DEBATE

The fight over video game content

When Michelle Wilson's sons put the popular skateboarding video game “Tony Hawk” on their Christmas list, she didn't think twice. Until she saw the profanity, hostage-taking and physical beatings in the game. “I got it and they play it and they said, 'oh this is a cool game.' I went down there and I looked at it and went 'ohhh, okay that's not cool. That's not good, I bought that?' said Wilson. The Wilson parents said they work hard to shield their kids from inappropriate content, but it's tough. Father, Andrew Wilson, said, “We see a consistency in the level of violence, cursing, sexual content, from the television from the internet to the video.”

Dr. Michael Brody is head of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry. After years of studying the effects of TV violence on children, he saw a direct link between violent video games and aggressive juvenile behavior. “The person watching the game becomes embedded in watching the context of the game. If you watch these first person shooter games for example, you are the one who's doing the shooting,” said Dr. Brody.

Now, Washington D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and the City Council want to fight back. Under the proposed measure, a store that sells a mature-rated video game to a child 17 or younger, could lose its business license and face a $10,000 fine. The video game industry said its five tier rating system makes game content clear to parents.

Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Entertainment Software Association said, “It is not up to any council member of the District of Columbia or anywhere else to tell me or any other parent, 'I don't want you to have this.' It's up to the parent to make those choices. The ACLU said such restrictions violate of free speech. Johnny Barnes of the ACLU said, “...video games, just like books, movies, art [and] TV programs with violent content all enjoy the protection of the first amendment.” For Jinhee Wilde, censoring her son's video games isn't the answer. She said, “You cannot legislate and regulate everything. At some point parents have to step in and do what they need to do. Legislators cannot control what's happening in my home.” But the D.C. measure may face an uphill battle. Efforts in the states of Washington, Missouri and Indiana have all been overturned in Federal Appeals courts.

22 February 2005

http://www.capitalnews9.com/content/living/9_on_parenting/?ArID=118740&SecID=23

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