply benign forms of entertainment, and that some games can actually be beneficial.
“It seems that playing certain types of games are good for certain types of I.Q. For example, playing lots of ‘Tetris,’ where one has to rotate and maneuver blocks, may be good for mental attention ability,” he said. Games can also increase visual attention skills. He said that a game could have both positive and negative effects at the same time.
“If kids are playing a lot of ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ it’s likely bad for their grades and behavior but can be good for visual attention and hand-eye coordination,” he said.
Gentile said there are plenty of nonviolent and educational games that kids like just as much, if not more, than violent ones. “But, unfortunately, unless kids are directed to educational games and forced to play them, it is unlikely they’ll seek them out,” Bartholow said.
Gentile and Bartholow encourage moderation even in the use of educational games.
Wheeler said he is concerned that the time spent playing games has interfered with James’ schoolwork, but James disagrees. Regardless, his father wants him to spend less time with games and more time with the books.
Despite trying to turn the games off, Wheeler has not found an answer to the problem.
“We can’t quite find a solution that works,” Wheeler said. “But something has to change.”
Laying Down the Law
After the school shootings in Littleton, Colo., violent video games took heat from people who believe such games caused Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to shoot their schoolmates. Some families of victims filed a lawsuit against 13 video game makers, including the makers of “Doom,” a first-person shooter game that Harris and Klebold played. The lawsuit was dismissed in March 2002 on First Amendment grounds.
Gentile does not think that violent video games have made anyone murder.
“For someone to do something that extreme, they’d have to have many risk factors. School shooters also had uninvolved parents, psychological problems and were bullied,” he said.
Other lawsuits have been filed against game makers, including one against the publisher of the “Grand Theft Auto” series for allegedly contributing to the shootings of two police officers and a dispatcher in Fayette, Ala. To date, no lawsuits of that nature have been successful.
But lawsuits are not where the bulk of the video games industry problems lie. Legislation to ban the sale and rental of Mature and Adults Only-rated games to minors has been proposed in at least 12 states, including Missouri. In some places, including St. Louis, ordinances were enacted only to be struck down by the courts when challenged by the video game industry. In 2001, an Indianapolis ordinance was struck down by the Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision. Still, the courts’ decisions have done little to stop more legislation from being proposed.
Los Angeles media lawyer Douglass Mirell said video games are a constitutionally protected means of expression, and legislation banning the sale of certain games to minors is a violation of the First Amendment.
“This would be a classic case of governmental censorship and any statue that any state would pass that seeks to prohibit the sale of this type of product would be unconstitutional,” Mirell said. “Presumably, the legislation would be immediately challenged by the manufacturers or distributors of these video games, and I would expect that such a challenge would easily succeed.”
Like music and movies, video games are self-regulated. Movies are rated by the Motion Picture Association of America, not by the government. There is no law that prohibits those under 17 from going to an R-rated movie, just as there is no law that prohibits minors from buying music with parental warning stickers. In addition, no retailer can be punished by the government for selling R-rated movies or music with explicit lyrics to minors.
Video games are ranked by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, ranging from E for Everyone to A.O. for Adults Only.
In 2004, the top-selling video game was “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” with more than 5 million copies sold in the United States alone. The second highest seller was “Halo 2” at 4 million copies. Both are first-person shooter games, where the player takes on the role of the shooter, and both are rated M.
Many kids play other types of games as well. Most of the other top-selling games were rated E, including games like Madden NFL 2005 and Pokemon Fire Red. According to the Entertainment Software Association, a video game interest group, 53 percent of games sold in 2004 were rated E and 30 percent were rated T. Only 16 percent of the total sales were from M-rated games.
In a 2003 test, the Federal Trade Commission found that 69 percent of teens were able to purchase M-rated video games. The FTC also determined that out of 118 M-rated games, 70 percent were marketed toward children under 17.
Dan Hewitt of the Entertainment Software Association disagreed.
“M-rated games are not marketed to or aimed at children. There’s an entire advertising code that reviews advertising materials to make sure that games aren’t marketed inappropriately,” Hewitt said. “I think it does a fantastic job.”
Hensley, the Slacker’s manager, said that his store on Broadway does not sell M-rated games to unaccompanied minors.
“For anything that’s rated Mature, we require that they have a parent or show identification,” Hensley said. “We don’t want to sell anyone something they shouldn’t have.”
At an average of $40 a game, parents often contribute to the purchase. Hunter, Alex and James said that sometimes their parents bought their games for them as gifts. Other times they bought the games themselves. They said they had no problems buying M-rated games from anywhere in town except for Wal-Mart, including Slacker’s.
The video game industry supports self-regulation without government control. Hewitt said that parents, not legislators, should be the ones to determine what games their children can play.
“We’ve long been proponents of voluntary efforts of retailers to not sell to minors,” Hewitt said. “Not all of the games are appropriate for children. It’s really up to parents to make those decisions.”
But State Rep. Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, does not believe self-regulation is effective. Harris proposed House bill 390 that would make the sale or rental of games rated M or A.O. to minors under 17 a Class B misdemeanor. In addition, his bill would require stores selling video games to display a sign explaining the ratings system.
Harris sees these games as part of a culture that can be detrimental to children.
“I don’t think that our children should be exposed to video games that encourage violence toward law enforcement officers, violence against women and that deal with adult subject matter,” Harris says.
Alex, James and Hunter are against the bill and expressed doubt that any legislation could keep kids from playing M-rated games.
“They know that we’ll get our parents to buy it,” Hunter said.
Wheeler said that he doesn’t object to the legislation. “I think I’m with him when he buys the games most of the time anyway,” he said.
No Easy Answers
Gentile acknowledged that there is not an easy verdict on the nature or effects of video games.
The question of whether games are good or bad, Gentile said, “is far too simplistic. Most games on the market probably do not have a positive or a negative effect but are just entertaining, and there is nothing wrong with just being entertainment.”
Almost all sides agree that parents should be involved with what their children play.
“What my research shows is that kids whose parents limit the amount of time and content get into fewer fights, get better grades and are more pro-social,” Gentile said. “Parents should check ratings and set limits on time spent in front of all screens.” He recommends no more than 10 hours per week of game play.
“As long as protective factors are there, the negative effects will occur, but will be limited and less extreme,” Gentile said.
Alex said he once asked his dad to play “Halo 2” with him. “He was really, really bad.”
Wheeler said that he used to play games occasionally but quit.
“They weren’t any fun,” he said. “James would beat me in all the games.”
With half a dozen cops dead, the stolen cars wrecked and the innocent bystanders long forgotten, the remaining police are hot on Alex’s trail. In a failed blaze a glory, he dies by wrecking the plane he stole. With a laugh, Alex and his friends move onto the next game. In three words, Hunter sums up why they play:
“It’s just fun.”
Missourian reporter Laura Hammargren contributed to this article
