Video games are used to entertain children but the quality of the game should be taken care of so that they do not make children become violent. Parents need to take care of their children by choosing the video games they purchase with great care because; if the games have violent themes, children practice what they watch without knowing it is harmful and they might develop bad behavior once they become adults. There are regulations imposed by the government to ensure that the video games offered for sale are not harmful and anyone who deals with illegal and violent video games is arrested and fined. Children at school must be educated on the right kind of video games to watch so that they do not get addicted to games that show acts of violence and nudity.
Before the revolution of entertainment for children, there were many interactive games that were played by children in different ways. These games had violent themes such as Robbers and the Cops and were not politically correct due to the violent themes they contained making parents object to them. When children watched violent games, they pretended to be robbing banks using toy guns and other imaginary weapons to shoot by aiming at their opponents. The government at that time could not intervene to regulate the games because; they thought that the youth would have been incited to violence. (Kutner, 2008)
Currently, there has been debate over the regulation of video games that are violent with critics and legislators saying that equivalent of robbers in the modern day is supposed to be regulated for minors to be protected from the negative effects of violent video games. This regulation is supposed to be made by the government so that violent video games are made illegal and anyone who uses them is taken to have broken the law and is liable for disciplinary action. The logic shows that, if children are exposed to violent images in video games, they grow up and become violent adults. Parents should be responsible enough to ensure that, the video games they purchase for their children are not violent so that they can mold their behavior at the early stages of their life. When children are at school, they should be warned about the dangers of watching violent video games because; once they start watching them, they become addicted to them and it becomes difficult to stop watching them. (Lachlan, 2003)
The government has come up with laws that burn video games that are violent from being sold to young people but the measure violated the first amendment in the federal courts. Recently, a law was signed in Washington that prohibited selling video games to the young generation but federal court challenges the law because protected speech can be unconstitutionally restricted. The bill for protecting children from video games dealing with sex and acts of violence imposes huge amounts of fines to the people who traded in video games and anyone who would rent or sell them was arrested and fined because they depicted sexual conducts and acts of nudity that harmed the minors. Regulatory measures have faced many challenges because there has been no evidence to prove that youths become aggressive because of watching a violent video games. (Kutner, 2008)
Self-regulation is very important where industries dealing with video games have a board for regulating software used for entertainment and a system for labeling the games so that the buyers can know the kind of game they are purchasing before they start watching it. This has helped so much because; those who operate video games for commercial purposes in restaurants have to follow the rating system of games so that they can be monitored to ensure they are of the right quality that is not harmful to children. (Lachlan, 2003)
Regulations by the government make legislators threaten the video industry with prosecution because of putting the wrong label in the games. This makes parents fail to get credible and valuable information about the recommended age to watch a given kind of video game they buy. The video industry is required to impose a scheme for a mandatory rating in order to ensure they deal with video games that are legal for sale and not harmful to the users. A parent should be free to make a decision on what their children should see or hear according to how they define what is acceptable for their children. This is because; they are the owners of children and can make a difference using their ears and eyes to decide what is fit for their children. (Gentile, 2003)
References
Lachlan K. (2003): Popular Video Games; Quantifying the Presentation of Violence and Its Context: Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media.
Kutner L (2008): The surprising truth about violent video games and what parents can do: Simon & Schuster.
Gentile D. (2003): Violent video games; The newest media violence hazard: CA Anderson – Media violence and children.