:D Turn it in dot com! Pheer me!
I hope this shows up when they scan Turn it in dot com, and I get marked off for plagiarism of myself.
You dont need to read it, but its not so bad - it becomes an more of an outline at the end tho...
A) Did you know that nearly 100% of children are actually, at heart, perverted serial killers after they play a video game with violence? Well, that’s what some crazy people think: and they think wrong.
B) Video games have been around throughout the late 20th century. They are automated entertainment devices that in some cases can build life skills, such as counting, vocational skills, and motor skills (Drew 14). As video games evolved, so too, did their collective content.
C) People began putting violence, among other “derogatory” themes within their games and many people believe that this is immoral, and decaying the mainstream morals of the base of gamers: children. But they are wrong.
D) [SEGWAY] Video games may contain content inappropriate for children, but what they don’t realize are the measures the video game industry uses to protect minors. Game rating organizations, like the ESRB, give detailed descriptions of the content in a game. The sale of games rated “M”, for Mature (17+), is restricted to minors (Andrew 2). But the content in these games are avoidable. But it is not the responsibility of these organizations to determine what games children play.
E) [THESIS] This should be the individual parent’s priority. Parents need to control when children play video games, how many types of games they play, and what types of games. If this can happen, the so called “violent” aspects of video games, and the argument of their affects would all but be extinguished.
II Body – Against
A) Allow me to start you off with a detailed description of the opposing view-point, so you are well educated and well rounded on this topic. Some people hold the view that when a child, or anyone, plays a video game; it “rubs off on them”. This, in itself is not a bad, or wrong in any way.
1) Studies show that video games help improve motor and educational processing and capabilities. For example a child playing a counting game will begin to memorize their addition skills.
(i) This is then complimented when you get a right answer, in game, you are rewarded with positive reinforcement (Klein 55).
(ii) Why not, then when a child plays a game with violence, gore, and derogatory themes, such as swearing, prostitution, and drugs, would that not “rub off” on the child?
(iii) The problem lies within the context. Every time a child picks up the controller and shoots someone in the head, they are not always positively reinforced. In fact, many games have anti-violence measures, such as Call of Duty, where when you shoot an ally, you automatically loose, with a statement coming on screen “Friendly Fire Will Not Be Tolerated.”
(iv) But in games, when a child is given positive feedback for cleaving someone in half, and blood goes everywhere, could present a problem.
2) This begins a very bad cycle with the child’s psyche; he is being rewarded for bad or immoral things (Sieberg). This child could then become confused between right and wrong, and begin thinking, “Oh, killing must be a good thing!”
(i) What the opposition neglects to realize is the child’s ability to differentiate between reality, and his virtual world (Verva 12). Most children have the absolute ability to use the part of their brain that allows them to see the difference between fiction and non by age [__] (citation needed).
(ii) So the problem lies in the few children who can’t tell any difference between physical and virtual existence. These children are an issue, but this is not every child, this is in fact a very small percentage. [% to be precise…research and citation needed]
(iii) The opposition has every right to be concerned about them, but to withhold judgments and reservations for every child’s video game experience(s) is a vast over-extrapolation of a small problem.
3) Case in point, the infamous lawyer throughout the gaming community, Jack Thompson. He may be the most adamantly disposed against any violence in video games of any person on the planet. But then again, he’s a lawyer. Seriously, though, he is in the business to make money, and when your opinions get you as much coverage as his do, any publicity is good publicity. Here is a quote from Mr. Thompson, to give you an example of his stance:
You just watch. There is going to be a Columbine-times-10 incident, and everyone will finally get it. Either that, or some video gamer is going to go Columbine at some video game executive's expense or at E3 (A major gaming expo), and then the industry will begin to realize that there is no place to hide, that it has trained a nation of Manchurian Children.
III) Body – Support
A) Moving onto the view point of much more rational people, its not the fact that video games are violent, its the amount that children are playing them. A study shows that 66% of all boys and 25% of girls play video games with violent content on a regular basis (Most 2). To further extrapolate on the extent of gaming, studies show that only 6% of children have never played any type of video game (Most 3).
1) This also goes against my opposition’s views. If, presumably, 94% of children play video games, and a good portion of these children all play violent video games on a regular basis, why is there not a current uprising of demon-children of the 21st century?
2) Its because of moderation. Any child could play the most violent video game in the world every day and not be affected. How would this work? Its because they play it in doses that are not detrimental to their health. If you play this violent game for only a minute, or even thirty minutes, it won’t have the impact it would if you played it for five straight hours.
IV) Body – Support
A) What holds the key to this moderation? Parenting. It is the key to the whole topic, if parenting were not an issue; there would not be an issue. The parents of every gamer in the world, have the ability to decide what games they play, and when and how much they play them.
1) Time limits and how they offset addiction.
2) Hobbies with the same affect.
3) Time frame and psychology – night vs. day.
B) Then the bond parents have with their children, itself is so influential of the moderation.
1) This bond can be strengthened b playing video games. As said before the positive reinforncement that comes with the accomplishments of a video game would then be associated with the parent, thus streghening the physical relationship between the parties.
(i) Average time spent by gamer parents.
(ii) Precent of free time – implications of child-parent connectivity
V) Body – Support
A) Parents and the video games that they buy their children. 75% of all parents buy their child(ren)’s video games (Klein 51).
B) 85% say they would take responsibility for their child(ren)’s actions from video games (Klein 51).
1) How this does affect what games children play.
2) How children could get around it, and how parents can counteract children being sneaky
3) How close we are to 100% anyway, and how parenting lessons/ceremonies can easily set up in a community like an AA meeting.
VI) Conclusion
A) As you can see, the opposition is clearly wrong, or at least misguided.
B) With simple parenting restrictions and techniques can lead to the exponential growth of parenting awareness on violence in video games.
C) Apparently people like to play video games, especially children, or else there wouldn’t be such a big deal about it. So let them play… Or don’t, and then I guess we might see the violent side that resides within all of them.
posted by Kyky @ 6:49 PM
3 comments
