Video Game Violence and Safety | Here's What I Think.

There was a post I came across on This Morning's facebook page and I couldn't keep my mouth shut because the way they worded it rubbed me up the wrong way. It was a discussion about a particular game and how a child behaves when they are asked to stop playing it, this game is one of the most popular ones right now, I personally don't play it as it's not my kind of game but I know a lot of people who love it and could spend hours on it due to pure enjoyment. The main issue is a lot of parents are saying they have no idea what to do when it comes to game time or how to get their children off of a game, yes we all know all kids are different but there is a lot of different things parents can put in place in order to stop their child spending so much time in front of a game, I had rules as a kid when it came to screen time and as much as I disliked it, it didn't hurt me to go and do something else.

One of the biggest issues is how easy it is for children to download a game that isn't for their age, Fortnight is for 12+ and the online side of it is free to download on the PS Store but the story mode you have to pay for, so these kids are going to want to download the game all their friends are playing and it's as simple as going to the store but there is a way to curb this with the Age Level for Games on PS4 and Access to content on Xbox, both of these allow you to set an age limit rating which your child can download, anything higher and they won't be able to, all it takes is a simple google to find out this information and how to do it. You can also set a spending amount so they can't go over that limit, but before you do all do this make sure you make a child account which you can do for both PlayStation and Xbox, a normal account you must be 18 so by creating one of them you're breaking the rules, I think if people seriously want to monitor their children on these consoles their best bet is making a child's account.

Another way to set limits for your child is to set the router to turn off the console at certain times, for example, if you want your child to only play for an hour or two you can set the wifi to be on for the two hours  say between 4pm to 6pm and once it comes to 6pm the console will no longer connect to the internet, Or give your child a 10 minute warning and explain they need to come off and if they don't they will lose their privilege to go on it the next day that was agreed. It doesn't hurt to set these boundaries with kids and the same thing applies to TV/tablets, it may keep your child quiet but it also means they will want to push their limit and test you (well not all kids will do that). 

The reason I'm writing this was because the woman who was interviewed for This Morning was so mad that her child gets stroppy just because they want to come off of a game, of course, he would it's fun and they are enjoying it being loud on a game because they are so into it doesn't mean they don't know that the game isn't reality, having a fun hobby like gaming isn't a bad thing and it's so simple to implement rules when it comes to gaming. I have friends who are parents who ask me advice on how to make it safer or what to do if they won't get off of a game, I know I'm not a parent myself but just some advice from an older person who games can help and maybe make people understand a little bit more that when their child says they can't come down to eat yet because they are in the middle of a game it probably means they can't pause an online game, that's where the 10 minute warning comes in and will teach them that their time is up and once 10 minutes is over they will be turning off the game.

Now down to video game violence, Trump is holding a conference to blame video games for shootings in schools in America, to be I feel like he is just passing the real issue off to something that clearly had nothing to do with the recent school shooting, I know not all people will agree with me on this but I do feel some sort of gun control needs to be put in place, and blaming video games instead of putting gun control in place is just ignoring the issue and making out going to be a bad thing. Some people can get very addicted to video games, yes but in this instance I don't feel gun violence in schools go hand in hand with video games, it's a lot like saying stop making violent movies because it's making people kill there have been some people who have taken inspiration from a movie or a game but this is a very very small number, nothing compared to the number of shootings that have happened in schools in America just this year.



Maybe I sound biased because I play video games but that's not to say I don't have a point, video games first came about in 1958 and since there have been a very small amount of deaths blamed on video games 14 of which can be found here. But a lot of deaths that are linked to video games are usually those that are to do with people not having breaks or being so addicted to affected their health as far as I know from looking it up. Recently the world health organisations have recognised gaming disorders as an addiction, this isn't a bad thing we can always get addicted to things I know people addicted to all sorts of ridiculous things which have affected their health, I don't feel it can be used as an excuse to murder a person though and it most definitely doesn't mean that all video games can be blamed for school shootings, I feel people love to hate on video games because they don't see the appeal themselves. It's easy to blame a video game for a gun problem because some people will accept anything they are told so long as they have an answer to the main issue at hand.

Using a gun in a video game has never made me nor other people I have spoken to online want to go out and commit a murder, in fact, no kind of violence in a game does. I play the game for the storyline not to inspire me to do unthinkable things, playing a game is like watching a work of art at times for me I'm more concerned with taking it all in rather than going out to find people who I may not like to hurt. This kind of scare tactic does work on a lot of people, I know people who point blank refuse to ever touch games because of the things media has told them, It's their choice but at the same time the media really loves their scaremongering tactics which is something that they do just for the views or to get people to buy their drivel.

I know I tend to rant but I feel strongly about this but would love to hear your thoughts on this.