Game Over:

Problems associated with video games and how Generation X is affected.

It's not all fun and games when video games are concerned. Along with all the good times, there are some problems with playing these games. Some of them are heath reasons. For instance, people with epileptic seizures should not play video games because the flashing, repeating patterns on the screen may cause problems. There are some specific problems that have tie-ins with Generation X, however. Those are video games' threat to acedemia and sexism and violence found in the video games and the ads that support them.

The first problem is the concern if video games hinder the study habits of youths. This is probably the oldest concern in the book. Parents have always worried about poor time management causing poor performance in schools, and video games are just one more distraction. This is of particular concern to Generation X since they are mostly the youth culture that is still in some sort of schooling. Another related issue is the worry that youths are pumping extensive amounts of quarters into these machines for mind-numbing entertainment. The only solution that I can think of is to initialize programs that encourage good time management. Otherwise, youths will not understand the point of studying, thinking that there's no reason to when the highest "score" you can get on a test is a 100!

The target audience, or the people most likely to play a video game, are younger aged males. Thus, sometimes video games can be a little gender biased. Either you're saving another helpless princess or fighting with a scantily clad female warrior. These kind of situations may discourage or even disgust female game players and more enlightened male gamers as well. Another related problem is that many video game advertisements feature the same kind of demeaning female images. In advertising, many ads like Calvin Klein not only sell fragrances, but ideas and standards of beauty as well. The standard of beauty in these advertisements is a 5'10'', 110 pound woman, when only 10% of all females can realistically live up to this standard. These ads, video game ads included, may lower the self esteem of women. We should try and fight against this sort of thing, and some video games are contributing to this fight. For instance, Ms. Pac Man and Dixie Kong from Donkey Kong Country 3 (pictured here) are female main characters in video games that both genders can enjoy.

Finally, probably the biggest problem in video games recently is the violence found in many games. Graphically, games have improved so much that we can depict many situations with horrific realism. In Mortal Kombat games (pictured here), you can kill people by ripping open their heart, blood gushing all the way (appitizing, huh?). Violence in the media has been a problem for a long time, but people are more concerned with video games because you are more directly involved with the violence and you get rewards for killing people. I'm not sure if exposure to such violence can cause violent behavior, but I do think that constant exposure to such acts can raise our tolerance to violence and stunt our empathy for our fellow beings. I also think that since all the games in the arcades nowadays are so violent that arcades aren't the family places that they once were. Many steps have been taken to curb the violence, like ratings for the games, but I think we need to have programs that encourage parents to teach their kids about choices of right and wrong in the media. That way we can still have free speech. I also think that this problem will take a long time to fix. There is a really good article in the March issue of Next Generation about this subject. Find it in a library and check it out!

Well, those are my opinions and observations on the problems with video games. If you have any comments to add on any of those problems, visit the message forum on my biography page and spill your guts!

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