Violent Video Games – Not a Good Xmas Present

An associate professor of communication at Wake Forest University, studied the impact of realistic and violent video games on children and adolescents, and said that even if most parents believe they are harmless, the effects can be very negative.

Marina Krcmar says that as the games become more and more realistic, the positive and negative effects on children increase, because “greater realism leads to greater immersion; greater immersion leads to greater effects.

“One of those effects can be increased aggression,” she adds, and she encourages parents to be more careful to the content before buying a video game for this holiday season.

“The T-rating and M-rating for video games are not very consistent and not very informative for parents, so parents need more information.”

Krcmar explains that the quality of the graphics and the sound in this year’s new video games is amazing, since “it’s getting closer and closer to virtual reality.”

Of course it is more difficult to find good games, mainly since they are not marketed as well as the most popular violent ones.

Today, the realism of the games immerses you and accentuates your sensations, but there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to feel the same by playing a game needing problem-solving skills.

The researcher warns parents not to assume that “games that don’t have the sophisticated look of perfect graphics can’t inspire involvement.

“Involvement also increases with a good narrative or story.”

This is the alternative she proposes to games like “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” where the full immersion in a realistic violent world raises some concerns.

“We learn what’s right and what’s wrong by consequences,” she says, but in most of the popular games, shooting people has no negative consequences, on the contrary, the player is rewarded for doing that.

Krcmar adds that with the new concept coming from the Xbox Kinect, where the system eliminates the need for a controller completely, the movements look and feel even more realistic.

According to her, research shows that the more the movement looks and feels like it would in real life, the more the player becomes more involved in the game.

She adds that for non-violent games, this could be good and during the class she is teaching – “Video Games: Research and Theory”, she recommends that parents consider strategy games.

The professor pleads for two games for the Nintendo DS: “Professor Layton and the Curious Village,” a mystery and puzzle game or “Etrian Odyssey,” a role-play game for older children that allows them to explore and strategize, and she adds that her favorite for young children is “Harvest Moon”.

Krcmar is not against video games in general and she says that besides problem-solving, there are other beneficial effects for children.

According to research, video games help with hand eye coordination and teach us how to scan the environment for important visual information, how to pay more attention to details.