Violent video games thrill kids, worry adults
| • | Games packed with murder, stealing and destruction |
By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
It wasn't so long ago that 11-year-old Jared Sasaki spent his after-school hours "stealing cars and running from the cops."
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
But he wasn't just some petty criminal. He had a job to do — for the Mafia.
David Edwards, an employee with Toys N' Joys in Kaimuki, shows off some of the more violent video games on the market.
"Sometimes you have to get the car to the crusher," Sasaki explains.
Please sit down, Mr. Springer.
Thankfully, the carjacking carnage Sasaki wreaked each afternoon was confined to the video game world of Grand Theft Auto III, considered by some to be the latest example of the world gone to hell, and to others, just the latest target of misguided moralizers.
The bemused, unnervingly lucid Sasaki is aware of the alarms sounded by parent groups, politicians and child psychologists in response to games such as Grand Theft Auto III, State of Emergency and Twisted Metal: Black. But he doesn't buy the argument that violence on the video screen necessarily leads to violence at home, on the playground or in the school halls.
"Only if you're stupid," he says.
Yet, while avid gamers such as Sasaki unanimously dismiss such concerns, there has been considerable backlash to Grand Theft Auto III in particular, and the growing number of violent, reality-based video games in general.
While it's true that violent video games have been around for a full 20-year generation, it's the nature of the violence and the adopted perspective of the player in these new games that have some people concerned.
Moving up the mob ranks
Gannett News Service
Dumping the abstracting pretenses of future worlds, robots, wizards and the like, Grand Theft Auto III delivers interactive video violence in a more realistic setting — "Liberty City, where the only dirty word is hope."
In the Sony PlayStation 2 video game Grand Theft Auto III, players steal cars, deliver drugs, plant bombs and engage in other acts of violence in order to move up the ranks of the mob, all while trying to avoid the police.
The narrative premise hedges a bit on the player-as-bad-guy angle, offering a vague explanation of the protagonist being "betrayed and left for dead," providing all the justification needed for what follows.
"You'll have to rob, steal and kill just to stay out of serious trouble," the game text says. And so players steal cars, plant bombs, ferry prostitutes, deliver drugs and carry out contract hits to move up the mob ranks.
Avid gamers have raved about the game's combination of narrative-driven and non-linear play, its top-flight graphics and its high level of interactivity. As the gaming magazine Game Informer says, the game has a high level of "playability."
As Sasaki says: "There's a lot of blood. You can talk trash. You have to admit, it's kind of fun."
The National Institute on Media and the Family listed Grand Theft Auto III on its 2001 list of video games to avoid, but that hasn't dampened demand for the game. Since its release in October, Grand Theft Auto III has been the top-selling game for PlayStation2.
Rumors that the game could be be replaced with a tamer, less objectionable version have only fueled the buying frenzy.
"We started hearing the rumors back in January," says Lloyd Tark, an employee of Toys N' Joys at the Westridge Shopping Center. "The games have been more in demand. I think people are afraid of the toned-down version. Our store in Kaimuki started stocking up."
Impact of violent games
Tark said Toys N' Joys, like other video game retailers, is careful about selling "mature"-rated games to minors. He says parents often accompany their kids to buy video games, but they don't always know just what they're getting.
"We tell the parents if the game comes with a warning," Tark says. "The majority of the time, the parents don't know how violent the game is until we mention it."
Studies into the effects of video game violence have yielded a broad spectrum of results over the years. While researchers have suggested that violent games can contribute to aggressive behavior or desensitize adolescents to the implications of violence in the real world, other studies have produced results that are inconclusive or contradictory.
That didn't stop the American Academy of Pediatrics from issuing a statement warning about violence in the media last November.
The Academy "recognizes exposure to violence in media, including television, movies, music, and video games, as a significant risk to the health of children and adolescents," it said.
"Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed. ...
"Pediatricians and other child healthcare providers can advocate for a safer media environment for children by encouraging media literacy, more thoughtful and proactive use of media by children and their parents, more responsible portrayal of violence by media producers, and more useful and effective media ratings."
That warning hasn't stopped the rush on sales for these violent games.
Gary Ching says he plays Metal Gear Solid II with his 10-year-old son, Josh. While the game does include a fair share of violence, Ching says he's confident that playing the game hasn't had a negative effect on his son.
"I do worry about what goes on in his head, but I think that if I participate in his activities and we talk about what's going on, he'll be able to make the right distinctions," Ching says.
As for Sasaki, working for the Mafia wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He's thinking about selling his Grand Theft Auto III.
"I beat it," he says. "Now it's getting kind of boring."
