Well, I recently discovered a website called MAVAV, or Mothers Against Video game Addiction And Violence. I just about wet myself laughing at this stupid concept. Mothers blaming video games for generic problems? Hah!
So, I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt by looking at their morals and goals. They're a website solely to educate and inform parents, guardians and concerned citizens about problems involving video games.
What I think I found so funny is the generalization of "Addiction and Violence". Addiction is a problem with just about ANY tangible substance. You can have addictions to drugs, cigarettes, food or lack thereof, or even party hats, for example. ANYTHING can be addicting by definition.
The other is violence. People (like Jack Thompson for example) who believe video games are the sole causes of murder simulators and persuade people to create copycat killings they see in games, are crazy. Something to hold against this - give me some solid, conclusive scientific proof that video games are the SOLE cause of violence in some people. Show me a statistic that displays that people who play video games are more likely to commit a murder they may have seen in a game.
Yes, I understand there are video games that may be violent. Don't get me wrong, I think games like the GTA series and excessive with things like blood, gore, sexuality, drugs, and all the like, but there is no conclusive proof that this mentally effects people enough to compromise their judgment. And why this rush on video games? What about other media? Like movies, TV and music don't contain any violence, sex or drugs?
Okay, so here's an article quoted from their front page:
"The China Post reports that a Taiwanese psychiatrist at the Veterans General Hospital in Taipei has concluded the first studies linking violent video games and 'textspeak', an awful slang language spoken by a subculture of underground gamers and computer hackers."
Very good wording, and nothing else if you ask me. This article says nothing about how violence and textspeak are related. Just that people who play violent games recognize this form of writing because they are exposed to it.
Yes, in extreme cases people have been addicted to the point they played for days straight. Take a 14 year old Korean boy, for example. He set a world record when he played for 96 hours straight. He had 2 seizures in this time, but he got right back up and played more. But VERY few people ever go this far.
So wherever you are on this subject, read this and consider it. I in no way wish to slam MAVAV or its principles, I simply want to inform people that sites like these create false emergencies and that these statements have been blown out of proportion.
