Media has developed significantly over the years, and with this More recently in 2011, Anders Behring
hring Breivik shot 68 people dead
increase, comes the increase in those who see it. Because of this,
media has been blamed by a large amount of the population
over the years, because of its influence over viewers. Gaming is a
large part of media life in the modern day with 37% of the
population aged between 16 and 49 describing themselves as
active gamers and roughly 5 million video games across the
world, 4% of which are for adults only, 18 years or older. So what
content labels a game as adults 18? PEGI is the Pan-European
Game Information that rates games on their standard of
violence, language, fear, sex, drugs and other aspects. The
definition of a 18 rated game or adult game is when the level encourage the question: is media to blame? There are multiple
of violence reaches a stage where it becomes a depiction of
gross violence. Gross violence is classed as the depictions of
violence that would make the viewer feel a sense of revulsion.
This means that are 200, 000 adult rated games have created.
PEGIs rating system was created to help European parents
make informed decisions on buying computer games. Although
it is illegal for those under 18 to buy 18 rated games, it is not
illegal for them to play it. A study commissioned by the UK
games industry found that parents let children play games for
adults, even though they knew they were 18-rated. Many
believe these games, and those who play it are influenced by
video games, with multiple media outlets crediting mass
murders to violent or sexual video media such as movies and
video games. One of the largest mass murders happened in
1999. On the 20th April 1999, two teenage boys open fired on the
Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, killing 13 people
and wounding more than 20 others. There have been multiple
theories as to the cause of this massacre, yet the most popular
was not because of the relation of being bullied, or access to
weaponry or psychological issues, but rather violent video games
and music. In 2001, relatives of people killed in the Columbine
massacre sought damages from computer game makers,
claiming their products helped bring about the shooting.
Multiple other shooting happen since this senseless event that
have been credited due to violent games such as Call of Duty
and Grand Theft Auto. For example, both these video games
have been blamed for the crimes of various people. In 2003, two
brothers William and Joshua Buckner, 16 and 14 years old,
opened fire on vehicles on the Interstate 40 highway in
Tennessee killing one person and injuring another severely. The
teenagers told the police that they were bored, and decided to
mimic their favourite videogame, Grand Theft Auto which
named after the car crime, and features guns, violence and
sexual content.
at a youth camp of the Norwegian Labour party and another nine
in a bombing of government buildings. According to the judgment
rendered against him, he liked playing violent games, and actually
used the video game Call of Duty to train for his shooting
massacre.
Gaming has long been as topic of controversy and is often the
cause of moral panic within the society. Media could equally be
blamed for bother areas on how they present Gaming and
violence, blaming the games rather than the people, these ideas
theories that revolve around this question, but the basic idea is
whether audiences are either passive or active in media effects.
The hypodermic needle theory is the idea that the audience is
passive, that the ideas are injected into the mind of those who
watch it, and mirror it in their own lives. This is the idea that if you
see violence you will become violent. The other main theory is the
uses and gratification theory. This dictates that the audience is
active in the effect media has on them, that they have a choice.
People watch and use media for multiple purposes, to entertain, to
find characters to they can relate too and even to socially interact.
Gaming has become an important part of social interaction. With
the development of gaming intercoms and other technology,
gaming has become a social activity, rather than an independent.
78% of teens have said they feel more connected to those they
already know; 52 percent also report feeling closer to friends
whom they only know online. This is why it is more important than
ever that children and teenagers are not subjected to images of
gross Violence.
Over 97% of teens play video games and 60% spend an average of
20 hours a week watching TV. It has become a key and critical part
to teenage life, finding guidance, similarities and social connections
in it. Although I personally believe that the audience is active in the
way they connect to media, it is important that teenagers and
children are protected from aspects of violence and other areas of
life as they undergo both physical and social development, and
remember that media, is not always to blame.