My Comm 101 Policy Speech
UltimaGecko
hates endnotes Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16320Members
hates endnotes Join Date: 2003-05-14 Member: 16320Members
<div class="IPBDescription">...yay policies?</div> Policy against the banning or censorship of video games in the United States
In this day and age, violence is a basic of life. And, until, in the future, when we’re all wearing collars that shock us when we have a bad thought, violence will be present in society. Two of the main sources of media: movies and video games, have been under scrutiny of enticing young people to perform violent acts. While movies are rarely targeted by media and groups trying to protect our young people anymore, video games have become the new scapegoat. This has led to attempts to censor and ban video games in recent years.
The problem is, movies and video games are very similar, and defiling one is almost equal to defiling the other. Some news sites may report information such as, “ The interactivity present in video games causes an increase in aggressive behavior.” There are a few problems with this. First of all, it has never conclusively been proven that video games contribute to aggressive behavior in the future. Second, this aggressiveness is on par with what a sports event may generate in its players or even its fans with their competitiveness. Third, These aggressive games can provide an outlet for aggression that would otherwise be drawn out into the real world, in example, shooting someone in a game would divert them from shooting someone in real life.
That’s not to say games like Grand Theft Auto 3 or even the old versions of Mortal Kombat should be sold to and played by minors. As author and historian Gerald Jones says,
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->“I do believe in creating filters for younger kids, not because media will teach them to be criminals, but because it can add additional stresses, pains, and confusion to their lives. I wouldn’t let my 9-year-old son play Grand Theft Auto III. Kids learn gradually about how the adult world works. I don’t need him to learn about gory street crime or oral sex all at once through a shock-value video game.”<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Many of the advocates against video games cite GTA:VC as a source of violence; many of these cases of violence are committed by minors. The problem with this is that: if a parent has bought the game for their child they should be pointing out the problems, consequences and meanings of actions in video games. Many parents do not do this because they purchase a game based on title alone, but an optional standardized rating system is present, just as in the film industry.
These ratings are created, monitored and edited by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, or ESRB. These ratings have very close equivalencies to the film industry. E rated games would be G, K-A would be PG, T would be PG-13 and M would be R. The film rating X also has it’s AO equivalent, but no AO game has ever been created or released in the US. Many parents are not aware of these ratings or are not aware of their meanings, despite the ESRB’s attempts to educate the public.
This may make it seem as though video games have become more violent in recent years, but only the graphical displaying ability of the violence has increased. In atari classics such as space invaders the player shoots down aliens with a laser cannon, the fact the laser is just a line and the ship looks like a decaying apple makes no difference, it was still violent. The addition of blood and more graphic violence has sparked the ‘banning bandwagon’, despite the fact movies and television have been more violent for years, being more realistic.
This also brings about the problem of emulating this violence in the real world. A shooting on a highway, muggings in a city and gang car-jacking all have one thing in common: the perpetratorss blamed Grand Theft Auto 3 for their behavior. Given the lee-weigh that there may be a few more cases, under 10 acts of violence have been ‘influenced’ by Grand Theft Auto. That is out of over 7 MILLION sold copies. Of the 15 year olds who shot a car on the highway with a shotgun: where are the children’s parents? Where did they get a gun? The focus in these issues, besides the teenagers mental stability should lie in: “What were the parents doing?” From the 7 million other function players in society, no problems have arisen.
This brings us to the new social effect of video games which has been more properly addressed in recent years, and as opposed to the ‘video-game loner’ image of previous years, 1 in 5 college students have cited video games as something that presented them with something to do with friends or increase their number of relationships. This would be similar to going to a movie with your buddies.
Video games also contain unique medical advantages over movies and other forms of ‘sitting and watching ‘entertainment’. First person shooters, such as Medal of Honor or Halo require quick reflexes and digit dexterity. These game possess the abilities to increase attention span, spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination and improve peripheral vision. This has led to possible uses in treating stroke patients and some mental problems. Something movies cannot offer.
Because of video games’ unique nature and influence in the media, no censorship should be brought to bear by the now billion dollar industry. Their close resemblance to movies in production values, violence and plot means that they should be equally treated as such. No sooner should a Matrix movie be banned than a game based off that movie, and no sooner should Scarface or other mobster movies be banned than Grand Theft Auto and its portrayal of the crime world. As long as parents keep their children and themselves informed video games can offer society no harm and shouldn‘t be censored or banned.
[edit] bibliographies:
American Academy of Pediatrics “Media Violence” <u>Pediatrics</u> 108.5 (2001): 1222
Morrell, Kirstin “ Does Video Game Violence Lead to the Real Thing?” Gauntlet Web <a href='http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/8895' target='_blank'>http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/8895</a> (Nov 2003)
“Parental Advisory” <u>U.S News & World Report </u>117.2 (1994): 111
Rimensnyder, Sara “Bang, You’re Dead” <u>Reason</u> 34.5 (2002): 15
Snider, Mike “Eye of the Beholder?” <u>USA Today </u>(8/5/2003)
“Violent Video Games Beneficial? Well…” <u>New York Times Upfront </u>136.1(2003): 7
[edit]
Hopefully I get an A, but I suck at speaking <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> .
In this day and age, violence is a basic of life. And, until, in the future, when we’re all wearing collars that shock us when we have a bad thought, violence will be present in society. Two of the main sources of media: movies and video games, have been under scrutiny of enticing young people to perform violent acts. While movies are rarely targeted by media and groups trying to protect our young people anymore, video games have become the new scapegoat. This has led to attempts to censor and ban video games in recent years.
The problem is, movies and video games are very similar, and defiling one is almost equal to defiling the other. Some news sites may report information such as, “ The interactivity present in video games causes an increase in aggressive behavior.” There are a few problems with this. First of all, it has never conclusively been proven that video games contribute to aggressive behavior in the future. Second, this aggressiveness is on par with what a sports event may generate in its players or even its fans with their competitiveness. Third, These aggressive games can provide an outlet for aggression that would otherwise be drawn out into the real world, in example, shooting someone in a game would divert them from shooting someone in real life.
That’s not to say games like Grand Theft Auto 3 or even the old versions of Mortal Kombat should be sold to and played by minors. As author and historian Gerald Jones says,
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->“I do believe in creating filters for younger kids, not because media will teach them to be criminals, but because it can add additional stresses, pains, and confusion to their lives. I wouldn’t let my 9-year-old son play Grand Theft Auto III. Kids learn gradually about how the adult world works. I don’t need him to learn about gory street crime or oral sex all at once through a shock-value video game.”<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Many of the advocates against video games cite GTA:VC as a source of violence; many of these cases of violence are committed by minors. The problem with this is that: if a parent has bought the game for their child they should be pointing out the problems, consequences and meanings of actions in video games. Many parents do not do this because they purchase a game based on title alone, but an optional standardized rating system is present, just as in the film industry.
These ratings are created, monitored and edited by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, or ESRB. These ratings have very close equivalencies to the film industry. E rated games would be G, K-A would be PG, T would be PG-13 and M would be R. The film rating X also has it’s AO equivalent, but no AO game has ever been created or released in the US. Many parents are not aware of these ratings or are not aware of their meanings, despite the ESRB’s attempts to educate the public.
This may make it seem as though video games have become more violent in recent years, but only the graphical displaying ability of the violence has increased. In atari classics such as space invaders the player shoots down aliens with a laser cannon, the fact the laser is just a line and the ship looks like a decaying apple makes no difference, it was still violent. The addition of blood and more graphic violence has sparked the ‘banning bandwagon’, despite the fact movies and television have been more violent for years, being more realistic.
This also brings about the problem of emulating this violence in the real world. A shooting on a highway, muggings in a city and gang car-jacking all have one thing in common: the perpetratorss blamed Grand Theft Auto 3 for their behavior. Given the lee-weigh that there may be a few more cases, under 10 acts of violence have been ‘influenced’ by Grand Theft Auto. That is out of over 7 MILLION sold copies. Of the 15 year olds who shot a car on the highway with a shotgun: where are the children’s parents? Where did they get a gun? The focus in these issues, besides the teenagers mental stability should lie in: “What were the parents doing?” From the 7 million other function players in society, no problems have arisen.
This brings us to the new social effect of video games which has been more properly addressed in recent years, and as opposed to the ‘video-game loner’ image of previous years, 1 in 5 college students have cited video games as something that presented them with something to do with friends or increase their number of relationships. This would be similar to going to a movie with your buddies.
Video games also contain unique medical advantages over movies and other forms of ‘sitting and watching ‘entertainment’. First person shooters, such as Medal of Honor or Halo require quick reflexes and digit dexterity. These game possess the abilities to increase attention span, spatial awareness, hand-eye coordination and improve peripheral vision. This has led to possible uses in treating stroke patients and some mental problems. Something movies cannot offer.
Because of video games’ unique nature and influence in the media, no censorship should be brought to bear by the now billion dollar industry. Their close resemblance to movies in production values, violence and plot means that they should be equally treated as such. No sooner should a Matrix movie be banned than a game based off that movie, and no sooner should Scarface or other mobster movies be banned than Grand Theft Auto and its portrayal of the crime world. As long as parents keep their children and themselves informed video games can offer society no harm and shouldn‘t be censored or banned.
[edit] bibliographies:
American Academy of Pediatrics “Media Violence” <u>Pediatrics</u> 108.5 (2001): 1222
Morrell, Kirstin “ Does Video Game Violence Lead to the Real Thing?” Gauntlet Web <a href='http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/8895' target='_blank'>http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/8895</a> (Nov 2003)
“Parental Advisory” <u>U.S News & World Report </u>117.2 (1994): 111
Rimensnyder, Sara “Bang, You’re Dead” <u>Reason</u> 34.5 (2002): 15
Snider, Mike “Eye of the Beholder?” <u>USA Today </u>(8/5/2003)
“Violent Video Games Beneficial? Well…” <u>New York Times Upfront </u>136.1(2003): 7
[edit]
Hopefully I get an A, but I suck at speaking <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.natural-selection.org/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> .
Comments
/me copy pastes... <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> j/k
*standing ovation*
Apparently my Toulmin diagram was done exceptionally well with it's written out points. Especially my warrants and rebuttals.
...It's also funny, because I suck at speeches and this is the highest grade I've gotten all semester <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> .
I R t3h S0kker M|_|M 0w|\|3r! ...well...sorta.