Fernando's Blog |
As I am constantly reading articles from different news networks, there has been once certain topic that has caught my attention, which is concerns of videogame development and accusations of gamers behaving in a sense that they are not themselves. Most of us have played videogames when were young and quite often we played videogames that are M rated (Mature audiences that are over 17 and up), so we see content that we are not supposed to look at such as gun violence, drugs, sex, prostitution, and profanity. I can say that it is quite true because when you go on YouTube and watch someone play Grand Theft Auto 5, you can hear kids on the mic playing these types of games. I used to play violent videogames since I was a child and I saw it as a fun game, which they are. I am not encouraging anyone to let children and young teens to play these games, but my point is I seen articles about people accused of school shootings and killing individuals that the media links their acts by playing violent videogames. For example, a 20-year-old man named Adam Lanza who was responsible for shooting at the Sandy Hook elementary school was a frequent player of violent first-person shooter video games. It was said his existence largely involved playing violent computer video games in his bedroom. The media strongly insist that violent videogames are responsible for unexpected tragic events that suspects feel “encouraged” to apply from what they control in front of a TV screen or computer to harm innocent people. Does playing violent games desensitize you to violence? The videogame industries argue that they are not responsible for those tragic incidents that occur. I think that the videogame industries have the right to defend themselves because they are not encouraging anyone to harm others and it is unnecessary for people to point fingers at them when the suspect was known to play violent videogames.
The ethical issues in videogames does not just only revolve in violence but in accusations of discriminating women in certain videogame titles. In M rated videogames, most women are routinely abused, bullied, and harassed while the industry’s largest companies tend to remain silent. Like in Grand Theft Auto 5 or any other previous Grand Theft Auto videogame, there are strip clubs that women are working and asking men for lap dances also when your character is driving you see women dressed as prostitutes with a cigarette on their hand trying to get your attention. In my opinion, it has become common to see women in videogames that are portrayed that way, so mostly anyone considers it as a routine gameplay. There was an article that I read last semester that a woman was playing a game using a Virtual Reality headset that she can see other users character in the game that some man approached her and began touching her inappropriately that she felt sexually assaulted even though she was not physically assaulted. Can this incident be linked on how women are portrayed in M rated videogames? Who knows, but it can be a possibility, but we cannot just assume that it’s the reason. Link to article on woman sexually assaulted in the VR game Link to article on 14 Mass Murders Linked to Violent Video Games
4 Comments
Adrienne Horca
4/15/2017 07:21:22 pm
Fernando,
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Darren Chan
5/3/2017 09:03:41 pm
My parents always told me shooting games are always bad for my health. And yes I do agree with them. People who play too many video games like COD are corrupted by violence and it isn't a good feeling either.
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Sean O'Fallon
5/9/2017 09:09:11 am
The shooting at Columbine High School was also blamed on video games like Doom and on the music the kids listened to. I think it's pretty absurd to create a direct link to these things, but people need someone to point a finger at and it may as well be an easy target like violent video games.
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Cammron Keehley
5/20/2017 10:13:28 pm
Hey Fernando,
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Fernando MadrigalHello, my name is Fernando Madrigal and I am a Junior at CSUMB. My major is Computer Science with my concentration in Network and Security. I recently transferred from Hartnell Community College last fall. Archives
May 2017
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